From 6f1507e65ac96b6447491430c960d73d69571692 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Niko Matsakis Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2020 07:12:07 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 1/6] describe 2020-07-08 meeting --- ...2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md | 113 ++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 113 insertions(+) create mode 100644 posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md diff --git a/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..9a1668d69 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md @@ -0,0 +1,113 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: "Lang team design meeting: path to membership" +author: Niko Matsakis +description: "Lang team design meeting: path to membership" +team: the lang team +--- + +Today the [lang team] design meeting was on the topic of the "path to +membership". This blog post gives a brief summary; you can also read +the [minutes] or view the [recording]. + +[minutes]: https://github.com/rust-lang/lang-team/blob/master/design-meeting-minutes/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md +[lang team]: https://www.rust-lang.org/governance/teams/lang +[recording]: https://youtu.be/SeH-hZgDG1Y + +The premise of the meeting was that the lang team has never had a +particularly clear *path to membership* -- i.e., it's been hard to say +exactly what are the kinds of steps that one should be taking if you +would like to become a member of the lang team. However, with the +shift to [major change proposals] and in particular [project groups], +we're starting to see what such a path looks like. Simultaneously, +that same shift is helping to reveal that overall lang team bandwidth +remains low, and that we could use to grow the team -- so thinking +about the path to membership is an important thing to do. + +[major change proposals]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/2936/ +[project groups]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/2856 + +### Expectations for a team member + +As part of our discussion, we came up with a relatively complete list of +what we see as the "expectations for a lang-team member". To be clear, +this is the full set of possible expectations: many members only have the +time to do some subset of these things at any given time. + +- Lead project groups, where appropriate +- Liaison for projects, where appropriate +- Participate in triage meetings +- Participate in design meetings +- Respond to rfcbot fcp requests in a timely fashion +- Participate constructively in, and help facilitate, RFC discussion, issues, PRs, and other GitHub-based discussions + - Provide important technical points + - Help to drive discussions towards common understanding + - Understanding and documenting the positions and points being raised +- Monitor and respond to communication in Zulip + +### A sketch for a path to membership + +The core idea for a path to membership is that we want some set of +steps that let us see people doing the things we expect from lang-team +members, so that we can tell how it is working (and so that people can +experience what it's like). + +This suggests that a "path to membership" might look something like this: + +* Lead or be heavily involved in one or more project groups +* Serve as a liaison for one or more project groups +* Participate in meetings, where possible +* Participate in discussions and in particular help to create summaries or otherwise resolve technical disputes in a productive way + +We realize that we can identify people who are doing some of those +things already and approach to see if they are interested in lang-team +membership. If so, we can look for opportunities to complete some of +the other bullets. + +## A bit of background: project groups + +We've not been blogging a lot about the idea of project groups and the +like so let me give just a bit of background. In short, the idea is +that we are trying to "intercept" the RFC process earlier by +introducing a "pre-step" called a Major Change Proposal +(MCP). (Terminology still subject to change as we experiment here.) + +The idea is that if you have an idea you'd like to pursue, you can +file an MCP issue and describe the high-level details. If the idea +catches the eye of somebody within the team, we will create a +**project group** to pursue the idea, with that member serving as the +**lang team liaison** and you (or others) serving as the **group +lead**. + +A **project group** doesn't have to be a huge group of people. It +might even just be one or two people and a dedicated Zulip stream. +The idea is that the group will work out the design space and author +RFCs; once the RFCs are accepted, the group can also pursue the +implementation (though the set of people involved may shift at that +point), and hopefully see the idea all the way through to +stabilization. + +### Growing the set of folks who can serve as liaison + +One of the things we talked about was the proper role for a project +group liaison. As described in the previous paragraph, a liaison was +basically a member of the team who would follow along with the design +and help to keep the rest of the team up to date. + +But we realized that if we limit liaisons to team members, then this +is incompatible with this idea of a "path to membership" where people +can "trial run" lang-team activities. It's also somewhat incompatible +with a core goal, which is that the experience of someone who is *not* +on a team and someone who *is* on a team ought to be awfully close, +and that we should be careful when creating distinctions. + +Therefore, we discussed the idea of saying that liaisons don't have to +be team members, they just have to be people who are heavily involved +in the project and who can be trusted to create regular updates for +the lang-team and keep the rest of the team in the loop. + +In particular, this can