CHARTER
The Governance working group is a small group chartered by the community to help synthesize and formalize the various governance discussions and documents currently underway.
The scope of the Samvera Governance Working Group’s deliverables will be:
Context: A one-page summary of the discussion, documentation, and feedback to-date related to the various governance models under consideration.
Synthesis: A summary of the themes and issues that the community hopes to address by refining existing or adopting new governance practices and structures. Ideally identifies key differences and decision points between the models provided for evaluation and current model. This combined context and synthesis documents should be approximately 750-1500 words (1-3 pages) in length
Draft: Development of a draft governance proposal and incremental steps to implementation if appropriate
Community Input: Circulation of the above to Partners, stakeholders, and the Steering group for review, comment, and change requests to the proposal
Legal Review: This step will be shepherded by Steering, as the proposed model will also be assessed for legal, licensing, and MOU implications prior to further community review.
Proposal: A revised governance proposal based on community, stakeholder, & legal feedback
Community Review: Circulation of the final proposal for potential adoption at a Spring/Summer 2018 partner meeting
Based on stakeholder & community, the group may choose to amend or update its charter or deliverables during the course of its work as long as such changes are communicated openly to the broader community.
MEMBERSHIP
In order to facilitate the tight working timelines necessary to achieve the target deadline, working group membership will be limited to a small 6-8 person agile team which can collaborate efficiently to produce the deliverables in the desired timelines. With this in mind, we will be soliciting representation from the community as follows:
2-3 members from the existing Governance working team who can provide context and continuity from existing work
2-3 members present at the November 2018 Partner Meeting discussion to represent and synthesize the discussion at the partner meeting.
2-3 at-large members drawn from the broader partner community to represent stakeholders not able to be present at the in-person Partner Meeting
One individual to serve as the group’s Secretariat handling logistical and communication details to help sustain the momentum of the group
Members would be expected to attend two monthly 30 minute sessions and dedicate approx. an additional four hours a month, now through March to complete the listed deliverables. Subteams for specific deliverables of the work will also need to convene more frequently during certain phases of the timeline.
Although the group will have limited membership, it will be accountable to ensuring broad community review of each deliverable and input leading to the final proposal.
TIMELINES
Context: the discussion summary document will be completed by
Friday, January 19th, 2018Synthesis: the summary of themes will be completed and circulated by
Friday, January 19th, 2018Draft: initial governance proposal will be drafted for circulation by
Friday, February 16th, 2018Community Input: will be solicited between
Monday, February 19th - Friday, March 2nd, 2018Proposal: a revised proposal incorporating stakeholder feedback by
Monday, March 12, 2018Community Review: circulation of a final proposal between
Monday, March 12, 2018 - late March / early AprilAdoption: following online and in-person discussion at a Spring 2018 Partner Meeting. Community vote to take place within 2 weeks of the partner meeting discussion