PSF Board Processes
This page describes a few processes we have in place for the working of the board.
Board Meetings
These are held on every third Monday of a month. See the meeting times table for exact times.
The agenda for the resp. next board meeting is managed on the PSF Board Agenda Page.
Voting Process
Voting messages used in the meetings:
agree: aye or yes
disagree: nay or no
no comment: abstain
Motions can be put to a vote by any board member.
If a board member wants to discuss a motion before the vote, this is signaled with a DISCUSS note to the chat members.
After discussion, the chairman or secretary then starts the voting period with a VOTE. During voting periods no discussions should occur.
The voting period ends with an END VOTE by the chairman or secretary.
- All votes are counted and the results displayed immediately for verification by the chat members.
Email Voting
Email votes can be done on the PSF board mailing list using the following scheme:
- A board member proposes a motion which is then discussed by the board.
The chairman starts the voting call using an email with the proposed resolution and VOTE in the subject line.
- Voting ends when all board members have cast their votes on the motion using the same voting messages as described for the board meetings.
The chairman or secretary announce this by sending an email with the resolution, the voting result and END VOTE in the subject line.
An email vote can fail due to unresponsiveness of the some of the board members. In such a case, the chairman cancels the vote and the motion is put up for voting at the next regular board meeting.
Getting a motion on the agenda
This should be posted to the psf-board list and added to the PSF Board Agenda Page.
The format is rather simple:
RESOLVED, that all apples are green and oranges don't count.
It is usual to put a short explanatory paragraph before the motion so directors understand why they are addressing this business.
Discussions
Each item on the agenda should be handled as follows:
- The next item to be discussed is pasted into the IRC window so everyone knows the topic of discussion.
- The chairman will initiate discussion with DISCUSS. Each member who wishes to speak to the discussions may at any time say YES. The chairman will call on each member to speak appropriately. When discussions are over they will be ended by the chairman with either END DISCUSS if no vote is required, or VOTE.
- If a vote is called then members have up to one minute to cast their vote. When all votes are cast or the minute has elapsed the chairman or (more usually) the Secretary will end the vote with END VOTE and the result will be announced.
Putting draft minutes on the wiki
Process for creating new minute pages:
- add a new line for the new minutes by copying an existing one and updating the date
- click on the new link
- click on the create page link
- add these first lines (changing the date):
#acl BoardGroup:read,write,delete,revert All: #format rst 2010-08-16 PSF Board Meeting Minutes (draft) --------------------------------------------
- save
Getting new software installed
Contact the Infrastructure Committee with the details about the software and how it should be set up.
Committee Reports
The board requires monthly reports from all committees in order to better oversee the actions implemented by the committees and their progress on assigned tasks.
Doug Hellmann has put together an email template to use for these reports.
Please send the reports shortly before the monthly board meetings.