Preface
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) gather the community that works on a domain specific problem and aims to create an environment for open discussion, document co-creation and solution proposals. SIGs cuts through a vertical trying to address problems specific to that particular community. Special Interest Groups are overlooked by Hyperledger Staff and the Governing Board. Anyone in the community should feel empowered to propose a new Special Interest Group as long as they can find at least 15 Interested initial contributors.
Introduction
This document outlines the process for establishing and running Hyperledger special interest groups. We begin with an application form for a new SIG, to be reviewed by Hyperledger staff and distributed to the Hyperledger Governing Board for information. Then we define the standard process that all SIGs are expected to follow. It ends with the steps necessary after a SIG is approved.
Special Interest Group Application
The special interest group will create a charter utilizing the following application. Items that are italicized should be added by the person proposing the new special interest group. You can find an online version of this form at: Google Forms Link
Special Interest Group Title
Please provide a title, generally of the form “Something Something SIG”.
Introduction
Please provide an introduction that addresses why the SIG is required and what are the main goals and objectives of the group.
Scope
Please provide the scope and audience of the SIG. Also, include items that are not within the scope of this SIG. It’s important to define the boundaries, to ensure a well-focused SIG.
Work Products
The anticipated initial work products will include (but is not limited to):
Please list the work products that the group expects to initially focus on, such as white papers, use cases, case studies, or a face to face event. Ideally, these are measurable work products that help the Hyperledger Staff and Governing Board assess whether the SIG is making progress.
Collaborators (other groups)
Please provide any specific groups or projects that this SIG will immediately collaborate with.
Interested Parties
The following individuals have already expressed an interest in joining this SIG, and we hope they will become contributors over the first year:
List of interested parties listed with their consent, including name, association, and optionally email addresses.
Proposed Chair
The following individual has volunteered to serve as the initial Chair of the SIG:
Usually this is the person who has been most active in encouraging the development of the SIG. The Chair will kick off the discussions and work products, as well as, manage the tone and cadence of conversations. Hyperledger Staff will appoint a chair along with the approval of the SIG.
Process of the Group
Participation is open to everyone in the community. Meetings will be held weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly (as determined by the Chair) via teleconference. When needed a task force can be created and have separate working sessions to discuss specific work items. The Group is under the supervision of Hyperledger Ecosystem Team and gets an assigned staff member as a Point of Contact for all matters that require governance or approval.
Chair Term
The Chair of the SIG will serve for as long as they still want to lead the SIG. At which point, they will inform Hyperledger Point of Contact of their desire to step down from the position. Hyperledger Point of Contact will then appoint another chair with input from the community and existing chair. NOTE: in most cases, we strongly suggest only a single chair. Hyperledger does not encourage co-chairing.
Transparency
Meeting details, meeting notes, and documentation shall be made publicly available. The following proposed items will be created:
Wiki
Mailing List
Chat channel on Hyperledger's Chat
Meeting Recordings will be stored in the Hyperledger Community Google Drive
Amendments
Changes to the charter may be proposed by active group members and, if it obtains a rough consensus as determined by the Chair, can be brought forward to Hyperledger Point of Contact
Quarterly Reports
The requirement to report on a quarterly basis to the Hyperledger POC is described here. Every quarter, SIGs must submit a report to Hyperledger Point of Contact assigned to them. The report must be submitted according to the schedule outlined for the SIG. The report of SIG must contain information about what was accomplished in the previous quarter and the plans for the next quarter. After posting the report on the SIG's wiki, the chair schedules a call with POC to do a readout. The Chair is responsible for sending out an email to TSC informing the TSC where the update can be found. Governing Board will be updated by Hyperledger Point of Contact on the state of health of all SIGs.
Disbanding
Should the scope reach completion or conversely the traffic on the various conversation forums and the teleconference activity wither to very low levels, then the Chair of the SIG may ask the Hyperledger Staff to disband the SIG.
Running the Working Group
Responsibilities of a Chair
The chair is responsible for the following items:
Sending agendas for meetings to make meetings more productive
Ensuring that minutes are taken, including capturing the list of participants. This does not mean that they will be responsible for taking the minutes, but rather that someone is taking the minutes
Leading the meeting
Sending out cancellation notices prior to the meeting
Ensuring that SIG updates are uploaded to the SIG's wiki and sent on a quarterly basis to Hyperledger Point of Contact, followed by a call to discuss the progress. An email to the update is sent out to the TSC mailing list.
Facilitating the group and helping ensure that the goals and objectives are set
Enforcing the SIG's adherence to the Hyperledger Code of Conduct
Minutes
Minutes for each meeting should be noted and accessible from the SIG's wiki page on wiki.hyperledger.org. Members of the SIG will need to decide who will take notes.
Meeting Cadence
SIGs typically meet on a bi-weekly basis. However, each SIG's chair should determine whether they will meet on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis.
Agendas
In advance of every meeting, the Chair should send out an agenda to both the SIG's Chat Channel and Mailing List to ensure that attendees know what will be discussed.
Cancelling a Meeting
Meetings are placed on the Hyperledger Community calendar. To ensure that the meeting can be removed, please send an email in advance of the meeting to zoom@hyperledger.org. In addition, please notify the SIG's mailing list and chat channel.
After Approval of SIG
When a new SIG gets approved, Hyperledger staff will ensure the following checklist is completed:
A staff member is identified as the Point of Contact for SIG. This staff lead will be the main point of contact for the SIG's chair and will oversee the specific SIG.
A SIG Charter is created on the Hyperledger wiki based on the application, adding two lines ”Approved by the Hyperledger Governing Board on <date>” and “Implementing the standard SIG process defined <here>”, linking to the right page on the wiki.
Set up real-time chat channel for the SIG. Channel should be named
#{SIG-name}-wg.Set up the mailing lists for the SIG.
Set up a wiki page for the SIG. Create a page at
https://wiki.hyperledger.org/groups/{SIG-name}. The initial sections on the Wiki should include: Charter, Antitrust Policy Notification, Meeting Details, Communication Channels, Community Folder.Set up a community folder within the Hyperledger Community folder to store meeting recordings and other documents. Give permissions to the SIG's chair to edit.
Set up a schedule for the SIG's quarterly updates. This should be captured on the calendar for the SIG at https://lists.hyperledger.org.
Work with the SIG's chair to ensure that the community calendar is updated (Hyperledger Community calendar) to include the date/time of the meeting. IMPORTANT: Since a single Zoom account allows only one meeting can occur at the same time, ensure that the meeting day/time does not conflict with an existing community meeting.
Send out a calendar invite to the mailing list.