Full text: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-8011/
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Constructive feedback of this PEP is welcomed.
PEP: 8011
Title: Python Governance Model Lead by a Trio of Pythonistas
Author: Mariatta Wijaya, Barry Warsaw
Status: Active
Type: Informational
Content-Type: text/x-rst
Created: 2018-08-24
Abstract
This PEP proposes a governance model for Core Python development community, lead by a trio of equally authoritative leaders. The Trio of Pythonistas (ToP, or simply Trio) is tasked with making final decisions for the language. It differs from PEP 8010by specifically not proposing a central singular leader, but instead a group of three people as the leaders.
This PEP also proposes a formation of specialized workgroups to assist the leadership trio in making decisions.
This PEP does not name the members of the Trio. Should this model be adopted, it will be codified in PEP 13 along with the names of all officeholders described in this PEP.
This PEP describes:
- The role and responsibilities of the Trio
- Guidelines of how to trio members should be formed
- Reasoning of the group of three, instead of a singular leader
- Role and responsibilities of Python core developers to the trio
- Sustainability considerations
- Diversity and inclusivity considerations
Open discussion points
Various tweaks to the parameters of this PEP are allowed during the governance discussion process, such as the exact responsibilities of the Trio, term lengths of service, voting procedures, and trio disbandment. These will be codified by the time the PEP is ready to be voted on.
It is allowed, and perhaps even expected, that as experience is gained with this model, these parameters may be tweaked in order to provide for a smoother governing process. The process for tweaking these parameters will generally be the same voting process as described in PEP 8001.
Roles and responsibilities of the leadership Trio
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Be open, considerate, respectful. In other words, adhering to The PSFâs code of conduct.
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Pronounce on PEPs, either as a team, or individually if the other trio members agree.
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Provide vision and leadership for Python, the programming language and the community.
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Understand their own limitation, and seek advice whenever necessary.
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Provide mentorship to the next generation of leaders.
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Be a Python core developer
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Be a voting member of The PSF (one of Contributing / Manager / Fellow / Supporter).
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Understand that Python is not just a language but also a community. They need to be aware of issues in Python not just the technical aspects, but also other issues in the community.
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Facilitate the formation of specialized working groups within Core Python. See âformation of specialized working groupsâ section below.
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Set good example of behavior, culture, and tone to Python community. Just as Python looks at and learn from other communities for inspiration, other communities will look at Python and learn from us.
What are NOT considered as the role responsibilities of the trio
The following are not the expected out of the trio, however they can do these if they wish.
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They are not always the ones coming up with all the ideas, vision, problems to solve, and what not. The trio will be open and accepting suggestions from core developers and community.
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Day to day bug reports do not require the trio to intervene. Any core devs are able to make decisions, but will defer to the respective focused workgroups, and will eventually defer to the trio when there are major disagreements among core developers.
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Does not run / decide on Python language summit and its logistics.
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Does not run / decide on Python core sprint and its logistics.
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Does not handle CoC cases, those are responsibilities of the CoC workgroup, but will speak out if they witness those cases.
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Does not make decisions about other Python implementation (Cython, IronPython, etc).
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Does not run / decide on Python conferences and its logistics.
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Not an evangelist of Python. The trio is not expected to preach/advertise for Python. They can if they want to, but not expected.
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Not an educator of Python. The trio is not expected to be the ones teaching/writing about Python. They can if they want to, but not expected.
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The trio is not expected to be available 24/7, 365 days a year. They are free to decide for themselves their availability for Python.
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Not a PEP editor.
Guidelines for the formation of the trio
The success of this governance model relies on the members of the trio, and the ability of each trio members to collaborate and work well together.
The three people needs to have similar vision to Python, and each can have different skills that complements one another.
With such team, disagreements and conflict should be rare, but can still happen. We will need to trust the people we select that they are able to resolve this among themselves.
When it comes to select the members of the trio, instead of nominating various individuals and choose the top three, core developers will nominate and vote for groups of threes who they believe can form this united trio.
This PEP will not name or nominate anyone into the trio.
Only once this PEP is accepted, any active core developers (who are eligible to vote) can submit nomination of groups of three.
Once this PEP is accepted and core devs have submitted their nominations, each active eligible core devs can vote for one group of three.
Qualities desired out of the trio:
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Be a Python core developer.
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Be a voting PSF member (one of Contributing / Manager / Fellow / Supporter).
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Be a member of the community with good standing.
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Adhere to The PSFâs code of conduct (Be open, considerate, and respectful).
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Be willing to accept the said roles and responsibilities.
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Able to communicate and articulate their thoughts effectively.
The following are not requirements when considering someone into the trio:
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âExperience being a BDFL of somethingâ is not a requirement.
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âBe a geniusâ is not a requirement.
Diversity and inclusivity
The core Python development team fully supports the Python Software Foundationâs diversity statement, and welcomes participation and contribution from people from diverse backgrounds. When nominating people to to be part of the trio, Python core developers will take every effort into including members from underrepresented group into consideration.
Ideally, nomination should include and reflect the diversity of core Python contributors.
Sustainability
Lack of employer support or lack of luxury of free time should not be a factor when identifying who should be in a trio. If there are individuals who the core devs have identified as having the necessary skills for being a member of the trio, but they are unable to do it because of lack of time, lack of financial support, then we should open discussion with The PSF or other parties into providing the needed support.
Additional guidelines
When nominating someone other than yourself, please first ask privately if they are ok with being nominated, and if they are ok with nominated in that group of three. This is so people donât feel pressured to accept nomination just because it happens publicly.
