Merge pull request #1125 from nikhita/toc-decision-process

process/toc-decision-process.md

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+# TOC Decision Making Process
+
+This document outlines a decision-making structure used by the TOC
+that takes into account feedback from members of the community
+and strives to find consensus, while avoiding deadlocks.
+
+All discussions take place based on the Operating Model
+defined in the [charter](https://github.com/cncf/foundation/blob/main/charter.md#6-technical-oversight-committee-toc).
+
+To ensure that the process is as efficient as possible,
+the amount of notice provided and the amount of consensus sought is driven by
+the estimation of how complicated an issue or PR is.
+
+## Major Changes
+
+To propose any change to the existing governance, principles or processes that
+impact the broader CNCF community (including projects, TAGs, etc),
+the following process shall be followed:
+
+- Open a GitHub issue in the `cncf/toc` repo describing the change.
+- Shepherd a public discussion about the topic in a TOC meeting.
+- Post the results of the discussion to the GitHub issue and
+send a note to the CNCF TOC mailing list.
+- Create a pull request to propose the change.
+- The PR remains open for a minimum of 2 calendar weeks for the community to review.
+- Address any review comments on the PR.
+- After resolving all review comments, the PR must remain open
+for a _reasonable time_ to allow for any additional comments.
+    - At least one calendar week constitutes _reasonable time_ in the above sense.
+    - This period resets at every new major change made to the PR.
+      Minor changes like typo fixes do not reset the period.
+- For the PR to be approved:
+    - It needs approval from at least 2 TOC members.
+    - TOC decisions are driven by consensus. If the TOC has not reached consensus,
+      the PR approval moves to a [vote](#voting).
+- The PR can be merged when **all** of the following are true:
+    - The two week public comment period has ended
+    - All reviews have been addressed
+    - If there are any major review comments, the _reasonable time_ period has elapsed
+    - There are at least 2 approvals from TOC members _or_ there is a [passing TOC vote](https://github.com/cncf/foundation/blob/main/charter.md#6-technical-oversight-committee-toc)
+- Notify the TOC mailing list of the merge.
+
+## Minor Changes
+
+The following process shall be followed for changes that are narrowly scoped.
+Some examples of these changes are typo fixes or improving the clarity of
+existing TOC processes as documented where there is no impact to projects,
+the community, the outcome of processes, or any such changes that modify
+the intent of their execution.
+It is expected these changes are made in good faith to enable velocity for
+projects by removing confusion and enable increased transparency.
+
+- Open a GitHub issue or directly create a PR to the `cncf/toc` repo
+to propose the change.
+- For the PR to be approved, it needs approval from at least one TOC member
+_and_ the TOC Chair is to be informed to confirm previous consensus in
+applying the minor change.
+- If the PR is approved as per above, the PR can be merged.
+
+## Voting
+
+Voting is required for processes like:
+- Adding a project to the Sandbox, Incubation or Graduation
+- Moving a project between levels
+- Adding or removing a TAG Chair or Technical Lead
+- Achieving consensus among the TOC
+
+Votes are managed through at least one of the following ways:
+- [gitvote](https://github.com/cncf/gitvote)
+- over email on the TOC mailing list
+- on call in a public TOC meeting
+
+The specific voting details are mentioned in each process' guidelines
+and the requirements laid out in the [charter](https://github.com/cncf/foundation/blob/main/charter.md#6-technical-oversight-committee-toc).
+Processes that pass votes do not require additional approvals and
+can be directly merged by the CNCF Staff.
+