Merging TC and UC into a single body

Create a single governance body to represent all contributors
to OpenStack (developers, operators and end users of the software).

The User Committee is defined in the OpenStack Foundation
bylaws, and amending those is very costly (in time, money and
effort). Luckily, the bylaws defer most of the UC details to a
User Committee charter, which contents are modifiable by the
User Committee itself.

This change adds a minimal User Committee charter that implements
the User Committee as a subcommittee of the Technical Committee.
This allows to operate as a single group without requiring costly
bylaws changes to be implemented first.

Change-Id: I8614f650bbc4176929caf15304cdefaed070c3f6

doc/source/index.rst

@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@
  OpenStack Technical Committee
 ===============================
 
-The OpenStack Technical Committee is one of the governing bodies of the
-OpenStack project. It is an elected group that represents the contributors
-to the open source project, and has oversight on all technical matters.
+The OpenStack Technical Committee is the governing body of the OpenStack
+open source project. It is an elected group that represents the contributors
+to the project, and has oversight on all technical matters. This includes
+developers, operators and end users of the software.
 
 The Technical Committee is formally defined in the
 `OpenStack Foundation bylaws`_ (in particular article 4.1(b), article 4.13
@@ -12,10 +13,11 @@ and Appendix 4) and further refined in the :doc:`reference/charter`.
 
 Work under the Technical Committee is organized under official
 :doc:`reference/projects/index` (responsible for the production of the
-software up to release), :doc:`reference/popup-teams` (formed
-around a limited cross-project objective) and :doc:`reference/working-groups`
-(delegations from the TC to fill specific functions like election
-organization).
+software up to release), `Special Interest Groups (SIGs)`_ (groups working
+to advance a particular facet of OpenStack), :doc:`reference/popup-teams`
+(formed around a limited cross-project objective) and
+:doc:`reference/working-groups` (delegations from the TC to fill specific
+functions like election organization).
 
 These pages contain OpenStack Technical Committee reference documents
 and track official resolutions voted by the committee.
@@ -75,6 +77,8 @@ exceptions are listed in the :doc:`reference/house-rules` document.
 
 .. _`OpenStack Foundation bylaws`: http://www.openstack.org/legal/bylaws-of-the-openstack-foundation/
 
+.. _`Special Interest Groups (SIGs)`: https://governance.openstack.org/sigs/
+
 .. _`current proposals tracker`: https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Technical_Committee_Tracker
 
 .. _`Developer's guide section of the Infra manual`: https://docs.openstack.org/infra/manual/developers.html

reference/index.rst

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Reference documents which need to be revised over time.
    dropping-projects
    licensing
    base-services
+   user-committee-charter
    working-groups
    service-project-naming
    project-testing-interface

reference/user-committee-charter.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+==================================
+ OpenStack User Committee Charter
+==================================
+
+Starting August 1st, 2020, the User Committee will no longer operate as
+a separate entity. The entire OpenStack community will be represented by
+a single elected body, including developers, operators and end users of
+the OpenStack software, and inclusive of all types of contributions to
+the project.
+
+To avoid a costly amendment of the Bylaws, that single elected body will
+be called "the Technical Committee", but its role will be expanded to
+cover duties formerly filled by the User Committee.
+
+Motivation
+==========
+
+When the OpenStack project governance was established in 2012, we defined
+two separate bodies. The Technical Committee represented developers / code
+contributors to the open source project(s), while the User Committee
+represented the operators running the resulting software, as well as users
+of the APIs.
+
+That setup served us well in those early days. The focus on the upstream
+side was strongly around *development* of code, we did not have that many
+users, and even less users directly involved in upstream development.
+A separate User Committee resulted in the formation of an engaged community
+of users, and ensured that our community in general (and our events in
+particular) took the needs of operators into account.
+
+We now have a lot of users, and thanks to the efforts of the User Committee
+they are increasingly directly involved in the open source project development
+and maintenance, with several operators leading upstream project teams
+directly.
+
+Keeping two separate bodies maintains the illusion that devs and ops are
+different breeds, and that you have to choose a side. Having a unified body
+will encourage more operators to contribute directly, to run for election to
+the Technical Committee, and to influence the shape of the software.
+
+User Committee
+==============
+
+The User Committee is defined in the OpenStack bylaws. To avoid amending the
+bylaws, the User Committee will still formally exist, with the following rules.
+
+Membership
+----------
+
+The User Committee consists of five members: the Technical Committee chair and
+four other members, elected from within the current Technical Committee
+membership. Not more than half of the members of the User Committee should be
+affiliated with the same organization.
+
+The User Committee will therefore formally be a subcommittee of the Technical
+Committee, although the User Committee mission (representing and serving the
+user community of OpenStack) will be filled by all the Technical Committee
+members.
+
+Chair
+-----
+
+The bylaws require a chair of the User Committee to be designated. The chair
+of the Technical Committee will fill that role.
+
+The chair of the User Committee is a honorific title, they do not fill any
+specific duty.
+
+Active User Contributor
+-----------------------
+
+The bylaws define 'Active User Contributors' as being the electorate to elect
+the User Committee. Since the Technical Committee members now elect the User
+Committee members, starting on August 1st, 2020, Active User Contributors are
+the elected Technical Committee members.
+
+The Active User Contibutors electorate (previously used to elect the separate
+User Committee body) will be included in the electorate electing the Technical
+Committee. To that effect, the Active User Contributor criteria will be used
+by the Foundation to propose such contributors as extra Active Technical
+Contributors if they are not part of the Technical Committee electorate
+already.
+
+Meetings
+--------
+
+The User Committee is considered meeting every time the Technical Committee
+meets and at least three of the User Committee members are present.
+
+Amendments to this charter
+--------------------------
+
+This charter may be amended by a simple vote by the Technical Committee
+members.