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<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<guide link="/doc/en/management-structure.xml">
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<author title = "Author">
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<mail link = "drobbins@gentoo.org">Daniel Robbins</mail></author>
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<author title = "Editor">
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<mail link = "klieber@gentoo.org">Kurt Lieber</mail></author>
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<version>1.0</version>
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<date>24 Jun 2003</date>
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<abstract>Gentoo top-level management structure proposal, DRAFT</abstract>
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<chapter>
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<title>GLEP Accepted and Superceded</title>
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<section>
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<body>
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<note>This GLEP has been accepted, and it remains here solely
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for historical purposes. To see the current Gentoo top-level
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management structure, please visit
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<uri>http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/management-structure.xml</uri>.
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</note>
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</body>
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</section>
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</chapter>
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<chapter>
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<title>GLEP Header</title>
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<section>
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<body>
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<table>
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<tr>
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<ti><b>GLEP:</b></ti>
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<ti>4</ti>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<ti><b>Title:</b></ti>
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<ti>Gentoo top-level management structure proposal</ti>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<ti><b>Version</b></ti>
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<ti> $Revision: 1.3 $ </ti>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<ti><b>Last-Modified:</b></ti>
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<ti> $Date: 2003/07/30 18:28:10 $ </ti>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<ti><b>Author:</b></ti>
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<ti> Daniel Robbins <drobbins@gentoo.org> </ti>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<ti><b>Status:</b></ti>
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<ti>Final</ti>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<ti><b>Content-Type:</b></ti>
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<ti>text/xml</ti>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<ti><b>Created:</b></ti>
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<ti>24-Jun-2003</ti>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<ti><b>Post-History:</b></ti>
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<ti>30-Jun-2003</ti>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</body>
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</section>
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</chapter>
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<chapter>
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<title>Gentoo top-level management structure proposal, DRAFT</title>
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<section>
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<title>What is the purpose of this proposal?</title>
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<body>
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<p>
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The purpose of this proposal is to solve chronic management, coordination
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and communication issues in the Gentoo project. In particular, currently we
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have no clearly defined top-level management structure, and no official,
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regular meetings to communicate status updates between developers serving
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in critical roles. In general, most communication takes place on irc and
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irregularly via email. There is also little to no accountability, even
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at a high level, to complete projects on time.
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</p>
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<p>
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Because of this current state of affairs, it is difficult to set goals and
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track the status of projects. This lack of communication and coordination
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also makes it difficult for top-level developers to manage their own
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projects. In addition, we have the other chronic problem of not having
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clearly-defined roles and scopes of executive decision-making authority for
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top-level developers, which results in many top-level developers doubting
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that they even have the authority to manage their own projects and
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sub-projects. While this has *never* been the intention of top-level
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developers, it is the unfortunate result of an unstructured development
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process: no one knows what is going on, and everyone defers to the Chief
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Architect for all executive decisions.
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</p>
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<p>
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Clearly, a plan is needed to swiftly and permanently address these issues by
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increasing communication, coordination, and accountability. Roles and scopes
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of executive decision-making authority need to be defined for top developers
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so that they have a clear mandate as well as accountability to manage their
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projects and thus ensure their projects complete their appointed work
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efficiently and on-schedule.
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</p>
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</body>
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</section>
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<section>
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<title>How do we fix this?</title>
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<body>
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<p>
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This proposal suggests fixing this issue by creating an official top-level
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management structure. This management structure will consist of the chief
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architect and a group of developers that will be given the title of
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"Top-level managers." Top-level managers will be accountable for the
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projects they manage, and be responsible for communicating the status of
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their projects to the rest of the top-level managers and chief architect,
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among other things detailed later in this document.
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</p>
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<p> All the top-level projects in the Gentoo project will be clearly
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defined, including with goals, sub-projects, members, roadmap and schedules.
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The "Hardened Gentoo" page at
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<uri>http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/hardened/</uri> is an excellent example of
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such a top-level project definition. </p>
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<p>
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Certain executive decision-making authority will be granted to these
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projects, as agreed upon by the top-level managers and project members.
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Then, a top-level manager or managers will be officially adopt projects.
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These managers will be responsible for tracking the status of the project,
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ensuring that the project meets targets and is generally managed properly.
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Manager responsibilities are described in detail later in this document.
