# Meeting Minutes September 17, 2025 ## Attendees:
NameAttendanceRoleVoting Seat (Y/N)Term
Kevin HammondYesChairYOctober 2025
Adam DeanYesVice ChairYOctober 2025
Terence ‘Tex’ McCutcheonYesSecretaryNN/A
Lorenzo BrunoYesSecretaryNN/A
Markus GuflerYesMember/SeatYOctober 2025
Nicolas BiriYesMember/SeatYApril 2026
Duncan CouttsYesMember/SeatYApril 2026
Jonathan KellyYesMember/SeatYOctober 2025
Sebastian NagelYesMember/SeatYApril 2026
Benjamin HartYesMember/SeatYOctober 2025
Neil DaviesYesMember/SeatYApril 2026
Alexander MoserNoMember/SeatYApril 2026
Community/Other Attendees * Andrew Aitken * Christian Taylor * Kris Bennett * Ryan Williams
**Recording:** [Technical Steering Committee - 2025/09/17 - Recording](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zut7Xf7lK6uphxdpnlDwbcjnsMx_miJg/view?usp=sharing) **Transcript:** [Technical Steering Committee - 2025/09/17 - Transcript](https://docs.google.com/document/d/17D4nVYRs01Y6MQ_LB3_TaIfcYEsIbWblIwPOkUVk7ec/edit?usp=sharing) **Chat Transcript:** [Technical Steering Committee - 2025/09/17 - Chat Transcript](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1haPJYQezrOsLHC0Osba2HcREbPZvgpBx/view?usp=sharing) ## Intros Adam: Guy who does stuff and things, TSC Voting Member, OSC Voting Member, DripDropz LLC, Adam Dean, LLC\ Alex: TBD\ Ben: TBD\ Duncan: Architecture, TSC voting member, partner at Well-Typed LLP.\ Johnny: Non-Custodial Co-Management SysOps Engineer (Tech Janitor) for 3 Mainnet\ Cardano SPO Clients. Keystone Ambassador. Voting Seat Member on Technical Steering\ Committee and Open Source Committee.\ Kevin: TBD\ Lorenzo: TBD\ Markus: SPO, Monitoring, operative Core Infrastructure, CEX-Support, TSC voting member, Self-Employed\ Neil: Performance and Network Architecture, TSC voting member, Parameter Committee (Networking) member\ Nicolas: Director of Software Architecture, TSC member.\ Sebastian: Software Architect, CEO nCoding GmbH, TSC voting seat member\ Tex: Open Source Program Manager (Intersect), GMC/MCC/OSC\ Secretary, Committee Liaison ## Agenda 9.17.25 * Revised TSC Remit and Questions for Election Candidates [Remit](https://docs.google.com/document/d/13mV92oSQsr8eGJDdoLcDgSkUpkiaw2Q4I7c3I2Jjwy4/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.87ke6dpzo8m9) [Questions](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q-vAjNCRlZvkG1oAin_O-kuOEa2SP_-LdIh3ci17X6Y/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.c5odbkm2y8s8) * Feedback on Leios CIP - Adam/Nicolas * Next Hard Forks - Kevin * Development Status Update * Anticipated Hard Fork Dates * Reconvening the HF Working Group * Update from L2 Working Group - Sebastian * Update from Security Council * maxTxExecutionCost\[memory] Parameter Change - Alex/Kevin * Governance action needs to be submitted on/after October 7th * [Node Diversity Workshop](https://hackmd.io/zYPLaKpSS4WTzjTpVINIvw) in Toulouse, 22-23 September * Three TSC members will attend - Markus, Kevin, Sebastian * ISC Meeting on 22nd September at 1400 UTC * @Adam Dean, can you attend this? * (Update on “Fire Drill”) - Johnny/Kevin * (Chair Position) - Kevin * (Feedback on Committee remuneration) - Lorenzo/Kevin ## Decisions/Actions **Decisions:** * The new committee remit has been agreed upon, with seven members voting in favor and one abstaining. * The Technical Steering Committee (TSC) will move forward with a technical assessment of the Leios CIP and will not be directly involved in budget or contract management for this project. * The committee agreed to explore moving to a time-based release and hard fork schedule. **Actions:** * **Kevin** and **Adam** will work on a revised wording for the candidate application questions, specifically to broaden the question about technical experience. The goal is to remove or modify the word "core." * **Kevin** will circulate a summary of the node diversity workshop when it becomes available. * **Kevin** and **Adam** will draft the metadata for the governance action to raise the "max tx execution units." This needs to be ready for an on-chain vote on or after October 7th. * **Adam** will create a dedicated discussion channel in the CIP editors' Discord to discuss the Leios CIP. * **Adam** will organize