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Governance in MLJ

The following contains the formal governance structure of the Machine Learning in Julia project (MLJ). This project maintains and develops the open source software hosted by the JuliaAI GitHub organization. This document clarifies how decisions are made with respect to community interactions, including the relationship between open source development and work that may be funded by for-profit and non-profit entities.

Code of Conduct

The MLJ community values inclusivity and diversity. Everyone should treat others with utmost respect. Everyone in the community must adhere to the MLJ Code of Conduct which reflects the values of our community. Violations of the code should be reported to members of the Steering Council, where the offenses will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Current Steering Council

Advisory Committee

Governing Rules and Duties

Steering Council

The role of the Steering Council is to provide active leadership for the Project in making everyday decisions on technical and administrative issues, through working with and taking input from the Community.

During the everyday project activities, Council Members participate in all discussions, code review and other project activities as peers with all other Contributors and the Community. In these everyday activities, Council Members do not have any special power or privilege through their membership on the Council. However, because of the quality and quantity of their own contributions to the project and their expert knowledge of the Project Software and Services, Council Members are expected to provide useful guidance, both technical and in terms of project direction, to potentially less experienced Contributors.

The Steering Council and its Members play a special role in certain situations. In particular, the Council may make decisions regarding:

  • The overall scope, vision and direction of the project.

  • The strategic collaborations with other organizations or individuals.

  • Specific technical issues, features, bugs and pull requests. They are the primary mechanism of guiding the code review process and merging pull requests.

  • Services that are run by the Project and manage those Services for the benefit of the Project and Community.

  • The appointment of new Members to the Steering Council and Advisory Committee, subject to procedures outlined below.

  • Community discussions on proposals where consensus has not been reached in a reasonable time frame.

Steering Council decisions are taken by simple majority, with the exception of changes to these Governance Documents, which follow the procedure in the section 'Changing the Governance Documents'.

Steering Council Membership

Potential Council Members are nominated by existing Council Members or by the Community and voted upon by the existing Council after confirming the potential Member is willing to serve in that capacity. The Ideal Candidate will: (i) have made contributions to the MLJ project that are substantial in quality and quantity, and sustained over at least six months; and (ii) have demonstrably broad familiarity with Machine Learning practices. Candidates satisfying (ii) but not (i) may also be considered, but only if all the following conditions are met:

  • The need for a new Steering Council Member is acute.

  • The Candidate under consideration has made comparable contributions to another open source software project related to Machine Learning.

  • All reasonable efforts to identify a willing Ideal Candidate have failed.

When considering potential Members, the Council will look at candidates with a comprehensive view of their contributions. This will include but is not limited to code, code review, infrastructure work, mailing list and chat participation, community help/building, education and outreach, and design work.

A Council Member can only be removed in one of the following ways:

  • The Member resigns.

  • The Member has been inactive in the project for a period of one year and agrees to be removed upon the request of another Member.

  • The Member has been inactive in the project for a period of two years, and a majority of the other Members agree to have the inactive member removed.

  • The Member has, in the view of a majority of other Members, actively engaged in behavior harmful to the Project's well-being, and attempts at communication and conflict resolution have failed.

All former Council members can be considered for membership again at any time in the future, like any other Project Contributor. Retired Council Members and their years of service will be acknowledged on the project website.

Fiscal Decisions

All fiscal decisions are made by the Steering Council to ensure any funds are spent in a manner that furthers the mission of the Project. Fiscal decisions require majority approval by acting Steering Council Members.

Advisory Committee

The Project has an Advisory Committee that works to ensure the long-term well-being of the Project. The Committee advises the Steering Council and may be called upon to break deadlocks or serious disagreements in the Council. The Community can ask the Committee to review actions taken by the Council, and the Committee will meet each year to review Project activities. Committee decisions are taken by consensus. Members of the Advisory Committee are appointed by the Steering Council. A Member of the Advisory Committee can request to be removed from the Committee at any time.

Conflict of Interest

It is expected that Steering Council and Advisory Committee Members will be employed at a wide range of companies, universities and non-profit organizations. Because of this, it is possible that Members will have conflicts of interest. Such conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to:

Financial interests, such as investments, employment or contracting work, outside of the Project that may influence their work on the Project.

Access to proprietary information of their employer that could potentially leak into their work with the Project.

All members of the Council and Committee shall disclose any conflict of interest they may have. Members with a conflict of interest in a particular issue may participate in Council discussions on that issue, but must recuse themselves from voting on the issue.

Changing the Governance Document

Changes to this governance document may be proposed by any member of the MLJ Community, by opening a pull request (PR). The source of this document resides at github.com/JuliaA/MLJ/GOVERNANCE.md. The Steering Council may immediately merge requests that do not materially effect the rules of governance. Such changes include correcting false information and updating the lists of Council or Committee members. Proposals materially effecting the rules of governance must explain the reasons for the change and include a statement inviting members of the Community to provide their feedback on the proposal. Members of the Steering Council will facilitate a discussion seeking consensus on whether to accept or reject the proposed changes. After a reasonable period, not less than 28 days, the Steering Council will vote either to merge or close the PR. If at least 2/3 of the Council vote to accept the changes, the PR will be merged and otherwise it will be closed. While it is expected that the Council Members make a good faith attempt to consider the majority view articulated in the Community discussion, Members are not bound by those views.

If Council unanimously agrees that a proposal to change the Governance Document is frivolous, it may reject it immediately without Community review.