User:Pfrields/Drafts/Roles

This page attempts to make clear the roles of the Board and FESCo in the Fedora Project.

Fedora Project Leader (FPL)
The FPL is ultimately accountable for everything in Fedora, and chairs the Fedora Project Board as a means of delegating decision making power, thus avoiding autocracy.

Fedora Project Board
The Board is responsible for guiding and directing the overall Project. It is comprised of Fedora community members both appointed and elected. The Board must concentrate on matters of a political, philosophical, legal, and financial nature, and therefore invests technical direction power in the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCo).

Groups that are primarily involved in development of collateral not necessarily tied to the Fedora platform report to the Board. Examples include (but are not limited to) Artwork, Community Architecture, Documentation, and Marketing. These groups should not be confused with SIGs, which are groups that have interests in technical facets of the Fedora platform, such as particular applications or features.

FESCo
FESCo is responsible for the technical progression of the Fedora distribution or platform. It is a fully elected group, and the chair of FESCo can be aided and advised by Red Hat's Fedora Engineering Manager when appropriate.

FESCo is responsible for:
 * 1) The inclusion and quality of software in the Fedora platform, and arbitrating any policy or technical issues arising therefrom
 * 2) The inclusion, tracking, and completion of new features in the Fedora platform
 * 3) Oversight of SIGs

Teams or SIGs that are primarily involved in the Fedora platform's development, features, or customization report to FESCo. Examples include (but are not limited to) QA/QE, Release Engineering, Triage, Packaging, KDE, and programming language-specific SIGs.

FESCo is accountable to the Board for the development of the Fedora platform. It makes reports to the Board as required, and refers an issue to the Board if an impasse is reached in decision making, or if the existing non-technical policies of the Fedora Project are insufficient or conflicting.

SIG Roles
SIGs are loosely-knit groups of Fedora community members with a common interest in developing the Fedora platform. SIGs do not have formal governance and therefore are not held accountable for achieving goals, except by their members to each other. SIGs are not required to seek approval from, FESCo for any issue except features that are to appear in the Fedora platform.

However, a SIG that wants to have its work recognized and integrated into the Fedora platform should be required to make reports to FESCo on whatever basis FESCo sets. FESCo should recognize successful SIGs by including their concerns in its distribution policy and technical planning. FESCo is responsible for setting appropriate reporting policy of SIGs on a global or individual basis.

Breakdown
This is a preliminary attempt to break down reporting structures in Fedora. FESCo reports to the Board. Other groups are accountable to either FESCo or the Board as follows: