Project Governance Model

Hack Addis will serve as an umbrella for a number of open source projects to be spearheaded by the developer community in and around Addis initially but with the plan of going nationwide and to the horn region. In order to do so we need a proper organization to deal with aspects of software development projects in general and that of open-source ones in particular. To achieve this we need to address how each project is going to be governed and organized, how to handle contributions, what roles are required for each project and finally release management which deals with planning and scheduling of the projects.

A governance model describes the roles that project participants can take on and the process for decision making within the project. In addition, it describes the ground rules for participation in the project and the processes for communicating and sharing within the project team and community. In other words it is the governance model that prevents an open source project from descending into chaos.

There are almost as many variations of open source management strategies as there are open source projects. It is therefore critical that a project clearly communicates its policies and strategies to potential users and developers of the project’s outputs. A clear governance model also allows potential contributors to understand how they should engage with the project, what is expected of them and what protections are provided to ensure that their contributions will always be available to them. In addition, it describes the quality control processes that help to assure potential users of the viability of the project.

Governance models range from centralised control by a single individual or organisation (benevolent dictatorship) to distributed control awarded in recognition of contributions (meritocracy). It is our suggestion that Hack Addis projects be governed by a meritocracy type of model since it would not be ideal and practical to have a single individual call the shots for a project in our circumstance. The meritocratic model tries to ensure that new entrants into the community feel engaged and involved from the very first day. It gives everyone a voice and rewards those who make valuable contribution by providing mechanism of recognition such as increased visibility within the project. This however does not mean that there is no single body to make critical decisions for the project. This is a model which is used by the Apache Software Foundation for its projects. It is a consensus-based community project whereby anyone with an interest in the project can join the community, contribute to the project design and participate in the decision making process.

Other pages

• Roles and Responsibilities
• Skills and Roles
• Release Management
• Projects