Maintainers in the Workforce
Purpose
Our work is to understand, respect, and recognize the contributions of those who build and maintain the infrastructure of our economy and society.
Values
We envision a country/world where people who build and maintain the infrastructure of our economy and society are respected and equitably rewarded.
How We Work
- We collaborate and share knowledge on the issues that impact high-, low-, and no-wage workers.
- Raise awareness of the importance of maintainers in our society, the challenges they face, and potential policy solutions.
- Advocate for increased respect and economic equity for workers in conversations about technological change, labor policy, and the future of work.
How We Meet
Members of the Workforce Maintainers Community (MC) meet virtually with regular frequency, typically monthly, using a web conferencing platform (hosted by The Maintainers). Monthly meetings are used to plan and advance work underway; to complete capacity building activity that informs the work of the MC and the Central Office, and to build community. Every meeting requires a meeting agenda, facilitator and notetaker. Agendas are sent out a full week in advance of each monthly meeting by the facilitator to solicit additional agenda items from the members of the maintenance community. To stay up to date about meetings and activities of the Maintainers Communities, interested parties can sign up for MC mailing lists on the Maintenance Communities homepage.Leadership
Decision Making
This section has been copied, almost in its entirety, from Apache Rave’s “Lazy Consensus” (2012):We operate by lazy consensus, under which “lack of objections is interpreted as a silent approval.”
he effectiveness of this approach, particularly for large, geographically distributed groups, is based on the assumption that it is easier for people to agree, by doing nothing, than it is to object, which requires an alternative to be proposed. This has two effects, firstly people are less likely to object for the sake of it and secondly it cuts down on the amount of unnecessary mail traffic and discussion. Lazy consensus means we can avoid waiting for a community based decision before proceeding. However, it does require everyone who cares for the health of the project to watch what is happening, as it is happening. Objecting too far down the road will cause upset, but objecting (or asking for clarification of intent) early is likely to be greeted with relief that someone is watching and cares.Stating Lazy Consensus
Sometimes a member of the community will believe a specific action is the correct one for the community and would like to get agreement from the rest of the group. In these circumstances, Lazy Consensus is the preferred process for gaining such approval. This process is usually started when a community member makes a proposal and states that they will start implementing it in 5 working days hours unless someone objects. 5 working days is chosen as the minimum because it accounts for different timezones and non-maintenance community commitments.In this approach a proposal does not require discussion, nor does the proposer request that the community explicitly supports their actions.