Eclipse Foundation Interest Group Process

Version 1.0

Table of Contents

• Governance
  • Related Governance Documents
• Guiding Principles
• Relationship to Projects
• How to Participate
• Naming and Trademarks
• Scope
• Materials
• Leadership
• Services and Shared Resources
• Interest Group Lifecycle
  • Pre-Proposal Phase
  • Proposal Phase
  • Operational Phase
  • Archived Phase
• Modifying This Process
• Exceptions

This document describes the process for creating and managing Eclipse Foundation Interest Groups ("Interest Groups”). In particular it describes how the Eclipse Foundation member organizations ("Members"), which includes Strategic, Contributing, and Associate members, can lead, influence, and collaborate within Interest Groups.

Interest Groups are established to facilitate the collaboration between participating Eclipse Members and to drive shared innovation, and all participating Members may contribute to the initiative.

Governance

Eclipse Interest Groups are a light-weight association of a subset of the Members that share a common interest in a topic or domain (“Participating Members”). Eclipse Interest Groups inherit and rely upon the Eclipse Foundation’s overall governance, sufficient to enable the Participating Members to collaborate effectively. All participants in Interest Groups must comply with the agreements, policies and procedures of the Eclipse Foundation. In particular, and without limiting the foregoing, at all times, participants in all Eclipse Interest Groups must conform to the Eclipse Foundation’s Intellectual Property and Antitrust Policies.

Each Participating Member will designate an employee, consultant, director, officer, or agent (a “Participant Representative”) to represent them in the Interest Group. Each Member is further welcome to designate other employees, consultants, directors, officers, or agents that may participate in the initiatives and activities of the Interest Group (“Participants”).

Interest Groups may hold meetings, provided that those meetings are open to all Participating Members, that an agenda for each meeting is published in advance, and that minutes of the meeting are published on the Interest Group’s mailing list in a timely fashion.

Interest Groups shall not form any committees, sub-committees, or sub-groups.

The governance structure for Interest Groups is intentionally informal, with most actions taken by the Interest Group being done so collegially by Participants and based on lazy consensus. However, at any time an Interest Group wishes to formalize a decision, such a decision is to be taken by a vote of the Participant Representatives¹, excluding Participant Representatives of Associate Members² , of the Interest Group (the “Eligible Voters”). A vote of the Interest Group may be taken at any meeting provided that: a) notice of the vote is included on the agenda in advance, and b) at least half of the Eligible Voters are represented. Electronic votes may also be held on the Interest Group’s mailing list, provided that any vote remains open for a minimum period of 14 days and that a minimum of half of the Eligible Voters vote. All votes require a simple majority to pass; that is, the number of votes cast in favor must be greater than the number of votes cast against. Note that abstentions, while permitted, are not counted in the determination of the outcome of the vote.

For purposes of interpretation within the context of the Bylaws, Interest Groups are deemed to be Working Groups as that term is defined in the Bylaws. Also, for purposes of clarity, Interest Groups are distinct from and operate differently than Working Group “Special Interest Groups”, as that term is used in the context of Working Groups.

Guiding Principles

All Interest Groups must operate in an open and transparent manner.

Open - Everyone participates with the same rules; there are no rules to exclude any potential collaborators which include, of course, direct competitors in the marketplace.

Transparent - Minutes, plans, and other artifacts are open and easily accessible to all.

Interest Groups, like all communities associated with the Eclipse Foundation, must operate in adherence to the Foundation’s Code of Conduct.

Relationship to Projects

Interest Groups may declare interest in Eclipse Foundation open source projects and specifications.

How to Participate

Participation in an Interest Group is open to Strategic, Contributing, and Associate Members. Participation requires the Member to execute the Eclipse Foundation Membership Agreement and Eclipse Foundation Member Committer and Contributor Agreement and to follow any other steps on how to participate that are defined from time to time by the EMO.

There are no fees associated with participating in Interest Groups.

Naming and Trademarks

Interest Groups must choose a name. The Eclipse Foundation retains ownership of the Interest Group’s name and related trademarks on behalf of the community.

Scope

Interest Groups must have a defined Scope and all initiatives and activities are required to reside within that Scope. The initiatives and resulting materials developed by Participants should be in line with the Scope; initiatives and materials that are found to be outside the Scope of the Interest Group are to be avoided, and in extreme violations, may result in the termination of the Interest Group.

Materials

Interest Groups must produce agendas and minutes for all meetings. Interest Groups may, at their discretion, produce artifacts such as documents, whitepapers, architectures, blueprints, diagrams, presentations, and the like; however, Interest Groups must not develop software, software documentation, or specifications.

Leadership

Each Interest Group must have one or more designated Interest Group Leads (IGL). The IGL must ensure that the Interest Group:

• operates effectively by guiding the overall direction and by removing obstacles, solving problems, and resolving conflicts;
• operates using open source rules of engagement of transparency and open participation; and
• conforms to the Eclipse Foundation Intellectual Property and Antitrust Policies and associated processes.

Services and Shared Resources

Interest Groups share resources, communications channels, and so on. These services and shared resources must provide for a level playing field to ensure all Participants have access to resources, and that the resources are maintained to the benefit of the Interest Group. Use of these shared resources must adhere to the principles of freedom of access for all Participants, and a freedom of action for those Participants.

Each Interest Group is provided an Eclipse approved collaborative platform such as GitLab and an Eclipse Foundation-hosted public archived mailing list open to the participating Members of the Interest Group. All services and shared resources of Interest Groups must adhere to the Foundation’s Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Code of Conduct, and other related policies.

Interest Group Lifecycle

Following is a description of the lifecycle of an Interest Group:

Modifying This Process

The Eclipse founcation is responsible for maintaining this document and all changes must be approved by the Board of Directors.

Exceptions

Exceptions to this Eclipse Foundation Interest Group Process may be granted at the sole discretion of the Executive Director.