[IAEP] PATCH: Remove Decision Panels from our Governance document

[Benjamin M. Schwartz]

On 05/08/2011 05:56 PM, Bernie Innocenti wrote:
> As part of my attempt to simplify bureaucracy within Sugar Labs, I felt
> that Decision Panels were a redundant mechanism to find consensus within
> the community. The existing paragraph on Referenda offers a better way
> to make democratic decisions.

In my view, the Decision Panel mechanism is not redundant with a
referendum.  It is meant as a decision-making mechanism of last resort, in
order to resolve otherwise irreconcilable divisions within the community.
 It serves several purposes, including some that it serves even when it is
not used.  Indeed, ideally it would never be invoked, and it should be
used only when the alternative is a hostile fork or deadlock.

Its purposes are:

1.  To deter power-hungry people from joining the Oversight Board, by
stating explicitly that they are not empowered to decide controversial issues.

2.  To make good decisions by ensuring that decisions are made by experts.
 An ideal Decision Panel should be composed of people who have deep direct
knowledge of the problem at hand.

For topics requiring detailed subject knowledge, the majority of the Sugar
community may lack appropriate experience, and as such may reach the wrong
conclusion.

For example, a user interface question might appropriately be decided by a
panel containing an experienced user interface developer, a scholar of
human-computer interaction, and an educator who has long experience
observing how students actually interact with Sugar.

3.  Creating consensus, in order to avoid division of the Sugar community.
 Decision Panels are required to produce a clear written argument
explaining their decision.  An ideal panel should be composed of impartial
people with expertise in the field.  We may therefore hope that their
arguments will serve to sway the opinions of community members who are
open to the views of others.

In my view, the "white paper" produced by a Decision Panel may produce
consensus in a way that a public referendum will not.

In summary: the purpose of the mechanism is to enrich the discourse of
Sugar Labs by inviting help on the thorniest of issues.  If you don't see
a need for such a panel, then don't make one!

--Ben

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