On Thu, 6 Oct 2022, 20:21 Jonathan Thornburg, <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 6, 2022 at 8:45 AM John H Palmieri <[email protected]> > wrote: > > There is nothing in our department's bylaws to provide for a delay of > > voting, but we have a chair and we have an executive committee, and the > > hope is that they care not only about the particular issue at hand, but > > also about the atmosphere in the department. So if someone asked for a > > delay, probably the executive committee would consider it and make a > > decision. That would not likely result in a vote on whether to delay, but > > just a decision to delay the vote, and probably to schedule some meetings > > for discussion. > > On Thu, Oct 06, 2022 at 09:25:26AM -0700, William Stein wrote: > > Thanks! So it's basically this model that you already described: > > "Alternatively, we have a steering committee that steps in to make > > decisions, for example about the timing of votes, when there is > > disagreement." Having an elected steering committee is common in > > other software projects I pay attention to (e.g., Python and Jupyter). > > As another data point, in section 12.8 of his book "The Design and > Evolution of C++", Bjarne Stroustrup describes an invocation of a > "delay a vote to the next meeting" rule in the ANSI/ISO C++ standards > committee (which at the time typically met about 3 times per year): > > [[a proposal for extending the C++ language]] was presented at the > standards meeting in Seattle in July 1990. There appeared to be a > massive majority for making this the first non-mandated extension > to C++. At that point, Beth Crockett from Apple stopped the committee > dead in its tracks by invoking what is known as the "two week rule:" > Any member can postpone voting on a proposal that has not been in > the hands of the members at least two weeks before the meeting until > the following meeting. This rule protects people against being rushed > into things they don't understand and ensures that there will always > be time to consult with colleagues. > > As you might imagine, Beth didn't gain instant popularity by that > veto. However, her caution was well founded, and she saved us from > making a bad mistake. Thanks! As we reexamined the problem after > the meeting, Doug McIlroy [[found a better solution]] > In our case, the delay was requested by an individual who for months ignores repeated requests to provide a backup of our old wiki (which he hosts in his academic department, without anyone else having access to the host). One of the reasons for delay given was that he was upset that I "violently" (I guess in Frenchish this means "bluntly") pointed this out on this very forum, as an example of dangers of a small bus factor. And in our case the voting was allowed over a long period of time. Dima > -- > -- "Jonathan Thornburg [remove -color to reply]" < > [email protected]> > currently on the west coast of Canada > "Why would we install sewers in London? Everyone keeps getting cholera > again and again so there's obviously no reason to install sewers. We > just need to get used to this as the new normal." > -- 2022-Jul-25 tweet by "Neoliberal John Snow" > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "sage-devel" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sage-devel/Yz8qqM4YuOVtYNJI%40iron.bkis-orchard.net > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-devel" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sage-devel/CAAWYfq0p54e6reu7Nuwavo4K%3D9XHz8VdJ%3DYfz3ZpbH-CezNFrQ%40mail.gmail.com.
