#89 Defining Fedora Council Diversity Advisor term
Closed: complete 3 years ago by jflory7. Opened 5 years ago by amsharma.

The intent is to come-up with a clear policy and process for electing Fedora Council Diversity Advisor and defining the term policy too.
We can take the reference of this page and create one for our team - https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fesco/Fedora_Council_Engineering_Rep/


Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue priority set to: needs review (was: awaiting triage)
- Issue set to the milestone: Fedora 30 (to May 2019)
- Issue tagged with: council, docs

5 years ago

I can take this up if no one is working on this.

Metadata Update from @amsharma:
- Issue assigned to amsharma

5 years ago

I can take this up if no one is working on this.

Thanks Amita.

This is up for review. One can comment in the google document to share their feedback. -

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zgvcK4-OBAkaZRuIPja8F7zlqMh8IElV2P1TH6pgqIQ/edit?usp=sharing

Pasting the content here as well for quick access.
Thanks.

Fedora Council Diversity Rep
The Fedora Diversity Advisor acts as a source of support and information for all contributors and users, especially those from underrepresented populations, so that issues of inclusion and equity can be discussed and addressed with the planning of multiculturalism and comfort. The Fedora Diversity Advisor will lead initiatives to assess and promote equality and inclusion within the Fedora contributor and user communities, and will develop project strategy on diversity issues. The Diversity Advisor will also be the point of contact for Fedora’s participation in third-party outreach programs and events.

Duration of Service
The representative will serve in this role for two fedora release cycles i.e. minimum 12 months and/or until they wish to step down, or the Council wish to replace them. Careful consideration of time commitments should be taken when doing the selection and the Council, Diversity team, and the representative should evaluate their effectiveness as a group on a fairly regular basis. In the event that one of the three involved parties wishes to make a change in representative, sufficient reason should be given and then a new representative will be chosen by Diversity team.

Nomination
There will be a two weeks nomination period open for potential representatives every year in the month of August. Nominees can be self-nominated from the diversity team members or nominated by the diversity team, with the nominee giving a public acknowledgment of interest in the role. People wishing to be nominees should have a solid understanding of Fedora Diversity process, the higher level technical processes of the project and sufficient time to perform the duties required. It is recommended that they should be members of Fedora family and diversity team for more than a year.
In the event that there are no nominees, Diversity team will work with the Council to broaden the search message and request more time. Should no nominees be found after that, the role will rotate among existing Diversity team members until the next elections.

Selection
After the two weeks nomination period expires, Diversity team will discuss the candidates in their public meeting and select the person they believe will be the best fit for the Diversity Representative role. The criteria are flexible and will differ based on many factors which will change over the course of time based on the current project’s focus and goals. Nominees are encouraged to attend the meeting to answer any questions that Diversity or other Fedora groups may have. The selected person and the Council will be notified and the person will start serving in that role as soon as possible.

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue tagged with: improvement, needs info, type - internal organization

5 years ago

@jonatoni @bee2502 @jflory7 Hey, it will be good to see some feedback from you all. Then we can run this through council and update our documents. An early review from @bex can also help, thanks.

Hey @amsharma, I'll leave comments in the Google Doc by the end of the week. :thumbsup:

@bex Thanks for your feedback, I addressed most of the comments and some have queries for you. Please check when you get some time. Thanks again.

@jflory7 thanks, I will wait for your comments.

@bee2502 @jonatoni Please check the document once.

@all, I am planning to make it final after 2 weeks - by 16th April, 2020. If that sounds reasonable. Thanks.

I assume "make it final" means bring a final draft to a vote before the committee. Is this correct?

I assume "make it final" means bring a final draft to a vote before the committee. Is this correct?

Before the council - yes, committee?

I don't know that this needs council approval.

Do you mean diversity team by the term "committee"? @bex

Do you mean diversity team by the term "committee"? @bex

s/committee/team/ - I meant the team

Thanks for the clarification @bex . So, I am asking the feedback here in the ticket from the team. I will send the mail to the ML for the consent after addressing all the comments and if possible to attend a meeting (I can bring this up there as well). If you have any other valuable suggestions to gather the consent, please share. Thanks.

@jonatoni @bee2502 @jflory7 Please share your feedback and I can send the mail for the final votes. Thanks.

Sorry for the late feedback. My comments are in-line below:

Fedora Diversity Advisor

The advisor position and the team name written in the document is Fedora Diversity. This should be Fedora Diversity & Inclusion to be consistent with our team name and published docs.

