[Osmf-talk] Seeking feedback and interest in the OSMF Engineering Working Group

[Michal Migurski]

Andy, I appreciate your excellent reply so I’m just going to let it stand, but I did want to respond to one idea because a few other participants in this thread have made similar points:

> On Jul 19, 2021, at 8:40 AM, Andy Allan <gravitystorm at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> If the board starts measuring progress on those charts and your stated
> goals, then there are two simple ways we can "improve" those outcomes
> - simply close community pull requests immediately, and arbitrarily
> decline merging maintainer PRs. That's a step backwards for everyone
> involved, but would meet those defined goals.

It’s really easy for us clever nerds to think of ways that metrics can be gamed in bad faith. I don't agree that this is a good argument against using them at all. Somehow, the community and Foundation will need to know if the EWG is contributing to OSM’s stability. If we don't establish the new incarnation of the EWG with a unambiguous goal, it’s going wind up in Simon Poole’s “miserable failure” pile as soon as a couple well-meaning meetings have passed. I’d prefer that not happen.

I’m not wedded to my particular metric suggestions but I’m also not seeing any other measurable goals in this thread for the EWG. What do we want the working group to *do*? 

-mike.

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