Dear Python Community,
An Apology for Communication Delays
First and foremost, we want to sincerely apologize for the recent lack of regular community notes and delayed responses to Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs). We recognize that this communication gap has been frustrating, and we want to explain the challenges we’ve been facing while outlining our plans to improve.
Current Challenges
Until recently, our community notes were managed by the Communications Liaison for the Python Steering Council, Velda, who unfortunately had to step away from this role for personal reasons. This departure left us in a challenging position, as we’ve had to take on note-taking responsibilities ourselves (which in the last has proving to affect our velocity quite a lot) while figuring out a sustainable workflow using our shared note-taking system. We know how much the community values these notes as a window into our decision-making process.
The 2025 Steering Council spans multiple continents with members across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. While we commit to 1.5 hour weekly meetings, finding times that work for everyone often means some of us are meeting in the middle of our workday while others join late at night or very early in the morning. We share this not as an excuse, but because we want you to understand the reality we’re navigating together as a community.
We have been actively discussing many PEPs, knowing how important each proposal is to its authors and the broader Python ecosystem. Your contributions represent countless hours of thoughtful work, and we take our responsibility to review them with appropriate care very seriously. After some review of the process we have found that most of our bottleneck lies in the review of different documents such as the community notes and acceptance and rejection notices for PEP - while initial drafts come together relatively quickly, ensuring every council member has reviewed and approved the final language and content requires multiple iterations. We believe your proposals deserve this level of consideration, even when it takes longer than any of us would like.
We also meet regularly with Łukasz, our Developer in Residence, to ensure we’re providing appropriate guidance and support for this crucial role and the other developers in residence. Managing the workflow for the Developer in Residence program and addressing the various challenges brought to our attention requires some extra coordination. Additionally, we share many of these fortnightly meetings with the Director of the Python Software Foundation, Deb Nicholson, to maintain alignment between the technical, organizational, and financial aspects of the Python ecosystem.
We continue to offer regular office hours because we truly value direct engagement with community members. These sessions have provided valuable insights and connections, though they do require additional time commitment from council members. We consider this time well spent when it helps strengthen our understanding of your needs and concerns.
We’re currently managing a substantial backlog that includes complex, high-impact PEPs alongside other council responsibilities. We understand the frustration of waiting for decisions on work that matters deeply to you and to Python’s future.
Our Plan to Improve
We understand the frustration that radio silence can cause, especially when you’ve invested significant effort into PEP proposals. Your contributions drive Python forward, and you deserve better communication from us. We deeply value the trust you place in the Steering Council, and we’re committed to rebuilding that trust through increased transparency and improved processes.
Here’s how we plan to address these issues:
- Immediate Publication of Pending Decisions: We will publish the results for several PEPs within the next week, including PEPs 769, 768, 758, and 750, along with others we’ve recently finalized. We know these decisions impact your work and planning, and we’re prioritizing clearing this backlog.
- Public Agenda: We strongly believe in transparency and are working on making most of our meeting agenda public. We’re still determining the best platform and format for this information—whether through our existing infrastructure or new tools that better serve this purpose. While we’re figuring out the implementation details, please know that this initiative is a priority for us because we understand how important visibility is to the community. Some agenda items will necessarily remain private due to confidentiality concerns, but our goal is to share as much as possible about what we’re working on and when you can expect decisions.
- Early Decision Notifications: With author consent, we’ll begin publishing preliminary decisions on PEPs before the formal acceptance/rejection documentation is finalized. This means you’ll know the outcome sooner, even if the detailed rationale follows a week or so later. We’ve heard your feedback that waiting in uncertainty is particularly difficult, and we hope this approach addresses that concern while maintaining the thoroughness of our review process.
- Realistic Timelines: We’re reviewing our processes to establish more sustainable workflows and realistic timelines for responding to proposals. Your time is valuable, and we want to respect it with clearer expectations. We’re exploring ways to better distribute our workload and streamline our review procedures without compromising on quality.
Throughout this improvement process, we welcome your input on what would be most helpful to you. Our goal is to create systems that work for the entire Python community, not just for the council.
A final note
We want to emphasize that everyone on the council is deeply committed to Python’s success and community health. We’re all volunteers who share your passion for Python, balancing these responsibilities with our regular jobs and personal lives. The challenges we face aren’t from lack of care or effort, but from real constraints that we’re actively working to address.
We believe these changes will help restore the communication flow while we work through our backlog. Your continued engagement, patience, and constructive feedback make Python what it is today, and we welcome your thoughts on these plans.
Thank you for your understanding and continued passion for Python.
Sincerely,
The Python Steering Council