Updating the SunPy Project's Governance

Hello everyone,

Since the SunPy Coordination meeting last year, I have been working on drafting an updated version of the second SunPy Enhancement Proposal SEP 2, which is the document which lays out how the project is governed.

This working draft is open for review and discussion here: https://github.com/sunpy/sunpy-SEP/pull/62

Some of the objectives of this update to our governance are:

  • Increase the engagement of the community with the governance of the project. Under our current governance structure the board is very “hands-off” leaving almost all the running of the project to the lead developer and the maintainers. Many active contributors to SunPy have little understanding of the role of the board or it’s responsibilities.
  • Distribute the role of lead developer over more people. As the project grows the lead developer role has grown, to the point where it is a lot of work for two people (including the deputy). This rewrite of the governance proposes a three person committee to take on the day-to-day management of the project, including the financial management.
  • Setup a way for the leadership of the project to be elected, and accountable to the community. Currently the board is self-electing, and then appoint the lead developer. This was acceptable when the project was small, but as our community grows, this proposal sets up elections for the new Steering Committee and those who are eligible to vote in those elections.

We welcome all members of the SunPy Community to provide comments on this SEP, the SEP will not be accepted by the board until broad consensus is reached within the community.

To this end the SunPy Community meeting at 1700 UTC on Wednesday 1st March will be dedicated to discussing the proposal all are welcome to join at Redirecting to Jitsi.

Stuart

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