- AsyncAPI and Linux Foundation
- Why transparency
- Why open governance
- AsyncAPI governance model
- Putting theory into practice
Hello everyone! Welcome to this video on how AsyncAPI works. My name is... Today, we will talk about transparency, open governance, and why AsyncAPI is committed to this model. Do you want to learn more? Come over!
Even in its earlier period, AsyncAPI received a significant Postman sponsorship that enabled several individuals to work full-time on the project. It was then when discussions began on what was the best way to improve governance within the project.
If one thing was crystal clear, it was that AsyncAPI should join a neutral home. But not just any neutral home. It needed to join a well-established and trusted organization.
[Voice-over for the animation- " Housing the project on such a solid and neutral ground would help to develop its independence and community-driven management.
From the beginning, AsyncAPI has established horizontal models that encourage the democratization of its processes. Thus encouraging multiple points of view could enrich its vision, decision-making, and governance.
With these ideas and principles clear, after a long time of searches and negotiations, AsyncAPI joined the Linux Foundation umbrella in March 2021. This collaboration granted neutrality and open governance, ensuring that the specification will continue to be driven democratically by the people who contribute their time and effort to the project"].
Transparency has become a fundamental concept in the democratization processes undertaken by governments, institutions, companies, organizations, projects... In its ideal state, democracy is nothing more than a method that allows the community members to analyze reality from different points of view to make decisions freely and for the common good.
Organizational transparency can be defined as a deliberate attempt to create an environment where free access to information, open communication, and democratic decision-making flourish.
When we talk about transparency, we refer to that attitude and methodology that allows controlling the financial aspects of a company to fulfill its mission and vision with the participation of all the people in an organization. Transparency requires obligations, clarity, and implication to sustain it. The information provided must be truthful, based on evidence that can be checked and verified.
Open governance is a model that promotes the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability, and stakeholder participation in support of democracy and inclusive growth. Driven by the participation of all the people that make up a project, company, or institution, it promotes engagement and democracy.
In the same way, this model facilitates working with collaboration among people who might be located in distant regions but who share the same values. The intention is to break down individualism and hierarchical archetypes while upholding a system that gives autonomy and decision-making power to its members.
Therefore, all relevant project data are public. The developed tasks are accessible and open to the participation of the community. This is intended to cultivate an environment of trust and respect, encouraging users to collaborate. In this adaptable and flexible atmosphere, nothing is imposed or taken for granted.
Partnering with Postman was a crucial moment for assuring the efforts of the AsyncAPI Initiative. This event was the propellant to accelerate the transfer of AsyncAPI to an open government foundation to assure the community that a single company does not control the AsyncAPI Initiative. In doing so, the specification safeguarded against private interests.
In the AsyncAPI governance model, you can find two essential roles: contributor and committer. A contributor is a person that contributes to the project code, docs, or other artifacts. A committer (widely known also as maintainer) is a person that contributes regularly and is invited by other committers to manage the repository, to have more privileges, and to approve pull requests.
To supervise the initiative, it was decided to create a Technical Steering Committee (TSC), made up of the people who contribute most actively to the project. Anyone with interest can become a member of the TSC. All you have to do is become a maintainer of one of the AsyncAPI projects. To become a maintainer, it is necessary to regularly contribute to one of the projects; after that, other maintainers will invite them to join.
Let's see an example to understand these roles better:
[Voice-over for the animation- " As we said before, the maintainers are the people in charge of managing a repository. In this case, the maintainers are the workers wearing the yellow helmet, and the people wearing the white helmet are the contributors.
If a contributor comes up with a relevant idea for the project, they should consult the TSC. If the TSC, which in this case would be the architects, approves the idea, work is done on the execution of the idea. In this case, a couple of buildings"].
The TSC is constituted by maintainers because the goal is to empower "working" individuals, not companies that "pay". In other words, it provides equal power to individual and corporate contributors.
The TSC's system of operation is by voting. An issue or debate is posted, and the members vote asynchronously and publicly on their decision. The value of the vote of all contributors is equal, thus ensuring the project that there is no risk of one company having a majority of the voters. That is why there is a rule that only 1/4 of the voters can be affiliated with the same company.
Summing up, AsyncAPI is committed to democratic management based on two principles: horizontality in decision making and transparency in project management. From the beginning of the specification, AsyncAPI has relied on collective effort and group identity. The means are as crucial as the goal. Responsibilities are shared, understanding that a community can only achieve success jointly.
For doing so, AsyncAPI has several tools that ensure transparency within the project’s open-governance management. Let's see how theory is put into practice:
- Economy: AsyncAPI uses the Open Collective to manage its finances. Open Collective is a crowdfunding platform that provides tools to raise and share finances with complete transparency. You can consult a money source and how it is used within a project.
The TSC makes decisions on financial expenses through voting.
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Communication: To ensure that the principle of transparency governs communication, everything is said and done in public, no matter how insignificant or essential it may be. The community uses GitHub as the first communication and work platform. All decisions are taken there. Secondly, Slack is used as a means of sync communication enablement and keeping the closer bond with the community on daily basis.
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Meetings: There are different meeting points where the community express any thoughts, propose or discuss any topic related to AsyncAPI. Any interested person can join these meetings and raise any thoughts.
Even though there are meetings, there is a written rule that no decision making is done during them. Meetings are recorded so that people who did not attend can watch the discussion later and participate in the decision-making process.
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Decision-making: Decisions are usually discussed on GitHub through issues, PRs, and discussions. For higher-level decision making or when the maintainers cannot find consensus, the Technical Steering Committe is responsible for the oversight of the AsyncAPI Initiative.
Thanks so much for joining us! I hope you enjoyed it! Enough for today's video. Don't forget to join us in the following video. See you soon!
- The italic and bold text is the script of the short version of the video.