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</p>
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<p>
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The operational manager of each top-level project will also be responsible
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to report the status of the project in regular weekly status meetings in
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which all top-level managers will participate. This regular communication
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will allow proper coordination, goal-setting and scheduling to take place.
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</p>
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</body>
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</section>
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<section>
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<title>Types of management</title>
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<body>
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<p>
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For top-level projects, there are currently two possible types of managers.
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Each project must have at least one manager of each type, although one
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person may serve both roles. The first type of manager is the operational
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manager, who is granted executive authority for the day-to-day running of
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the project. Because this person is directly involved in the day-to-day
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running of the project, this person has the responsibility to communicate
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project status to the rest of the top-level management team.
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</p>
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<p>
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The other type of manager is the strategic manager. The tactical manager has
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executive decision-making authority over the long-term strategic direction
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of the project. This manager's involvement in the day-to-day operations of
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the project is limited. Both strategic and operational management are equally
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important for a successful project.
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</p>
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</body>
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</section>
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<section>
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<title>Management team</title>
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<body>
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<p>Proposed initial top-level management team is as follows (in no
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particular order):</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Seemant Kulleen (seemant)</li>
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<li>Jay Pfeifer (pfeifer)</li>
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<li>Joshua Brindle (method)</li>
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<li>Kurt Lieber (klieber)</li>
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<li>Nick Jones (carpaski)</li>
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<li>Pieter Van den Abeele (pvdabeel)</li>
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<li>Jon Portnoy (avenj)</li>
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</ul>
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<p>In addition to Daniel Robbins, serving as Chief Architect.</p>
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</body>
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</section>
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<section>
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<title>Management charter</title>
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<body>
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<p>
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1) Constructive, professional communication: All communication should be
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focused on improving the management of Gentoo projects, should be
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constructive in nature and should be shared in a friendly, professional
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manner.
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</p>
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<p>
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2) Accountability to peers: Allow fellow members of this list to hold us
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accountable to follow-through on projects and meet deadlines. Keep fellow
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members accountable.
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</p>
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<p>
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3) Management of projects: empower managers to have the authority and
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strategic direction necessary to properly manage thier projects and efforts
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to ensure projects complete their appointed work on time.
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</p>
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<p>
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4) Results: our expectation is that our efforts, when properly executed,
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will result in the Gentoo project's ability to meet deadlines, have much
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better communication and coordination throughout the entire project, higher
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overall quality and a more positive experience for all.
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</p>
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</body>
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</section>
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<section>
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<title>Manager responsibilities</title>
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<body>
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<p>
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Every top-level Gentoo project will have a clearly defined scope, and
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clearly defined and explicit executive decision-making authority that will
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be granted to managers of the project to exercise and/or delegate as they
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see fit. Both the scope and any necessary decision-making authority must be
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agreed upon by both the chief architect and project members. The scope and
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executive authority of a project can be expanded over time as required as
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approved by the top level managers.
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</p>
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<p>
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In addition to decision-making authority, managers have the following
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responsibilities:
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</p>
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<ol>
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<li>Keep a complete list of all projects and efforts you are managing,
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and associated gentoo.org project page up-to-date
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</li>
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<li>
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Manage and track the status of these efforts. This includes active
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direction as well as passive tracking of progress.
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</li>
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<li>
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Define clear goals, roadmaps and timelines (preliminary if necessary) for
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every effort.
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</li>
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<li>Proactively identify efforts that have problems and need help.
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</li>
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<li>Ensure that your efforts are completed on-time, or that any efforts that
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are behind-schedule are reported in a timely manner.</li>
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<li>Remain focused. Make sure that you are not managing more than you can
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handle.</li>
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<li>Fulfill formal communication and coordination responsibilities required by
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top-level managers (weekly meetings, etc.)</li>
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<li>Fulfill formal communication and coordination responsibilities required
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by individual efforts (project meetings, communication with project members,
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etc.) This is *important* -- our management of projects means that we
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have the responsibility not only to communicate with our peers but
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also those who we are managing. This communication should be frequent,
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have a formal component (planned meetings, official status updates,
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etc.) and model good management practices to members of our teams.
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</li>
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<li>
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<b>RECURSIVE FUNCTIONALITY</b>: At an appropriate time, implement these management
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practices for *sub*-projects (define managers, clear sub-project goals,
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grant executive authority) with you serving as primary authority.