Why not other governance model
Core Python community are familiar with the singular BDFL model for over two decades, it was a model that has âworkedâ for Python. Shifting to a completely different model all of the sudden, could be disruptive to the stability of the community. However, the community can continue to evolve in the future.
If this PEP is chosen, it is not meant to be the only governance model for Python going forward.
This PEP proposed a transition into a community lead by a group of people (although small), while also introducing concept of additional specialized workgroups.
Why not more than three
Too many chefs spoil the soup.
The goal of having a leadership team is for team Python core developers to be able to come to consensus and decisions. The larger the leadership team is, the more difficult it will be in coming up with decision.
This is also for the benefit of the members of the trio. Learning to collaborate with other people in a team is not something that happen organically and takes a lot of effort. It is expected that members of the trio will be part of the team for a long term period. Having to deal with two other people is probably difficult enough. We want the trio to be able to do their duties and responsibilities as efficient as possible.
The more people in the group, the more difficult it is to try to come up with time to meet, discuss, and coming up with decision.
Roles and responsibilities of Python Core Developers to the trio
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Be open, considerate, and respectful. In other words, adhere to The PSFâs Code of Conduct
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Decisions and pronouncements made by individual members of the trio are to be seen as authoritative and coming from the trio.
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Once the trio has pronounced a decision, core devs will be supportive, even if they were not supportive in the beginning (before the trio made such decision)
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Continue with day to day decision making in the bug tracker, and defer to the trio if there is major disagreement
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Python core developers do not handle CoC cases, those are responsibilities of the CoC workgroup, but will speak out if they witness those cases
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Aware that they are part of the larger Python community, not just the technical aspect of it.
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Be a voting PSF member (one of Contributing / Manager / Fellow / Supporter).
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Set good example of behavior, culture, and tone to Python community.
Term (open to discussion)
The trio is not expected to serve for life, however a longer term is desired. The purpose of longer term service is to avoid unnecessary churns of needing to âelectâ, and to provide stability and consistency in the language and the community.
Succession planning of the trio (open for discussion)
The trio should notify core devs of their intention to disband/retire/quit from their roles at least one year in advance, to allow for them to actively mentor and train the next generation of successors, and to avoid power vacuum.
The trio not necessarily have to be the ones choosing who the next leaders will be.
This PEP does not enforce that the same governance model be chosen for the next generation. Python as language and community can continue to evolve. By giving one year advance notice to disband, the trio is giving the core Python community an opportunity to reflect on the success/failure of this governance model, and choose a different governance model if needed.
However, the next governance model and leaders should be chosen/elected within one year after the trio announced their desire to disband.
If it was decided to continue with this model of governance, the next generation of trio will be nominated and elected similar to how the first trio were nominated/chosen.
The trio should act as advisor/mentor to the next generation chosen leaders for at least X months.
Since future trio will be chosen out of Python core developers, it will make sense for future Python core developers to possess some but not necessarily all, qualities of the trio as laid out in this PEP.
Therefore, the guidelines for selecting trio members can also be used as guidelines when identifying future Python core developers.
Scenario if one member of the trio needs to quit (open for discussion)
This is open to further discussion.
What if one member of the chosen trio has to quit, for unforseen reasons?
There are several options:
- The remaining duo can select another member to fill in the role
- The trio can choose to disband, core developers can nominate other trios
- Core developers can choose a different governance model
- ??
Formation of working groups/area of expertise/ownership (previously BDFL delegate)
(Open for discussion).
Certain areas and topic of Core Python and Python community require leaders with specific skills of specialty. It will be recommended that there will be several working groups with more authority in that specific area to assist the trio in making decisions.
The role of these âspecialized work groups/councilâ is to be the final decision maker for controversial discussions that arise in their respective areas.
These working groups should be small (3-5 people), for similar reasons that the leadership trio is a small group.
These working groups should consist of both Python core developers and external experts. This is to ensure that decision made does not favor only Python core developers.
Python Core developers will defer decisions to these working groups on their respective topic. However these groups will answer/defer to the trio.
These working groups can be selected and members voted only after this PEP gets accepted.
If this PEP is accepted, the working group can be decided within a year or two after the PEPâs acceptance.
When selecting members of these special work groups, the trio will take every effort into including members from underrepresented group into consideration. Ideally, the workgroup members should include and reflect the diversity of the wider Python community.
Members of this workgroup do not need to be a Python core developer, but they need to be at least a basic member of the PSF.
These workgroup are active as long as the trio are active.
Several suggested working groups to start:
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Documentation of CPython
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Security of CPython
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Performance of CPython
The workgroup can be seen as having similar role as the previously known role of âBDFL-delegateâ or PEP czars. The difference is, instead of appointing a single person as decision maker, there will be a small team of decision makers.
Another difference with the previous âBDFL-delegateâ role, the group can be active as long as the trio is active, as opposed to only when there is a PEP that requires their expertise.
When the trio disbands, these workgroups are disbanded too.
Why these workgroups are necessary
This is an effort to ârefactor large roleâ of the previous Python BDFL.
Reasoning for choosing the name trio
Not to be confused with Python trio (an async library).
The âtrioâ is short and easy to pronounce, unlike other words that are long and can have negative interpretations, like triad, trinity, triumvirate, threesome, etc.
Copyright
This document has been placed in the public domain.
Source: https://github.com/python/peps/blob/master/pep-8011.rst
). I think this is suggesting that others outside the trio should provide vision as well, or perhaps itâs just an editing mistake, but it would be nice to be totally clear on whether the trio ultimately determines the direction that Python takes or not.