The Fedora Diversity Team acts as a source of support and information for all contributors and users, especially those from underrepresented populations, so that issues of inclusion and equity can be discussed and addressed with the planning of multiculturalism and comfort.

I suggest we use the wording of our docs page and link there for more info about the team. For example:

Fedora Diversity and Inclusion team is committed to fostering diversity and inclusion in Fedora community. You can read more about the team on the Fedora Docs site.

The Fedora Diversity Advisor helps the diversity team in these initiatives to assess and promote equality and inclusion within the Fedora contributor and user communities, and will develop project strategy on diversity issues with the help of the team members. Advisor takes help from the diversity team leader to accomplish all the desired team goals.

We can link to our team goals here: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/diversity-inclusion/team/#goals

Nominees can be self-nominated from the Fedora Diversity and Inclusion Teamdiversity team membership or nominated by the Fedora Diversity and Inclusion Teamdiversity team. Nominations by Fedora Diversity and Inclusion Teamdiversity team members may be for non-members. All nominees must publicly acknowledge interest in the role.

We can say this more clearly. It is confusing to only accept nominations by the D&I Team but we can nominate someone not already in the team. I think nominations should be opened up to the community, but voting should be limited to existing team members. We also don't mention getting consent of the nominee – I think we should make that explicit. My suggested rephrase:

Nominations are submitted by CLA+1 members of the Fedora community. Anyone with CLA+1 status may be nominated. You may either self-nominate or nominate someone else. If nominating someone else, get their consent before submitting a public nomination.

It is recommended, but not required, that they should have a FAS account and should be a member of Fedora Diversity and Inclusion Teamdiversity team for more than a year.

I believe the D&I Advisor must be someone who is at least already familiar with the Fedora community. I suggest a requirement of CLA+1 status to be a nominee, but I think it's okay if they are not already a sponsored member of D&I Team.

After the two week nomination period, the Fedora Diversity and Inclusion TeamDiversity team will discuss the candidates in a public meeting and select the person they believe will be the best fit for the Fedora Diversity and InclusionDiversity Advisor role by voting +1/-1/0.

I don't like public discussion of this. Who we vote for is a personal decision and public discussion may bias the vote a particular way, especially if one nominee is able to receive better visibility in this discussion than another nominee. I suggest using Fedora Elections app for this if there are more than two candidates.

[…]

The rest of the write-up looks good. :thumbsup: Thanks for taking the time to work on this @amsharma, we have all been busy lately but I appreciate your time here. :blush: Just make sure we use Fedora Diversity and Inclusion consistently, or abbreviate to D&I. I hope this feedback is helpful.

Thanks @jflory7 for taking time for valuable review, It is helpful.

I accepted all the suggestions @jflory7 except the public voting one. Let's hear from the rest of the group what they suggest. Thanks :)

We discussed this in today's meeting - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FgLp-m-Akts1_d4oShJtbZe23X60PqUnvA8rGdp7uSs/edit?usp=sharing

And, we agreed to use Fedora voting app, @jflory7 do you know the process how this app needs to be used if you can share please :)

As discussed in the team meeting, I will make change in the doc and this will go to our doc site this Wednesday, if no one has any more comments. Thanks

And, we agreed to use Fedora voting app, @jflory7 do you know the process how this app needs to be used if you can share please :)

@bcotton

This is the final version of the document - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zgvcK4-OBAkaZRuIPja8F7zlqMh8IElV2P1TH6pgqIQ/edit?usp=sharing with all the changes and review comments incorporated.
If there will not be any more objections/comments, This will be checked-in to the diversity doc site on 8th May, 2019.
Thanks everyone for participating in review process.

+1 to the draft till now.

Before we check into docs, we need to add details on roles and responsibilties of Fedora D&I advisor vs how they differ from those of Fedora D&I Team Lead. The goals on wiki page are responsibilities of both Team Lead and Advisor.

+1 to the draft till now.
Before we check into docs, we need to add details on roles and responsibilties of Fedora D&I advisor vs how they differ from those of Fedora D&I Team Lead. The goals on wiki page are responsibilities of both Team Lead and Advisor.

This document scope is for the advisor role only. For the lead's role we have another ticket#103. That should not block this one.

Yes, but since the goals mentioned for this role are team goals, it is a responsibility of both Advisor and Team Lead. Hence, I feel the document should include a few lines on the differences between both roles and their responsibilities.

Yes, but since the goals mentioned for this role are team goals, it is a responsibility of both Advisor and Team Lead. Hence, I feel the document should include a few lines on the differences between both roles and their responsibilities.