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</li>
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</ol>
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</body>
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</section>
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<section>
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<title>gentoo-managers list</title>
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<body>
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<p>
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The gentoo-managers list will be created as the official email communications
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channel for all top-level Gentoo Linux managers.
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</p>
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<p>
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The tenative plan for top-level management coordination is as follows:
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>Monday full status email:</b>
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</p>
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<p>
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Every Monday afteroon, every member of this list posts a status summary of
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projects/efforts that they are managing, as well as any items that they
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would like to discuss "live" on IRC in the upcoming "live" meeting.
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If you are unable to attend the "live" IRC meeting, an email to this
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list mentioning your inability to attend should be posted by Monday
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afternoon or before.
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</p>
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<p>
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The goal of the Monday afternoon email is to get every other top-level
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manager up to speed on the status of your efforts and any efforts
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managed by you, and to have a tenative meeting agenda in place for the
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"live" IRC meeting.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>Monday IRC chat:</b>
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</p>
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<p>
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On Monday evening, we convene on irc for a "live" meeting.
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The goal of this meeting isn't to provide status updates on our
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projects, but to work out any outstanding hands-on issues relating to the
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management of Gentoo Linux. These issues can include:
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</p>
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<ol>
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<li>Assignment of unmanaged projects</li>
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<li>Resolving critical, time-sensitive problems</li>
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<li>Trying to "fix" projects that are having trouble staying on-target</li>
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<li>Sharing new ideas about how to coordinate our efforts better</li>
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<li>Finding ways to improve our management of projects</li>
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</ol>
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<p>
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The goal of this live IRC chat is to provide a regular forum to resolve
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tricky issues that benefit from real-time, "live" discussion. Generally,
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this meeting should last no more than one hour if possible. Generally,
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new ideas and practices should be discussed in this live meeting, with
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the list being used for status updates and coordinated resolution of
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critical issues.
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</p>
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<note>
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Inability to attend due to time zone can be addressed by posting
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the full IRC log to gentoo-managers and allowing non-attending members
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to post ideas, comments and follow-ups.
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</note>
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<p>
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<b>Thursday update:</b>
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</p>
|
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|
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|
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<p>
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Every Thursday afternoon, every member of this list posts a "status
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update" email, giving all members a quick, general update on any efforts
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| 392 |
currently underway. This allows for some fairly rapid feedback for any
|
| 393 |
efforts that were started the previous Monday, and an opportunity to
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recover from any efforts that have fallen off-target since the previous
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Monday.
|
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</p>
|
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|
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|
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<p>
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This email need not be exhaustive, but may be if necessary.
|
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</p>
|
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|
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|
| 404 |
<p>
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| 405 |
The goal of this update is to allow any problems with our projects to be
|
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discussed and shared before the weekend, so that an adequate solution or
|
| 407 |
interim solution can be found before the weekend.
|
| 408 |
</p>
|
| 409 |
</body>
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| 410 |
</section>
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| 411 |
<section>
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| 412 |
<title>Top-level metaprojects</title>
|
| 413 |
|
| 414 |
<body>
|
| 415 |
|
| 416 |
<p>
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| 417 |
Top-level projects and <b>preliminary</b> top-level managerial assignments below.
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Note that <b>sub-project</b> managers are generally not listed, but will be
|
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defined in time. We are starting with the top levels first, then recursing
|
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downwards.
|
| 421 |
</p>
|
| 422 |
|
| 423 |
|
| 424 |
<pre>
|
| 425 |
gentoo-linux:
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| 426 |
Gentoo Linux
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| 427 |
strategic manager: drobbins, seemant
|
| 428 |
operational manager: seemant
|
| 429 |
back-up: avenj
|
| 430 |
sub-projects:
|
| 431 |
x86-stable: Gentoo Linux x86 stable branch
|
| 432 |
x86-unstable: Gentoo Linux x86 unstable branch
|
| 433 |
amd64
|
| 434 |
ppc
|
| 435 |
alpha
|
| 436 |
sparc
|
| 437 |
hppa
|
| 438 |
etc.
|
| 439 |
|
| 440 |
kernel:
|
| 441 |
Kernel development
|
| 442 |
strategic manager: pfeifer (lolo?)
|
| 443 |
operational manager: pfeifer (lolo?)
