2009-05-22
The Decision-Making Policy of the XVM Project:

We, the creators of the XVM infrastructure, wish to define a policy
for how decisions of the XVM project will be reached in order to avoid
confusion on this subject among future contributors to the project.
We particularly want to avoid a situation in which the leadership of
the project is unclear after we leave MIT.

In general, we believe that all contributors to the project should have a
say in how the service is run in approximate proportion to their
contributions.  We furthermore believe that strong agreement among the
project's principal contributors is highly important to the project's
future, and so, whenever possible, the project's principal contributors
should reach near-unanimous agreement about how the project should
proceed.  Ultimately, the decisions of a project of this nature need to be
made by the people who are making the project happen.

Unfortunately, reaching unanimous agreement among all of the contributors
to the project might not always be possible.  This document establishes
two leadership positions for the XVM project in order to entrust
decision-making authority to specific individuals.  These leaders are
ultimately entrusted with the project, although they are expected to take
significant pause before using their authority to end a disagreement
before consensus of the principal contributors has been reached.  These
leadership positions are based in part on the roles of "producer" and
"director" described in Frederick P. Brooks' _The Mythical Man-Month_.

The "XVM team leader" is an MIT student who:
- "assembles the team, divides the work, and establishes the schedule"
- "acquires and keeps on acquiring the necessary resources"
- "establishes the pattern of communication and reporting within the team"
- "ensures that the schedule is met, shifting resources and organization
   in order to respond to changing circumstances"

The team leader is responsible for ensuring that the project continues to
make regular progress.  The team leader is entrusted with arbitrating
decisions regarding the organization of the XVM team and the focus of its
ongoing development efforts.  For example, the team leader may remove
individuals from the project who are deemed to be having an overall
negative influence on the project.

The "XVM architect" is an MIT student who:
- "provides unity and conceptual integrity to the whole design"
- "serves as a limit to system complexity"
- "invents solutions for [large-scale technical problems] or shifts the
   system design as required"

The architect is responsible for ensuring the technical quality of the
XVM service.  The architect is entrusted with arbitrating decisions
regarding the scope, design, and operation of the service.  As the
guardian of the technical integrity of the service, the architect may
arbitrate all decisions regarding the project's production hardware and
software.

To ensure effective communication for decisionmaking, changes to the
production hardware and software should when possible be done with notice
that gives the team a reasonable opportunity to comment.  If the architect
is known to be out of contact for a time, then in addition to giving
everyone an opportunity over the usual media, the contributors making the
change should when possible make a particular effort to give the architect
an opportunity by waiting for their return, contacting through other
media, or other means.  The architect need not take this opportunity for
every change.

Both positions may select their own replacement, and, in the case of a
vacancy, either position may select a replacement for the other position.
Before an individual assumes either position as a replacement, that
individual should be confirmed for that position by the SIPB Executive
Committee.  A single individual may hold both positions simultaneously if
every individual who has significantly contributed to the project within
the last one calendar year agrees.  Any objections must occur before the
Executive Committee has confirmed the appointment.

The team leader and architect will strive to cultivate potential
successors from the beginning of their term, aiming to step down after
between one and two years.  Because smooth transitions are critical to the
future of the project, the occupant of each position should ideally select
their replacement and pass on the position before they begin their final
year as an MIT student.

Greg Price serves as the first XVM team leader, and Evan Broder as the
first XVM architect.

Any part of the XVM decision-making policy may be modified as necessary
by agreement between the XVM team leader and the XVM architect.  When
changing the XVM decision-making policy, as with any major decision,
near-unanimous agreement among the project's principal contributors
should ideally be reached.

The XVM project is affiliated with SIPB, and while the project remains
affiliated with SIPB, the project will follow appropriate SIPB procedures
for projects.

This policy should be distributed to contributors to the project so that
they may decide not to contribute if they are dissatisfied with it.

Agreed unanimously on 2009-05-22.