And that is clearly mentioned "Advisor takes help from the Fedora Diversity and Inclusion Team leader to accomplish all the desired team goals."
Still if you can share those particular lines you want to suggest as you are serving this role in the team, I will be happy to add them.

And, we agreed to use Fedora voting app, @jflory7 do you know the process how this app needs to be used if you can share please :)

To run an election, you need to contact me (via a ticket in the Fedora Project Schedule repo preferably, but via email works, too). I would need the following information:

  • Candidates
  • Links to bios/interviews as appropriate
  • Start and end dates of elections
  • How you want me to announce results
  • (optional) FAS group required to vote
  • (optional) Is FPCA required to vote?

Yes, but since the goals mentioned for this role are team goals, it is a responsibility of both Advisor and Team Lead. Hence, I feel the document should include a few lines on the differences between both roles and their responsibilities.

And that is clearly mentioned "Advisor takes help from the Fedora Diversity and Inclusion Team leader to accomplish all the desired team goals."
Still if you can share those particular lines you want to suggest as you are serving this role in the team, I will be happy to add them.

It is still unclear though what the advisor does vs what the team lead does - especially for someone outside the D&I team. I have edited the google doc with my suggestions on this.

And, we agreed to use Fedora voting app, @jflory7 do you know the process how this app needs to be used if you can share please :)
To run an election, you need to contact me (via a ticket in the Fedora Project Schedule repo preferably, but via email works, too). I would need the following information:

Candidates
Links to bios/interviews as appropriate
Start and end dates of elections
How you want me to announce results
(optional) FAS group required to vote
(optional) Is FPCA required to vote?

Thanks @bcotton , How much time prior to election, we should be sharing this information with you?

Yes, but since the goals mentioned for this role are team goals, it is a responsibility of both Advisor and Team Lead. Hence, I feel the document should include a few lines on the differences between both roles and their responsibilities.
And that is clearly mentioned "Advisor takes help from the Fedora Diversity and Inclusion Team leader to accomplish all the desired team goals."
Still if you can share those particular lines you want to suggest as you are serving this role in the team, I will be happy to add them.

It is still unclear though what the advisor does vs what the team lead does - especially for someone outside the D&I team. I have edited the google doc with my suggestions on this.

All suggestions accepted.
If there will not be any more comments, I would like to get it to the doc site by tomorrow. Thanks.

Any more inputs anyone.. I will push this to doc site by 10th May last. Thanks.

Hi @amsharma, when you have a chance to submit a docs PR for this, feel free to assign me for review.

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue set to the milestone: None (was: Fedora 30 (to May 2019))

4 years ago

Planning to do it this week. Thanks.

work is done for this, waiting for another PR to get merged first then will submit this one.

Hey @amsharma, if you have the changes ready, please send a PR when you have time since #98 might take longer for review. #98 does not block this ticket. :)

Thanks for working on this! :raised_hands:

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue untagged with: needs info
- Issue priority set to: waiting on assignee (was: needs review)

4 years ago

Since most of the team members already reviewed it, I would like to open a ticket to gather the nominations for next advisor role, so that we can open the elections timely and do some ground work before flock. Thoughts?

Will work on PR as well, but would like to close first the one opened one. Thanks,

Btw another idea that came up during the Council meeting is to have elections same time as we have for MIndshare/FESCo/Council.

Btw another idea that came up during the Council meeting is to have elections same time as we have for MIndshare/FESCo/Council.

Those elections are open to public, this one is within the team.
Having it at the same time - does that mean diversity elections will also be open for public?

Btw another idea that came up during the Council meeting is to have elections same time as we have for MIndshare/FESCo/Council.

Those elections are open to public, this one is within the team.
Having it at the same time - does that mean diversity elections will also be open for public?

No, I can limit voting to a specific FAS group. Whether or not you use the elections application, I think it makes sense to align the D&I rep's term. You could even hold the election a few weeks before the rest of the elections, and just not seat the person until after the public elections conclude.

Btw another idea that came up during the Council meeting is to have elections same time as we have for MIndshare/FESCo/Council.
Those elections are open to public, this one is within the team.
Having it at the same time - does that mean diversity elections will also be open for public?

No, I can limit voting to a specific FAS group. Whether or not you use the elections application, I think it makes sense to align the D&I rep's term. You could even hold the election a few weeks before the rest of the elections, and just not seat the person until after the public elections conclude.

ok, thanks for the response @bcotton . I will make required changes for the term in draft.

