Proposed Updates to Core Devs Meeting Format

[kaitlin-beegle]

At Core Devs Meeting #44, I presented a new structure for future Core Devs meetings. The need for such change was predicated on the following:

Assumptions

• 'Core Devs' should hold a visible leadership role in the Filecoin ecosystem.
• The purpose of the Core Devs meeting is to spark ideas and conversation about core engineering projects, needs, and priorities, and to empower technical decision making.
• Broad attendance is necessary for legitimate decision making and valuable meeting outcomes.

Current Challenges

• 'Core Devs' are mostly network implementers.
• Ecosystem devs attend inconsistently.
• Difficult to spark robust conversations.
• Poor definition of who is a 'Core Dev'.
• Value and purpose of the Core Devs call is unclear.

In order to address these challenges, I'd like to propose a new meeting structure. The idea is that with fewer, more focused meetings, and explicit attendance requirements, attendees will have a clearer sense of the purpose and importance of the meeting while delivering more productive outcomes.

Currently	Proposed	Change Motivation
Biweekly meetings	Monthly meetings	Fewer meetings improves scheduling challenges and reenforces the importance of attending.
45-minute meetings	1 hour meetings	A full hour is manageable to schedule while offering more time for discussion.
Two meetings per day to accommodate timezones	One meeting per month, alternate scheduling	We must accommodate timezone differences, but holding two separate meetings is not an optimal solution. Instead, the timing will alternate per month.
Implementation work updates and loose agenda topics	Structured discussion topics and a strict agenda	Participants should be prepared for and knowledgeable about discussion topics, which requires more advanced planning.

In addition to the above, new meetings will be executed with a revamped list of attendees. Current Core Devs would get to review proposed attendees; guests could also join to deliver presentations, etc., but anyone labeled a 'Core Dev' will be expected to attend.

Much like the Storage Provider Working Groups, an attendance benchmark will be set. This benchmark could be a three-strike policy, etc., but can be adjusted as needed to account for attendee schedules.

The purpose of these attendance policies is not to exclude participants, but to rather set an expectation for attendance. Guest presenters, observers, and others will still be able to attend on an invite-only basis.

We have already received strong support for these changes in both Core Devs meetings #44 and #45. I look forward to gathering any additional feedback.

Any meeting changes will be put in place following the Filecoin v16 mainnet upgrade on July 6, 2022.

[anorth]

Thanks @kaitlin-beegle, well-motivated changes, I look forward to trying it.