Add RFC process

Change-Id: I42e0fabbbf7eb285876d32d889109f03e92ac033

Author: Edd Wilder-James

README.md

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ The `community` repository stores documents used by the developer community.
 
 * `rfcs` - design documents used by the design review process
 * `sigs` - documentation for each TensorFlow Special Interest group (SIG)
+* `governance` - operating processes for the TensorFlow project
 
 ## Contact
 

governance/TF-RFCs.md

@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+# TensorFlow Request for Comments (TF-RFC)
+
+The purpose of a TensorFlow RFC is to engage the TensorFlow community in
+development, by getting feedback from stakeholders and experts, and
+communicating design changes broadly.
+
+## Who is involved?
+
+Any **community member** may help by providing feedback on whether the RFC will
+meet their needs.
+
+An **RFC author** is one or more community member who writes an RFC and is
+committed to championing it through the  process.
+
+An **RFC sponsor** is any maintainer who sponsors the RFC and will shepherd it
+through the RFC review process.
+
+A **review committee** is a group of maintainers who have the responsibility of
+recommending the adoption of the RFC.
+
+## What is a TensorFlow RFC?
+
+An RFC is a document that describes a requirement and the proposed changes that
+will solve it. Specifically, the RFC will:
+
+* be formatted according to the RFC template
+* be submitted as a pull request to the community/rfcs directory
+* be subject to discussion and a review meeting prior to acceptance
+
+## RFC process
+
+Before submitting an RFC, it is a good idea to discuss your aims with project
+contributors and maintainers and get early feedback. Use the developer mailing
+list for the project concerned ([email protected], or the list for the
+relevant SIG). After writing the RFC draft, get feedback from these
+experts before submitting it.
+
+1. Submit your RFC as a pull request to community/rfcs. 
+
+   Name your RFC file using the [template](https://github.com/tensorflow/community/blob/master/rfcs/yyyymmdd-rfc-template.md) `YYYYMMDD-descriptive-name.md`, where
+   YYYYMMDD is the date of submission, and ‘descriptive-name’ relates to the
+   title of your RFC. For instance, if your RFC is titled “Parallel Widgets API”,
+   you might use the filename `20180531-parallel-widgets.md`. If you have images
+   or other auxiliary files, create a directory of the form `YYYYMMDD-descriptive-name`
+   in which to store those files.
+
+2. Recruit a sponsor from the maintainers of the project which your RFC concerns.
+   Identify them in the PR, ideally before posting the PR. If no sponsor is found
+   within a month of posting the PR, it will be closed.
+
+3. Email the developer mailing list with a brief description, and a link to the
+   PR and a request for review.
+
+4. The sponsor will request a review committee meeting, no sooner than two weeks
+   after the RFC PR is posted. If discussion is lively, wait until it has
+   settled before going to review. The goal of the review meeting is to resolve
+   minor issues; consensus should be reached on major issues beforehand.
+
+5. The meeting may approve the RFC, reject it, or require changes before it
+   can be considered again. Approved RFCs will be merged into community/rfcs, and
+   rejected RFCs will have their PRs closed.
+
+6. Implementations of a successful RFC should reference it in their
+   documentation, and work with the sponsor to successfully land the code.
+
+While implementation code is not necessary to start the RFC process, its
+existence in full or part may help the design discussion.
+
+## Community members
+
+As the purpose of RFCs is to ensure the community is well represented and served
+by new changes to TensorFlow, it is the responsibility of community members to
+participate in reviewing RFCs where they have an interest in the outcome.
+
+Community members should:
+
+* provide feedback as soon as possible to allow adequate time for consideration
+* read RFCs thoroughly before providing feedback
+* be civil and constructive
+
+## Review committees
+
+The constitution of a review committee may change according to the particular
+governance style and leadership of each project. For core TensorFlow, the
+committee will exist of contributors to the TensorFlow project, who have
+expertise in the domain area concerned.
+
+Review committees must:
+
+* ensure that substantive items of public feedback have been accounted for
+* add their meeting notes as comments to the PR
+* provide reasons for their decisions
+
+If a review committee requires changes before acceptance, it is the
+responsibility of the sponsor to ensure these are made and seek subsequent
+approval from the committee members.
+
+## RFC sponsors
+
+A sponsor is a project maintainer responsible for ensuring the best possible
+outcome of the RFC process. In particular this includes:
+
+* advocating for the proposed design
+* guiding the RFC to adhere to existing design and style conventions
+* guiding the review committee to come to a productive consensus
+* if the RFC moves to implementation:
+  * ensuring proposed implementation adheres to the design
+  * liaison with appropriate parties to successfully land implementation
+
+## Keeping the bar high
+
+While we encourage and celebrate every contributor, the bar for RFC acceptance
+should be kept intentionally high. A design may be rejected or need significant
+revision at any one of these stages:
+
+* initial design conversations on the relevant mailing list
+* failure to recruit a sponsor
+* critical objections during the feedback phase
+* failure to achieve consensus during the design review
+* concerns raised during implementation (e.g., inability to achieve backwards
+  compatibility, concerns about maintenance appearing once a partial implementation
+  is available)
+
+If this process is functioning well, RFCs are expected to fail in the earlier,
+rather than later, stages.
+
+An approved RFC is no guarantee of a commitment to implement, and acceptance of
+a proposed RFC implementation is still subject to the usual code review
+process.
+
+## RFC Template
+
+Use the template [from
+GitHub](https://github.com/tensorflow/community/blob/master/rfcs/yyyymmdd-rfc-template.md),
+being sure to follow the naming conventions described above.