OKAY, so we (actually "I") are so so far behind on this.
I will try to get the last review comments incorporated soon.

Meanwhile @bcotton do you think it is possible to pull these elections now or near future as we missed almost each election cycle (Actually we have never done any so far)?

Anyways, these elections will be within this group and not open for public. WDYT? Please advise. Thanks.

Meanwhile @bcotton do you think it is possible to pull these elections now or near future as we missed almost each election cycle (Actually we have never done any so far)?

Not a problem. We can start as soon as you'd like. I'd like one business day advance notice to create the election and add the candidates, but the process itself only takes a few minutes, so I can rush if need be.

Anyways, these elections will be within this group and not open for public. WDYT? Please advise. Thanks.

Is there a FAS group associated with this? That's the only way to enforce voting in the elections app.

Meanwhile @bcotton do you think it is possible to pull these elections now or near future as we missed almost each election cycle (Actually we have never done any so far)?

Not a problem. We can start as soon as you'd like. I'd like one business day advance notice to create the election and add the candidates, but the process itself only takes a few minutes, so I can rush if need be.

No rush, we are already too late so I would like to take few more days to get team's consent on this before I move forward. Thanks a lot for your quick response on this :)

Anyways, these elections will be within this group and not open for public. WDYT? Please advise. Thanks.

Is there a FAS group associated with this? That's the only way to enforce voting in the elections app.

Yes, It is "Fedora Diversity and Inclusion Team (diversity-team)"

So for now, I will follow :

  • Send mail on our ML to gather consent on the elections
  • Open ticket to gather nominations (2 weeks)
  • Send you mail with nominations and other info if required.

Thanks again @bcotton

@tatica @riecatnor @jonatoni @nikhilkathole and everyone, we need team's consent here to execute elections for our next D&I team's council representative. Thanks to @jonatoni who helped us do it till date.

According to the process[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zgvcK4-OBAkaZRuIPja8F7zlqMh8IElV2P1TH6pgqIQ/edit?usp=sharing] defined, we should be running these elections after every 2 Fedora release cycles but unfortunately, that did not happen as we all got busy.

But better late than never, @bcotton can help us do it now.

what do you all think about it? Please share your thoughts. Thanks.

Metadata Update from @amsharma:
- Issue priority set to: needs review (was: waiting on assignee)

4 years ago

+1 from me. It's time to arrange elections ASAP.

I am +1 for an election

I'm confused what we are voting on. I thought the ticket's closing criteria is a PR that defines and documents the Diversity Council rep. I am +1 to seeing a docs PR from the above discussion, because the responsibilities and role are still not documented.

If we are proposing a new election now, let's open a new ticket instead of piggybacking on an old one.

I'm confused what we are voting on. I thought the ticket's closing criteria is a PR that defines and documents the Diversity Council rep. I am +1 to seeing a docs PR from the above discussion, because the responsibilities and role are still not documented.

The voting is for election. I agree with you to add responsibilities and role section in document. I added it and request @jonatoni to add more about it in existing doc.

If we are proposing a new election now, let's open a new ticket instead of piggybacking on an old one.

I agree with you. Moving the election agenda to new ticket and let's work on finishing this one by completing document. Thanks.

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue untagged with: improvement
- Issue assigned to jflory7 (was: amsharma)
- Issue priority set to: waiting on assignee (was: needs review)
- Issue tagged with: new change

3 years ago

Hi folks, I am reviving this ticket. I met with @riecatnor today and we discussed how to help the overall sustainability of the team. One thing we have always struggled with (as this ticket shows) is how the Council rep role works on our team and what the common responsibilities are.

I have a short list of some ideas I want to get down later:

  • Give perspective on topics discussed by Council
  • Attend Council face-to-face meetings
  • Attend D&I team meeetings for recurring updates
  • Facilitate / plan annual D&I team summit

That first bullet is loaded because that is actually a lot bigger than it sounds. I hope to have a first draft by the end of the year.

See PR #186 for the follow-up to the previous comment. I was working on a draft the past couple weeks and I am happy with what I have so far. Please leave feedback on the Pull Request! :pray:

PR #186 is merged. There are a few other pending items to follow up with the Council docs, but they are unrelated to this ticket. I am closing this ticket as complete.

This one feels really great to close out. It is our oldest ticket in the team. :grinning:

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue close_status updated to: complete
- Issue status updated to: Closed (was: Open)

3 years ago

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Related Pull Requests
  • #186 Merged 3 years ago