Architecture Group Process Guide

Document revision: 0.5 - 03/21/2003
http://asg.web.cmu.edu/arch/process.html

1.0 Overview

2.0 Standup Process

The "standup" process is to help the Architecture Group quickly discuss or "triage" topics. We will meet at least once a week. People who are traveling are expected to call in for these meetings (people on vacation don't need to call in :-).

2.1 Pre-Meeting

2.1.1 Discussion Items

Discussion items are sent to org.acs.architecture. Items should be classifed as follows by including the tag in the subject header:

CONSIDER - Item for consideration or to keep in the back of your mind. The poster does not believe it is worth discussing at the meeting at this time but others should be informed. Other members of the Archticture group may decide to escalate this item to AGENDA. Items posted to org.acs.architecture.clippings are basically tagged with CONSIDER but may be treated as a lower importance item than something sent to org.acs.architecture directly.
AGENDA - Item should be discussed but is not considered critical.
CRITICAL - An immediate meeting for this topic is required. Given the priority, a separate meeting may need to be called.

2.1.2 Agenda Preparation

We will rotate responsibility for leading the meeting. The leader will prepare the agenda ahead of time and also take notes during the meeting.
The lead will organize an agenda using new discussion topics posted to the org.acs.architecture bboard plus any carry-over items from the notes of the previous meeting. The agenda should be posted to the bboard no later than 2 hours before the meeting and should be posted using the Subject as follows:
```
    Subject: 2/27 arch mtg agenda
```
Since we rotate leadership responsibility, the lead can arrange the agenda to suit their priorities.

2.1.3 The Agenda

The agenda for the meeting should use the following general order of business:

Last-minute agenda bash - This is the last chance for people to offer items for consideration for today's meeting.
Review notes from the previous meeting - Comment on and (hopefully) approve the meeting minutes from the last meeting. Following approval, the original note taker is responsible for posting their approved notes to org.acs.architecture.notes.
Review progress on Action Items from last meeting
Core topics - discuss the posted and carry-over topics
If-time topics - this may just be the purgatory between core topics and the Bin..
Active Items - maintain a list of things that people are working on maybe they're just action items, but it doesn't seem quite right
The Bin - The bin is where we place items to be discussed at a later date. An entry for the Bin is of the following format:
```
	<future date> - Item description - <note date> 
```
Future date is the date on which we will bring up the item again. The description is a quick summary of the item. The note date is the date on which we put the item in the bin. This is to help us go back and find the notes on the previous discussion of the binned item.

2.2 The Stand-up Meeting

The meeting itself should follow the agenda. Everybody should pay attention to the clock to try to expedite the meeting and stay on track (as hard as that so often is). At the end of the meeting, the note taker must recap notes to the group to ensure that a best first draft can be attained.

2.3 Meeting notes

A first draft of the meeting notes should be posted to org.acs.architecture by the end of the day. The Subject: line for the meeting notes should be of the style:

    Subject: 2/27 arch mtg notes

The notes should essentially follow the agenda, adding discussion/update/outcome summaries on each of the sections.

3.0 Architecture Technical Information

The Architecture Technical Information (ATI) documents provide a description of the current state of the system. These documents document the technical infrastructure as it exists at any given point in time. The purpose of these documents is to provide detailed reference for position papers.

The documents will remain in draft form until approved by the Architecture Group.

The ATI documents are currently stored at http://asg.web.cmu.edu/arch/ati/.

4.0 Architecture Position Paper

Architecture Position papers (APP) provide guidance and is where "final" recommendations are made.

The documents will remain in draft form until approved by the Architecture Group.

The APP documents are currently stored at http://asg.web.cmu.edu/arch/app/.

5.0 Role of Architecture Group

opinions vs. recommendations

ChangeLog

0.5  - poepping - 03/21/2003 - poepping changes 
0.4 -  wcw      - 03/10/2003 - braindump some foo
0.3 -  wcw      - 03/03/2003 - remove bboard foo; add bin
0.2 -  wcw      - 02/27/2003 - move to new location
0.1 -  wcw      - 02/25/2003 - Initial version