OLPC Europe/Consensus Finding

Draft

Consensus finding

After initial thinking about a basic set of guidelines and visions, on our first IRC Meeting we basically agreed on:

• "Rough consensus and running code."
• File:Olpc europe mindmap.pdf
• File:Olpc europe text.pdf

Decision Finding

Working groups make decisions through a "rough consensus" process. This consensus does not require that all participants agree although this is, of course, preferred. In general, the dominant view of the working group shall prevail. (However, it must be noted that "dominance" is not to be determined on the basis of volume or persistence, but rather a more general sense of agreement). Consensus can be determined by text messages, a showing of hands, or any other means on which the community agrees (by rough consensus, of course). Note that 51% of the working group does not qualify as "rough consensus" and 99% is better than rough. At OLPC Europe, if at a voting the majority agrees, and the minority disagrees, the consensus has been reached if at least 70% voted for it.

References

• Wikipedia: Consensus decision-making
• Wikipedia: Rough consensus
• Presentation of voting systems and their weaknesses: Voting_aaron.pdf (Aaron Kaplan)