also be a useful stepping stone towards full +lang-team membership -- although it doesn't have to be. It's useful to +have people serve as liaisons even if they don't really have time or +interest in being on the lang team. + From f841192d1219f53456aba53789e4dac42877c898 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Niko Matsakis Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2020 08:15:43 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 2/6] cut confusing sentence --- posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md | 5 +---- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md index 9a1668d69..632114b80 100644 --- a/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md +++ b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md @@ -19,10 +19,7 @@ particularly clear *path to membership* -- i.e., it's been hard to say exactly what are the kinds of steps that one should be taking if you would like to become a member of the lang team. However, with the shift to [major change proposals] and in particular [project groups], -we're starting to see what such a path looks like. Simultaneously, -that same shift is helping to reveal that overall lang team bandwidth -remains low, and that we could use to grow the team -- so thinking -about the path to membership is an important thing to do. +we're starting to see what such a path looks like. [major change proposals]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/2936/ [project groups]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/2856 From 85cb3618d4ae3539ae1b249107df8101b2f9871e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Niko Matsakis Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2020 12:24:47 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 3/6] add a conclusion --- .../inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md | 7 +++++++ 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+) diff --git a/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md index 632114b80..bcf141527 100644 --- a/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md +++ b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md @@ -108,3 +108,10 @@ lang-team membership -- although it doesn't have to be. It's useful to have people serve as liaisons even if they don't really have time or interest in being on the lang team. +### Conclusion + +We concluded that we'll start experimenting with "non-team-member +liaisons", and that people who are maybe interested in that role can +reach out privately to Josh Triplett or myself. Further, we'll work to +write up the "path to membership" as well as the expectations for team +membership. From 193789a6003c55c496948305437f81c51dd11585 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Niko Matsakis Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2020 12:25:26 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 4/6] rename to today's date --- ...o-membership.md => 2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md} | 0 1 file changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) rename posts/inside-rust/{2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md => 2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md} (100%) diff --git a/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md similarity index 100% rename from posts/inside-rust/2020-07-08-lang-team-path-to-membership.md rename to posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md From 9a6462286c38124c8a65f9a7b3b7d67f88ef1c79 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Niko Matsakis Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2020 12:27:23 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 5/6] not today, this week --- posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md index bcf141527..81ef3a211 100644 --- a/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md +++ b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ description: "Lang team design meeting: path to membership" team: the lang team --- -Today the [lang team] design meeting was on the topic of the "path to +This week the [lang team] design meeting was on the topic of the "path to membership". This blog post gives a brief summary; you can also read the [minutes] or view the [recording]. From 4e3768e028617aedff22fb8337995018a1fd4aef Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Niko Matsakis Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2020 12:52:23 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 6/6] edit --- .../2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md | 12 ++++++------ 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md index 81ef3a211..5f7a669ea 100644 --- a/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md +++ b/posts/inside-rust/2020-07-09-lang-team-path-to-membership.md @@ -45,9 +45,9 @@ time to do some subset of these things at any given time. ### A sketch for a path to membership The core idea for a path to membership is that we want some set of -steps that let us see people doing the things we expect from lang-team -members, so that we can tell how it is working (and so that people can -experience what it's like). +steps that let us see people doing the things and demonstrating the +qualities we expect from lang-team members, so that we can tell how it +is working (and so that people can experience what it's like). This suggests that a "path to membership" might look something like this: @@ -112,6 +112,6 @@ interest in being on the lang team. We concluded that we'll start experimenting with "non-team-member liaisons", and that people who are maybe interested in that role can -reach out privately to Josh Triplett or myself. Further, we'll work to -write up the "path to membership" as well as the expectations for team -membership. +reach out privately to Josh Triplett or myself +(nikomatsakis). Further, we'll work to write up the "path to +membership" as well as the expectations for team membership.