and chair a technical discussion session on the Leios CIP. The goal is to have this meeting next Thursday or Friday to prepare for the CIP editors' meeting in two weeks. * **Adam** will post the details of the technical discussion session to the Slack channel for other members to sign up. * The hard fork working group will be reconvened on a lightweight basis to plan for the upcoming hard forks. * **Nicolas** will take the lead on a proposal for a release calendar. * **Adam** and **Sebastian** will be the voice of the TSC and will work with the developers to promote the idea of a release calendar and see if they are on board with it. | Topic | Discussion | Notes | | -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Roll Call and Welcome | Members joined and exchanged greetings. The meeting started with informal conversation, including mention of a long-standing issue with introducing a "Hello, my name is Sticky" tradition. | Members of the TSC should be sharing their names, affiliations, and conflicts of interest in the chat. | | Agenda Items & Urgency | Kevin proposed an agenda and asked if there were any urgent items. Markus noted the agenda was long and suggested keeping discussions brief. | The agenda was shared in the Slack channel and chat. | | Off-chain Vote on Remit | Kevin announced the results of an off-chain vote for the new committee remit. The vote passed with seven members in favor and one abstaining. | The new remit is agreed upon. | | Candidate Questions | The committee reviewed the revised questions for new member candidates. A discussion arose over the wording of the first question, specifically the term "core Cardano blockchain technology." | Johnny, Neil, Sebastian, and Ben debated whether the word "core" was too exclusive, potentially discouraging candidates with other relevant experience. The consensus was to reword the question to be more inclusive. Adam questioned the relevance of technical expertise for the committee's remit. | | Leios CIP & Technical Discussion | The committee discussed the status of the Leios CIP. Adam and Sebastian said they hadn't been able to discuss it in the recent CIP editors' meeting. They plan to hold a dedicated meeting for a technical discussion in two weeks. | Kevin proposed a procedure for handling major changes to the Laos project, which sparked a debate about the committee's role. Neil, Johnny, and Adam argued that the TSC's role is to provide a technical assessment of the CIP, not to manage budget or contract changes. | | Procedural Authority | The conversation about the Leios project led to questions about who holds the executive authority for scope changes and budget proposals. | Neil asked who would run the change management procedure. Kevin clarified that any major change would have to go back to the DRep's for a vote. | | Hard Fork Status | Kevin provided an update on upcoming hard forks. The next one is an intra-era hard fork scheduled for early 2026, followed by the Dystra hard fork later in mid-2026. The committee needs to reconvene the hard fork working group. | Adam raised concerns about the timeline and suggested moving to a time-based release schedule similar to what other blockchain ecosystems use. Duncan, Neil, Ben, and Sebastian supported this idea, arguing it would improve predictability and coordination. | | Next Steps for Hard Forks | The committee agreed to move forward with planning a time-based schedule for hard forks. Adam volunteered to lead the initial coordination efforts. | The discussion will be continued with the hard fork working group and other relevant stakeholders. | | Additional Agenda Items | The team briefly reviewed other items on the agenda. Kevin mentioned a summary of the node diversity workshop would be circulated. Sebastian gave an update on the Layer 2 working group. | The parameter committee needs to raise a parameter update for "max tx execution units" after October 7th. Adam and Kevin will start working on the metadata for this governance action. | | Meeting Wrap-up | Kevin concluded the meeting due to time constraints and thanked everyone for their participation. | The remaining agenda items will be discussed in the next meeting. |