# 19th Feb 25

## Attendees:

| Name                     | Attendance | Role                              | Voting Seat |
| ------------------------ | ---------- | --------------------------------- | ----------- |
| Kevin Hammond            | Yes        | TSC Chair (IOE)                   | Yes         |
| Adam Dean                | Yes        | TSC Vice-Chair                    | Yes         |
| Markus Gufler            | Yes        | TSC Member (Cardano Foundation)   | Yes         |
| Johnny Kelly             | Yes        | TSC Member                        | Yes         |
| Ben Hart                 | Yes        | TSC Member (MLabs)                | Yes         |
| Neil Davies              | Yes        | TSC Member (PN Solutions)         | Yes         |
| Nicholas Clark           | Yes        | TSC Member (Tweag Modus)          | Yes         |
| Duncan Soutar            | Yes        | TSC Secretary                     | No          |
| Matt Davis               | No         | Intersect - Tech Ops Lead         | No          |
| Christian Taylor         | Yes        | Intersect - Opensource Head       | No          |
| Terence ‘Tex’ McCutcheon | No         | OSC Secretary                     | No          |
| Abbie Yeates             | Yes        | Intersect - Delivery Assurance    | No          |
| Ricky Rand               | Yes        | IOE General Manager - Observer    | No          |
| Duncan Coutts            | Yes        | Welltyped - Observer              | No          |
| Lawrence Clarke          | No         | Intersect - Head of Core Services | No          |

## **Agenda:**

| Discussion Point                       | Discussion Points                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | Actions: Responsible / Note                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| -------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| TSC Elections                          | <p>- Election process and preparation discussed.</p><p>- Need for clear qualification criteria for candidates.</p><p>- Debate on the optimal number of TSC seats for this election (4 or 5).</p><p>- Confirmation of open seats and current members up for re-election.</p> | <p>- Duncan to prepare a one-page summary of TSC activities.</p><p>- Duncan to create a shared document for TSC members to propose qualification questions.</p><p>- TSC to finalize three qualification questions for candidates.</p><p>- Update and publish the TSC's Terms of Reference.</p> |
| <p>Candidate </p><p>Qualifications</p> | <p>- Discussion on the desired skills and experience for TSC members.</p><p>- Emphasis on technical expertise, financial knowledge, and program management experience.</p>                                                                                                  | - TSC members to provide input on desired candidate qualifications.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| Proposal Review & Categorization       | <p>- Review of proposals and categorization into different streams (tooling, core development, maintenance).</p><p>- Prioritization of proposals based on community feedback and criticality.</p>                                                                           | <p>- Further define the scope and roadmap for Hydra and Mithril.</p><p>- Potentially split Hydra and Mithril into development and maintenance components.</p><p>- Consider transferring "problem in search of a solution" proposals to the Product Committee.</p>                              |
| Hydra & Mithril                        | <p>- Debate on whether these projects should be considered core maintenance or require further development.</p><p>- Discussion on user adoption and the need for a clear roadmap.</p>                                                                                       | <p>- Hydra and Mithril teams to provide a detailed product roadmap.</p><p>- TSC to decide on the appropriate funding category for these projects.</p>                                                                                                                                          |
| Budget Allocation & Transparency       | <p>- Concerns raised about the high cost of the IoG maintenance contract and lack of transparency regarding fund usage.</p><p>- Debate on what constitutes "maintenance" vs. new development/integration.</p>                                                               | <p>- Duncan to separate the IoG six-month maintenance contract from other core maintenance items in the budget.</p><p>- Marcus to identify any missing maintenance items.</p>                                                                                                                  |
| <p>IoG Maintenance </p><p>Contract</p> | <p>- Discussion on the cost and necessity of the IoG contract.</p><p>- Concerns about potential overspending and lack of clear deliverables.</p><p>- Clarification that the contract aims to retain key talent and ensure continuity.</p>                                   | <p>- Negotiate clear deliverables and expectations for the IoG contract.</p><p>- Explore ways to improve transparency and accountability for the contract.</p>                                                                                                                                 |
| Budget Presentation                    | - Adam Dean expresses discomfort with the current budget presentation, feeling it misrepresents the TSC's intentions and may appear as favoritism to those reading the spreadsheet.                                                                                         | <p>- Improve the budget presentation to address concerns about transparency and accurately reflect the TSC's goals.</p><p>- Consider presenting the budget in terms of FTE allocation and cost per FTE.</p>                                                                                    |
| Budget Community Perception            | - Concern that the current budget presentation may lead to negative community perception and accusations of cronyism.                                                                                                                                                       | - Improve communication with the community regarding the budget and the rationale behind the allocations.                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| Budget Review & Ratification           | - TSC members need to gain comfort with the budget and understand the specifics.                                                                                                                                                                                            | <p>- Schedule a dedicated call next week for a line-by-line budget review.</p><p>- All TSC members to thoroughly review the budget document and provide feedback.</p>                                                                                                                          |
| Cost Justification                     | - Need for clearer justification of costs and historical data to support budget allocations.                                                                                                                                                                                | <p>- Explore ways to obtain and present historical cost data.</p><p>- Develop a clear and transparent process for justifying budget allocations.</p>                                                                                                                                           |
| Decentralization Challenges            | <p>- Discussion on the challenges of transitioning to a decentralized development model.</p><p>- Concerns about managing costs and ensuring efficient coordination among distributed teams.</p>                                                                             | - Develop strategies to address the challenges of decentralized development.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| Open Source Tooling                    | - Agreement to move $1 million from the non-core budget to the open-source tooling budget.                                                                                                                                                                                  | - Adam, Christian, and Duncan S. to discuss open-source tooling further.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |

## **Decisions:**

* Reduce non-core budget by $1 million: This amount will be reallocated to the open-source tooling budget.
* Separate IoG's 6-month maintenance contract: In the budget presentation, this will be presented separately from other core maintenance items.
* Hold a special budget call: A dedicated call will be held next week for a detailed, line-by-line budget review.
