Make voting process transparent and clear
As of now, some decisions are subject to votes at weekly meetings. But we have no process.
First, who can vote is not defined.
It is unclear whether the list of voters are the "maintainers" listed on https://gitlab.ow2.org/ggi/ggi/-/blob/dev/README.md, or anyone present at the meeting (votes have been accepted from people outside the list, see for example [1] https://pad.castalia.camp/mypads/?/mypads/group/ggi-minutes-zz1b0nmd/pad/view/meetings-2023-01-23-bz70pxk ).
We also don't have governance rules concerning quorum, delegations (or should we forbid them?), and multiple voters from the same organization (what is the rationale for votes that can be dependent? or should it be 1 representative per organization?).
We don't even have majority rules (strict majority or best score?), nor define the meaning of abstention vs what we call "tbc". In the same example above [1]:
- one of the outcomes is "4 yes, 2 no, 2 tbc". Is the outcome "yes" (best score), or no majority because of only 4 "yes" in 8 votes?
- another is "4 yes, 5 tbc". Is "tbc" an abstention (then outcome is "yes") or not (then outcome is "no"... or "tbc")?
Last, we don't have any rule concerning motions to vote, and how to introduce them.
So, to make a proposal, we should:
- Clearly state who can vote (college), and the quorum (eg. 1/3 of college?).
- Clearly state if delegations are accepted (and how to delegate).
- Clearly state if people from the same organization can vote separately (and why?)
- Provide clear majority rules (eg. validate choice with the best score, or only choices that obtain a majority?).
- Tell how we deal with abstentions (difference btw abstention and "no choice" vote like "tbc" (if any)? publish abstention count?).
- Provide clear motions to vote (one item at a time), at least one week before any election.
And when done, publish our process in a dedicated chapter of https://gitlab.ow2.org/ggi/ggi/-/blob/dev/README.md (where we advocate for transparency and openness).
As long as we don't do that, I'm afraid we can't claim that we "voted" anything.