# 4th Dec 24
## Intros:
Kevin Hammond: TSC Voting Member - Chair of TSC - IOE
Neil Davies: TSC Voting Member - PN Solutions
Johnny Kelly: TSC Voting Member - IOE
Adam Dean: TSC Voting member
Markus Gufler: TSC Voting member - Cardano Foundation
Nicholas Clark: TSC Voting Member - Tweag/Modus
Ben Hart: TSC Voting member - MLabs
Duncan Soutar: Secretary of TSC - Intersect
Matt Davies - Head of Technical Operations - Intersect
Hwang Hongket - Secretary of Core Infrastructure Roadmap - Intersect
Lewis Mayne - Secretary of Hard Fork Working Group - Intersect
Ricky Rand - General Manager - IOE
Duncan Coutts - WellTyped
Christian Taylor: Head of Open Source Office, Intersect Staff
Tex McCutcheon: Open Source Program Manager, Intersect Staff, Open Source Committee Secretary
## Agenda:
1. Update on Contracts - Duncan
1. Peras
2. Core Maintenance
2\. Feedback on Community Priorities - Duncan/Matt
3\. Classifying work items - Kevin
a. COR Maintenance
b. COR Roadmap
c. General Roadmap
d. Non-Roadmap
e. Out of Scope
4\. SRLs Use of Standard Definition- Duncan
5\. How to proceed to tender: two stage or one stage?
1. Form small working group to propose priorities and classifications, including normalised start/end SRLs
2. TSC considers recommendations and approves after discussion
3. Open the tendering process for the maintenance and high priority core roadmap items
6\. Updates on Plomin hard fork - Matt
7\. Increasing TSC transparency - Kevin
8\. AOB
## Minutes:
| Discussion Point | Notes | Actions: Responsible / Note |
| -------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Meeting Opening | Duncan Soutar opened the Technical Steering Committee (TSC) meeting for December 4th, noting quorum with 4 of 7 members. | N/A |
| Contract Approvals | Paras contract approved by 4 out of 6 eligible voters; Adam and Marcus have not yet committed. Discussion on pursuing their votes versus proceeding. | Follow up with Adam and Marcus; Set a deadline for feedback by the end of the week to close voting.
|
| Deadline Policies | Discussion on establishing deadlines for decisions to avoid delays. Neil Davies suggested a concrete approach, while Benjamin Hart and Kevin Hammond emphasized flexibility in certain cases. | Draft decision-making rules for deadlines and incorporate them into TSC procedures. |
| Rules of Procedure | Agreement on the need to formalize operational procedures, including how deadlines and decisions are handled. | Develop a TSC rulebook to document agreed procedures.
|
| Maintenance Contract | Initial drafting of the maintenance contract is underway, including scope, responsibilities, FTEs, and costs. Enhancements for transparency and process simplification are being considered. | Share draft contract with TSC for review and ensure subcontractors are named to promote transparency.
|
| Subcontractor Inclusion | Agreement on naming subcontractors in contracts to ensure transparency and highlight collaborative efforts. | Incorporate subcontractor names into contracts for clarity.
|
| Categorization of Work Items | Proposed categories: core maintenance, core roadmap, general roadmap, non-roadmap, and out-of-scope. Focus on categorizing items based on risk and operational importance rather than importance alone. | Continue refining categories and classify existing prioritization lists under them.
|
| Community Engagement | Challenges in gaining sufficient community feedback on prioritization surveys; current response count is 55. Plan to publish initial results and reopen the survey after the holiday period to drive more engagement. | Publish initial survey results and leave the survey open for further responses. Communicate findings to the community.
|
| Transparency Initiatives | Suggestions for improving transparency include better communication channels and potentially hiring a community/communications liaison. | Collect community transparency suggestions; explore creating curated playlists and technical videos for TSC initiatives. |
| Governance and Hard Fork Plans | Plan to raise governance action in Epoch 529 (December 20th) with a voting period in January to ensure readiness. Notifications have been distributed across multiple channels. | Monitor for feedback or objections; finalize governance action timeline.
|
| Budget and Tendering Process | Discussion on creating an open tendering process for future contracts. Agreement to prepare communications for suppliers explaining the process and expected timelines. | Draft supplier communications and outline tendering processes for review.
|
| Software Readiness Levels (SRLs) | Definitions for SRLs have been refined to focus on expected artifacts at each level. Agreement to apply these to prioritized projects and share definitions more broadly. | Validate refined SRL definitions with prioritized projects; share publicly.
|
| Transparency in Communication | Proposal to improve communication using visual and accessible platforms like YouTube. Suggestions included hosting TSC updates, FAQs, and technical discussions. | Set up a playlist or schedule for TSC-related updates on YouTube and other platforms.
|
| Resource Planning | Proposal for a hybrid community/communications role to enhance transparency and engagement, pending budget approval. | Draft job description for the role and share with TSC for feedback.
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| Partner Chains and Risk | Agreement that technical risk should guide TSC’s involvement in projects, with flexibility to adjust priorities based on evolving risks and needs. | Develop risk assessment criteria for projects under TSC oversight.
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| Prioritization of Roadmap | Ongoing work to classify and prioritize inflight projects. Emphasis on aligning technical efforts with community and product priorities. | Finalize and share prioritization framework and project list. |
| Transparency Challenges | Acknowledgment of community concerns about visibility of TSC activities. Suggestion to expand communication to include Discord, Twitter, and other platforms. | Gather suggestions for transparency improvements and integrate them into communication strategies. |
| Hard Fork Coordination | Updates on hard fork planning to ensure smooth implementation with minimal community disruptions over the holiday period. | Continue monitoring and address any arising issues promptly.
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| Wrap-Up and Next Steps | Agreement to address pending discussions on tendering processes and other major items in upcoming sessions. | Schedule additional discussions for unresolved topics before the holiday break. |