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We have recently undergone a high intensity period of development on the specifications, to reach the release of version 1.0. Maybe now the intensity of development in the specifications can be allowed to find its natural level of intensity whilst we concentrate our development resources elsewhere? Here is a proposal for how we do this.
Separate the role of BB Lead into Triage Lead and Tech
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Expert
We currently employ BB leads on the basis that they are the key writer of a building block specification but, now that we have the basic block in place, do we really need to continue this model?
To better manage the contribution of those other than paid individuals, be they volunteer individuals or organisations volunteering staff, we should reorganise so that we separate the role of BB lead into two parts, that of a Triage Lead whose primary responsibility is to welcome contribution by others, organise and support their work, bring in the expert opinion of a Tech LeadExpert, ensure that the work meets an agreed set of quality criteria and invite the Committer Lead to merge it into our published specification.
Tech Leads Experts do not necessarily need to hold a 1:1 relationship with a building block. Indeed, we may work with multiple tech leads on a single BB and one Tech Lead Expert may be consulted on changes across multiple BBs. The idea is that the Triage Lead ensures that the proposed change is documented well enough in the Jira issue that the Tech Lead Expert has to spend very little time giving their opinion.
A Triage Lead needs the leadership qualities we discussed in Berlin in May. Some current BB Leads would likely be great Triage Leads and Tech Leads Experts at the same time.
Pay small number of Triage Leads / Committer Lead
The key workload of maintaining the team around building blocks falls to the Triage Leads. There may be two or three of these to support all the current building blocks, the final number being determined by budget. Their work is less easy to find voluntarily.
Tech leads Experts are easier to find voluntarily, especially if we remove the triage/management responsibility.
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The proposal requires a number of roles to implement. In some cases, one person may be performing more than one of these roles. Ideally, though, they should avoid a situation where they are both proposing and approving the same change. An example of this would be if a person acts as a Triage Lead on an issue, they should as be a different person to who is acting as a Committer Lead to actually merge the work.
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Commits can be made either in GitHub or GitBook. We will reflect permissions across each platform. A Committer Lead may have that role across one, many or all repositories.
And, of course, everyone is a Contributor
Everyone connected to the GovStack project is a Contributor. In the specific context of the specifications, a Contributor can either bring their own ideas, questions, or feedback to the project and this is always done through the Jira issue management system. Only by using Jira to record all of the activity, can we be sure to respond consistently and later give due recognition and reward for the contributions they make.
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