Cross-project-council: Who can be an Observer?

[MylesBorins]

As @mhdawson points out in #232 who can be an Observer is not explicit about requirements.

I had always been under the impression that there was a requirement that Observers be active in an OpenJS Foundation project... but as Michael points out, this isn't documented anywhere.

Can anyone come as an observer? Should there be some sort of requirement?

[dmethvin]

I feel like we should start as inclusively as possible unless there is some downside that we should protect against. For example, there may be some non-OpenJS project that has an interest in several OpenJS projects because they are critical dependencies. We'd want their input.

The term Observer implies some passivity though, and the document says Observers can participate, including consensus seeking. I would want input but wouldn't want Observers to be disruptive or overbearing. Perhaps we just need some way to have Members exclude Observers judged to be disruptive? I'd hope that's rare though.

[eemeli]

I would prefer for us to be able to at least start with maximal openness on this, and to only add limitations or requirements if we find a reason to do so.

[wesleytodd]

As someone who would probably start as an observer, I think having an "observer comment" section would be great. I probably will not want to start jumping in with both feet, but I may have input to share. Having an explicit time in the agenda to share might stop "disruptive or overbearing" members without being off putting to the community.

[mhdawson]

@wesleytodd I agree that having a section where we welcome "new" people and ask if they have something they'd like to bring/up discuss is a good idea. @joesepi something to consider for the standard agenda.

On the general topic adding some expectation to the Observer section could make sense. We already have this for regular members:

In addition, a Regular CPC member can be removed by voluntary resignation, or by a standard CPC motion.

We could add this

Observers are expected to participate in a positive and collaborative manner as well as following
the code of conduct and member expectations like other CPC participants. If an Observer fails to meet these expectations they can be excluded from future CPC meetings base on a standard CPC motion.

[MylesBorins]

Seems like we had consensus on this in the meeting so I'm going to close this

[joesepi]

Me or @jorydotcom will create a PR to update language to make expectations clear.

[joesepi]

Capturing the wording that @mkdolan had shared in the meeting a week ago from Meeting notes for posterity:

Mike Dolan: Potential suggested text: “Observers are free to attend meetings and participate in
the work of the CPC as well as the consensus seeking process. Observers are encouraged to
participate and volunteer but should refrain from disrupting or blocking progress.

[sendilkumarn]

I think it is also better to capture what CPC will do when there is a disruption or blocking?

[mhdawson]

@sendilkumarn I think what you are suggesting is along the lines of what I suggested in https://github.com/openjs-foundation/cross-project-council/issues/234#issuecomment-505554951, right? That is my preference as well.

[jorydotcom]

Added PR per last week's action item

[joesepi]

Will move the previous PR copy (#255) from Charter to ReadMe, per discussion in today's CPC meeting.

[jorydotcom]

The PR that addressed this issue has been landed; I believe this can now be closed (please re-open if you feel otherwise).