AB/Chairing

This is a draft, it does not reflect any consensus of anybody, and should not be referred to as anything other than a Work in Progress, if at referred to at all.

Chairing the AB

Although from an outside perspective, the chair often appears to be “in charge”, chairing is a role of facilitation and service. The role of the AB chair(s) is to facilitate the discussions and operations of the AB. It is not about controlling, managing, or representing the AB.

Agenda Management:

• AB chairs should solicit input from the CEO about topics for the AB to discuss, and should include them in the agenda in a timely manner. The AB “provides ongoing guidance to the Team”, which requires making ourselves useful and relevant to the Team and its leadership.

• Chairs should be responsive to agenda requests from members of the AB, including—but not limited—to themselves.
  • The Agenda+ label in GitHub (and its variants) means “request to add to the agenda”. Chairs must not remove the label if the discussion has not happened yet, but may ask the requester if the topic is still relevant or requires additional preparation time if the discussion has evolved since then.
  • When raising a new topic for discussion, chairs, as other members, should first raise it in GitHub or via email, to provide context and facilitate discussion ahead of the meeting, and, except for sensitive topics, should not merely add it as an entry in the agenda without context.

• Chairs, when preparing an Agenda, should not just list broad topics as Agenda items, and instead should be specific and list explicit goals. Example: “Process” is not a good agenda item. “Consider adoption into the Process of measure Foobar, documented at xxxx” is more likely to lead to effective conversations.

• Chairs should schedule requested topics at appropriate times, for example by grouping related topics together, prioritizing by urgency and importance, and timeboxing appropriately. Chairs should be careful to avoid prioritizing or a giving a disproportionate share of meeting time to topics based on personal preference, and to avoid deferring topics they personally value less or proposals they disagree with. (Chairing is facilitation, not control, of the AB agenda.)

Representation

• Chairs should take part in the discussions of the AB as equal and valuable participants. However, they must distinguish their role as chair from their role as participant, and “take their chair hat off” when expressing a personal opinion. Chairs should ask their co-chair (or someone else) to manage sessions in which they are deeply involved.

• “Chair of the AB” is not “representative of the AB”. Unless the AB has given the chairs special dispensation to represent them, chairs should not act as advisers, negotiators, or representatives in lieu of the AB. Providing guidance or feedback to the CEO is the role of the whole AB, not of its chairs.

Facilitating Group Dynamics

• AB Chairs are not managers: they cannot dictate who works on which project, appoint people to AB projects or task forces, or grant privileges to a subset of the AB of their choosing. All members of the AB are equally welcome to work on any AB topic.
  • Choice of assignment should generally be open and based on volunteering.
  • In rare cases where a fixed set of AB members needs to be designated, the decision must be collective.

• Chairs of the AB do not have authority over or responsibility for the behavior of AB participants. They may be approached as a mediator, but the AB participant in question should be approached directly; they are responsible for their own behavior.

• Chairs should remind everyone to be courteous and ease tensions, but should not shutdown or block discussion when a member raises an issue or point of conflict. Chairs must not be conflict-avoidant, but instead, listen to members and help facilitate any necessary conflict resolution.

• Chairs should give every AB member an opportunity to express their views, but should not encourage dissent; the goal of the chair is to help the group find consensus.

Self-care

• Chairing is hard and draining. If you feel aspects of burning out as a (co-)chair, consider taking a leave of fixed duration from your (co-)chairing role & responsibilities, e.g. 1–2 months. If after your leave, you still feel burnt out or otherwise uninterested in returning as (co-)chair, either extend your leave for a fixed duration, or consider stepping down from (co-)chairing and take care of yourself first. Leave it up to the group to select another (co-)chair. You are not responsible for ensuring your replacement.