[OSGeo-Discuss] Should old Project Steering Committee members be put out to pasture?

[Jody Garnett]

We put them out to pasture - if they have not been meeting their 
responsibilities for a fixed period of time (ie attended a meeting or 
reviewing project proposals). It is a tough decision and GeoTools 
managed to paint itself into a corner before enacting this policy 
(corner = not enough people in meetings for a useful vote). So far it is 
going well; we are trying to have a higher turn over of PMC (so that an 
organization with an active project can step up as needed).

I think the GeoServer policy has the best write up:
>
> If you find you cannot make meetings for a month or two, by all means 
> step aside. Thank you so much for your time, if you want to groom a 
> successor and then nominate them that is cool, but the nomination 
> process still applies.
>
> If we do not hear from you for two months we will assume you lost, 
> send out a search party and nominate your replacement.
>
> That is to say, status on PSC is lost if not active at all in a two 
> month period of time. Of course you can come back on to the PSC if you 
> become active again, but a new nomination procedure will be needed.
>
Cheers,
Jody

Cameron Shorter wrote:
> One of your developers has been very active, contributed lots of code, 
> advice, documentation but then their priorities change. They haven't 
> got as much time for the project, or maybe the project grows and they 
> can't keep up with increased email traffic.
>
> The developer still holds a lot of knowledge about the project, 
> probably talks it up at conferences and probably trades off their 
> status as a PSC member in developer circles.
>
> Should the developer step down from the Project Steering Committee?
> Should the developer be offered a new title - "Project's Honoured 
> Grandfather" or similar?
>
> What do other OSGeo projects do with their old guard?
>