|
| 444 |
sub-projects:
|
| 445 |
x86
|
| 446 |
amd64
|
| 447 |
ppc
|
| 448 |
alpha
|
| 449 |
sparc
|
| 450 |
hppa
|
| 451 |
etc.
|
| 452 |
|
| 453 |
gentoo-alt:
|
| 454 |
Alternate operating system platform/special-purpose projects
|
| 455 |
strategic managers: drobbins, pvdabeel
|
| 456 |
operational manager: pvdabeel
|
| 457 |
sub-projects:
|
| 458 |
gentoo-bsd
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| 459 |
gentoo-macos
|
| 460 |
livecd: Gentoo Linux LiveCD technology efforts
|
| 461 |
|
| 462 |
hardened:
|
| 463 |
Hardened Gentoo -- efforts related to integrated security
|
| 464 |
techologies into Gentoo Linux.
|
| 465 |
strategic manager: method
|
| 466 |
operational manager: method
|
| 467 |
page: http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/hardened/
|
| 468 |
sub-projects:
|
| 469 |
selinux
|
| 470 |
propolice
|
| 471 |
systrace
|
| 472 |
hardened-sources
|
| 473 |
grsecurity
|
| 474 |
|
| 475 |
tools:
|
| 476 |
Useful Gentoo scripts and tools (for user or developer use, possibly
|
| 477 |
Portage-related)
|
| 478 |
strategic manager: pvdabeel
|
| 479 |
operational manager: pvdabeel
|
| 480 |
subprojects:
|
| 481 |
keychain
|
| 482 |
dynfw
|
| 483 |
eperl
|
| 484 |
|
| 485 |
devrel:
|
| 486 |
General development management, developer relations
|
| 487 |
strategic managers: seemant, drobbins
|
| 488 |
operational manager: avenj
|
| 489 |
back-up: klieber
|
| 490 |
subprojects:
|
| 491 |
newdev: Recruiting of developers, enforcement of recruitment policy
|
| 492 |
devops: Day-to-day oversight of Gentoo development, commits
|
| 493 |
|
| 494 |
releng:
|
| 495 |
Managing and coordinating release process
|
| 496 |
strategic manager: drobbins, seemant
|
| 497 |
operational manager: avenj
|
| 498 |
subprojects:
|
| 499 |
build: Management of stage/package building efforts on all architectures
|
| 500 |
install-doc: install documentation
|
| 501 |
|
| 502 |
qa:
|
| 503 |
Explicit, proactive quality control efforts
|
| 504 |
strategic manager: drobbins
|
| 505 |
operational manager: seemant
|
| 506 |
subprojects:
|
| 507 |
bugs: Overseeing bug distribution/assigment/completion and responsiveness
|
| 508 |
security: Manage tracking and application of security fixes to packages
|
| 509 |
policy-doc: policy documentation
|
| 510 |
|
| 511 |
pr:
|
| 512 |
Public relations efforts, contact with distrowatch.com, etc.
|
| 513 |
strategic manager: drobbins
|
| 514 |
operational manager: klieber
|
| 515 |
back-up: seemant
|
| 516 |
subprojects:
|
| 517 |
partners: Gentoo partnerships, liaison(s) to metapkg, Gentoo Games, Inc.
|
| 518 |
shows: Planning and organization for trade shows
|
| 519 |
gwn: Gentoo Weekly News
|
| 520 |
|
| 521 |
portage:
|
| 522 |
Portage development, maintenance and new features implementation
|
| 523 |
strategic manager: drobbins
|
| 524 |
operational manager: carpaski
|
| 525 |
subprojects:
|
| 526 |
package-research: Research into new packaging technologies and capabilities
|
| 527 |
managers: carpaski, drobbins, pvdabeel
|
| 528 |
|
| 529 |
infrastructure:
|
| 530 |
strategic manager: klieber
|
| 531 |
operational manager: klieber
|
| 532 |
gentoo.org Mirrors, servers, email, hosting, server security
|
| 533 |
subprojects:
|
| 534 |
mirrors: ftp, web and rsync mirrors
|
| 535 |
web: gentoo.org Web site design and related technology
|
| 536 |
doc: general documentation
|
| 537 |
</pre>
|
| 538 |
</body>
|
| 539 |
</section>
|
| 540 |
|
| 541 |
</chapter>
|
| 542 |
</guide>
|
| 543 |
|
| 544 |
|
| 545 |
|
Parent Directory
| 
Revision Log