Roman Rokytskyy wrote:

> Hello everybody,

[snip]

> I suggest to finish each discussion round with a "minutes". It
> should include following information:
>
> - topic of the discussion;
> - short summary of the problem we're going to solve;
> - proposed solution;
> - short summary of the critics/alternatives suggested;
> - conclusion.
>
> The last part is most hard, since not every discussion ends with a
> conclusion. However I suggest that in case when no conclusion has been made
> during discussion, the person writing a minutes suggest one. If the group
> does not agree to the suggested conclusion, we just start working together
> on this issue.

Or state that no agreement could be reached at this time adding that
the subject will be reviewed after deciding A, B and C. Then the problem
becomes one of tracking.

Another idea is to nominate a small group of architects to go off list
make a decision. This gets rid of the too many cooks problem - as long
as the the nominees represent all views. I am not saying this is a
magic bullet but somthing that cna be used when highly complex issues
that lead to a lot of on-list misunderstandings can take place. In such
situations letting three or four people go off and return with a clearly
worded discussion document (ala Jim Starkey's emails) or they actually
come to a reasoned decision to be voted upon.

> Minutes should be either published in files area of this group or somewhere
> on the Firebird site.

Nice idea. How about following RFC alike guidelines. I.e. issue a draft
to the group and take a vote. If >n% of respondents say yes then it
passes - a tad formal but it does encourage people to stay involved.

Hint: it may be an idea to CC other lists during this process - not
everyone reads/lurks all of the firebird lists :-)

> Now probably the most important question: who is going to write the minutes?
> There's two possibilities: a dedicated person and a discussion originator. I
> believe that a dedicated secretary is better approach.

I would expect whoever proposes the "winning" solution would be the best
person to do the write up. Having one or more people who can provide
draft reviews before "publication" would be nice and I would
volunteer for this duty but I do not have the time for anything else.

> If you have an interest to be a secretary, please contact somebody from the
> Firebird admins off the list to discuss the details.

> Thanks!
> Roman Rokytskyy