Hello everyone,
Since the SunPy Coordination meeting last year, I
have been working on drafting an updated version of the second
SunPy Enhancement Proposal SEP
2, which is the document which lays out how the project is
governed.
This working draft is open for review and discussion
here: https://github.com/sunpy/sunpy-SEP/pull/62
Some of the objectives of this update to our
governance are:
-
Increase the engagement of the community with the
governance of the project. Under our current
governance structure the board is very “hands-off” leaving
almost all the running of the project to the lead developer
and the maintainers. Many active contributors to SunPy have
little understanding of the role of the board or it’s
responsibilities.
-
Distribute the role of lead developer over more
people. As the project grows the lead developer
role has grown, to the point where it is a lot of work for two
people (including the deputy). This rewrite of the governance
proposes a three person committee to take on the day-to-day
management of the project, including the financial management.
-
Setup a way for the leadership of the project to be
elected, and accountable to the community.
Currently the board is self-electing, and then appoint the
lead developer. This was acceptable when the project was
small, but as our community grows, this proposal sets up
elections for the new Steering Committee and those who are
eligible to vote in those elections.
We welcome all members of the SunPy Community to
provide comments on this SEP, the SEP will not be accepted by
the board until broad consensus is reached within the community.
To this end the SunPy Community meeting at
1700 UTC on Wednesday 1st March will be dedicated to
discussing the proposal all are welcome to join at https://sunpy.org/jitsi.
Stuart
Cross posted from Discourse:
https://community.openastronomy.org/t/updating-the-sunpy-projects-governance/584