Defining popup teams

Following the discussion at the Forum in Denver and the TC meeting
at the PTG (also in Denver) one of the outcomes[1] of those discussions
was to propose a lightweight framework for popup teams.

To avoid repeating past failures in cross-project work, this proposal
pushes forward a relatively low barrier to entry, with the TC making an
early decision on whether the team objective sounds like a good idea
for OpenStack, rather than approving detailed implementation specs. It
focuses on supporting the popup teams rather than "blessing" them.

[1] http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-discuss/2019-May/006225.html

Change-Id: I39a4c3814ec3442c60c91055b41b0876976aaeab

doc/source/index.rst

@@ -4,14 +4,18 @@
 
 The OpenStack Technical Committee is one of the governing bodies of the
 OpenStack project. It is an elected group that represents the contributors
-to the project, and has oversight on all technical matters.
+to the open source project, and has oversight on all technical matters.
 
 The Technical Committee is formally defined in the
 `OpenStack Foundation bylaws`_ (in particular article 4.1(b), article 4.13
 and Appendix 4) and further refined in the :doc:`reference/charter`.
 
-Upstream work under the Technical Committee is organized under official
-:doc:`reference/projects/index`, and :doc:`reference/working-groups`.
+Work under the Technical Committee is organized under official
+:doc:`reference/projects/index` (responsible for the production of the
+software up to release), :doc:`reference/popup-teams` (formed
+around a limited cross-project objective) and :doc:`reference/working-groups`
+(delegations from the TC to fill specific functions like election
+organization).
 
 These pages contain OpenStack Technical Committee reference documents
 and track official resolutions voted by the committee.

reference/index.rst

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ Reference documents which need to be revised over time.
    principles
    charter
    projects/index
+   popup-teams
    technical-vision
    help-most-needed
    role-of-the-tc

reference/popup-teams.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+===========
+Popup teams
+===========
+
+The work to produce OpenStack software is organized around
+:doc:`projects/index` which are responsible for producing the various
+deliverables up to release. However, some features or architectural
+changes need to be coordinated across multiple project teams to be considered
+successfully completed. To drive this work for the duration of those specific
+objectives, contributors can temporarily set up Popup teams.
+
+Popup teams are lightweight structures that are recognized by the Technical
+Committee as pursuing a goal considered desirable for OpenStack. Beyond
+extra visibility and recognition, popup teams are also assigned an experienced
+community member to help them establish or grow connections necessary to the
+success of their work.
+
+When they are formed, popup teams should have at least two leaders,
+a clear objective, a limited number of affected project teams, and a
+clear disband criteria. If the team does not have a clear time-limited
+objective, they should be set up as `Special Interest Groups (SIGs)`_
+instead. If an objective affects most project teams, it should be made
+light enough to fit in the :doc:`../goals/index` process instead.
+
+.. _`Special Interest Groups (SIGs)`: https://governance.openstack.org/sigs/
+
+Current OpenStack popup teams
+=============================
+
+None.
+
+Process for addition or removal
+===============================
+
+Proposed modifications to this document, such as addition or removal of a
+popup team, require a formal vote from the Technical Committee membership.
+
+TC members should evaluate if the popup team objective, as described in this
+document, appears to be beneficial to the OpenStack project and worth
+supporting. The TC's role is not to vet popup teams implementation specs,
+which will likely be produced by the team once it is set up. The TC should
+err on the side of accepting rather than denying: only vetting teams that
+are 100% sure of completing their objective would put too much of an upfront
+barrier to entry.
+
+If the popup team is supported and added to this document, the TC is
+responsible for seeking a volunteer experienced sponsor to help the new
+popup team be successful and act as a liaison with the TC.
+
+Popup teams are removed from this document in three different cases:
+
+* They may become abandoned (for example if nobody volunteers to lead the
+  effort).
+* The specification work may end up revealing that implementation is too
+  complex or makes the objective not desirable.
+* The popup team may fulfill its original disband criteria.
+
+None of those outcomes should be seen as a failure. Experimentation and
+discussion around a desirable outcome is always good.