Clarity on what's expected of Council members and how the Council works

Problem statement

There is a lack of clarity on how the Council works, and what is expected of members. It's not outlined in the governance model and it'd be helpful for new joiners and existing members to understand this more clearly.

Detailed proposal

Here's what Ekke and I came up with as a first draft:

What's expected of a Council member

Council members are expected to:

• Attend all scheduled meetings

• Respond to requests for input promptly (within 48 hours - excluding when on vacation or limited availability which should be communicated via Slack in advance)

  • This means that realistically you should aim to check the Council Slack channel and your Mautic email account at least once a day

• Take up at least one operative role, which might be:

  • Participate in at least one executive committee and engage in any operational tasks which are required by that committee

    • Marketing and strategy

    • Fundraising

    • Governance

  • Act as a liaison for a team - each team lead will have a Council member who acts as liaison for that team, reporting each Council meeting on how that team is doing, what support they need and how to grow the team's volunteers, and how they're doing with their OKRs.

  • Lead a team or working group within the community

• Be a public ambassador for the Mautic project, and assist if needed in any sales discussions for Mautic membership or the official Mautic hosting.

How the Council operates

The Council meets twice a quarter - once mid-quarter and once at the end of the quarter.

Their responsibilities include:

• Overseeing the budget and fiscal health of the project

• Managing the Project Lead from an employment perspective

• Overseeing the health of the project as a whole

• Lead on strategic fundraising planning to support the longer term strategy and growth of Mautic

• Drive progress on the project's long term strategy and vision

• Manage the Mautic trademarks and brand assets

• Review and sign any contractual agreements relating to Mautic (often delegated to the Project Lead)

• Execute Code of Conduct breach recommendations

Council meetings are two hours in length and consist of:

1. Review actions from previous quarter's meetings

2. Review any brought-forward topics from previous quarter's meetings

3. Review proposals which have been submitted via Council Proposals - Mautic Community Portal for consideration / voting

4. Any other agenda topics

5. Confirming the date, time, chair and scribe for the next meeting

All council members are expected to attend meetings unless they are on vacation.

Each meeting is chaired and scribed by a member of the Council, which rotates each meeting. Check the Slack channel for the pinned post with meeting dates and assignments.

Duties of the meeting chair:

1. Creating the event on the Community Portal (please do this as early as possible - at a minimum two weeks before the event) - docs here

2. Ensure that a calendar invitation has been created and all attendees have been added ([email protected] adds all members but some ask to have their corporate email added to block their time)

3. Collating the proposals and preparing the agenda on the portal (docs here)

4. Posting the actions from the previous meeting in Slack (at least two weeks prior so that folks are reminded of their commitments with time to ensure they're delivered)

5. Getting apologies from Council members who can't attend, and ensure that their reports for any actions they're responsible for are received in good time

6. Making sure the meeting runs to the agenda / to time.

7. Close the meeting down at the end on the Portal (coordinating with the Scribe in case of any redactions required from the minutes) ensuring that any proposals considered are mentioned so that they're linked to the meeting (docs here) and ensure that the minutes are posted. Accept or reject any proposals based on the outcome of the discussions.

Duties of the meeting scribe:

1. Taking notes on Etherpad during the meeting

2. Ensuring the notes are an accurate representation of the meeting.

3. Adding any resources which are mentioned so that they're easily found in the future.

4. Where necessary to redact private information, sanitising the notes for publication and writing a 'for publication' version of them in the Etherpad which is approved by sharing the link with the Council slack channel prior to closing the meeting.

Duties of all attendees:

1. Read any material, proposals and information shared prior to the meeting so that you're ready to engage and provide input. Come with notes!

2. Ensure that proposals are submitted at least two weeks prior to the meeting to give your fellow members time to review and provide input.

3. Vote on any proposals you're in favour of prior to the meeting if you don't have any questions or comments so that they can be accepted in a timely manner.

4. Fully engage with the meeting, away from distractions or other conversations outside of the Council meeting. It's not OK to have back-channel conversations with members or to be checking your work emails during meetings. Be present - Mautic depends on your knowledge and insights.

5. Provide your thoughts, opinions and insights on topics being discussed. Participate in an authentic way. Ask clarifying questions. Feel free to challenge with consideration and respect for your fellow council members.

6. Attempt collaboration before conflict - it should go without saying, but follow the Code of Conduct at all times.

Benefits / impact

This will help new members to understand their commitment and the expectations that go with the role. It also clarifies how meetings are run, and what the key roles are expected to be doing before, during and after the meeting.

Potential challenges

It might be that we missed something or there's other areas of clarity needed.

Resources needed

None, we should decide where this should sit (e.g. within this assembly as a page, within the governance model, etc).

Suggested timeline

We should implement this straight away as it's not changing policy. If we wish to add any aspects to the Governance Model we should ensure that it's ready for approval in the General Assembly.

Additional information

Any additional data or documents that support your proposal.

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