What we talk about when we talk about “governance”

You may have heard that Drupal governance is changing. A lot of people have asked “what is governance and why should I care?” I have answers to each part of that question.

What is governance?

The short version is that governance is the way a project (in this case, Drupal) is run. There is technical governance (how code gets merged, how new initiatives are led) and there is community governance (how harassment is handled, how leaders are chosen). I don’t believe we can treat them separately, but for the sake of expediency, let’s just talk about “community governance” like we did in the blog post linked above, and like folks have been doing within Drupal.

Governance is an abstract concept for many people, and it doesn’t mean much to most of us. It certainly didn’t mean much to me a few months ago. Frankly, it sounded kind of boring.

But, when you unpack it, I think you’ll find that there’s a lot involved. I think you’ll also find that if you’re someone in the Drupal community, you’re probably to be impacted by Drupal governance at some point in your Drupal career.

Do you need to get involved in the Drupal governance changes? Yes.

Why should I care?

Here’s a sampling of some things that will be changing:

• The contents of the Code of Conduct for online and event spaces
• Who takes Code of Conduct reports
• Whether or not you can submit anonymous Code of Conduct reports
• What you can expect to happen after you submit a report
• What protections, if any, you have from the person you’re reporting
• What your options are if your reportee remains in the community
• What your options are if you are harassed in a non-Drupal space (like Twitter)
• What content you can include in a Code of Conduct report
• What happens to people who are known “bad actors” (aka, who have repeated Code of Conduct violations)

Does it seem like the people who would be most impacted are the people who are, in general, most vulnerable in our society and most underrepresented in technology? Yes! This is why I am personally inviting you to get involved.

Here’s some more things that will be affected:

• Who can become a community leader (like the recent selection of community members to lead the Drupal Europe event planning)
• How community leaders are managed
• What extra standards community leaders are expected to uphold (currently: none!)

Still seems like the people most impacted are going to be people most often squished. Still not convinced? Here are some questions that will be answered in this process

• Where is the Drupal community?
• Who is a community member?
• Who is a community contributor?
• What are community values, specifically?
  (The community already has values, of course, but they’re not made explicit anywhere. Depending on your position, the current values could be seen as good or harmful.)
• How is official “community news” circulated?
• Who has the power to moderate community news?
• What community groups are “official”? Who gets to make that designation?

This sounds like governance impacts a lot, because it does. And this also sounds like a lot to figure out, because it is. But we don’t have to solve it all at once, and you don’t have to have answers to any questions to get involved.

How can we ensure that Drupal community governance changes don’t reinforce existing problems? There are an infinite number of ways, but I hear people discuss a few:

1. Let people who are already involved make the decisions and trust that they will keep YOU in mind.
2. See that you have someone who you trust that’s involved, and hope that they don’t burn out before they can actually make a difference
3. Leave the Drupal community entirely.
4. (my personal recommendation): Get involved in a way that works, is sustainable for you and contributes to positive change.
   If you’re not sure what that is, reach out to me. I will personally help you figure it out.

I’m specifically asking for people who answer yes to any of the following:

• Do you identify as a woman?
• Do you identify as gender non-conforming, gender-queer, agender?
• Do you identify as LGBTQIA+?
• Do you identify as a person of color?
• Do you identify as a religious minority?
• Do you identify as a person with disabilities?
• Do you identify as neuroatypical?
• Are you someone who cares about the safety and participation of people who identify as any of the above?

GET THE F*** ON BOARD, PLEASE. We cannot do this without you. I know that participation can be hard, overwhelming, exhausting, [any negative adjective here]. It’s also fulfilling and important. There are a community of people already participating that need your help and that will support your involvement. Find me on twitter, drupal.org if you have any questions.