One of the signs of a mature open-source community is that community's ability to grow new leaders and to evolve leadership processes that are appropriate to the community's increasing size and ambition.

So, it's really cool to see that Plone's first "Framework Team" (Alan Runyan, Alec Mitchell, Michel Pelletier, Benjamin Saller and Whit Morris), which took responsibility for the upcoming Plone 2.5 release, has handed over the reins to a new, larger group for the Plone 3.0 cycle.

These are the folks who are officially responsible for making the final decisions about what code to recommend for inclusion in Plone 3.0, and for driving the overall process of reviewing PLIPs (Plone Improvement Proposals) and bundles of submitted code. 

Your love, appreciation and code bundles with unit tests they all deserve.

Here's Whit's announcement to the plone-devels list.

I'm proud to present to you the new voting members of the framework team. Based on interest, we have a well rounded seven!

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FWT II
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Wichert Akkerman
Martin Aspeli
Rocky Burt
Raphael Ritz
Hanno Schlichting
Vincenzo Di Somma
Helge Tesdal

This voting body is effective now. In their first vote, they elected Martin Aspeli to act as the official spokesperson for the group. You, plone-at-large, may start submitting PLIPs w/ code bundles for their review for inclusion in Plone 3, the (enter tagline here).

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FAQ
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To clarify any confusion, I've included some answers to some frequently asked questions.

Q: What does the framework team do?

A: The framework team is responsible for recommending code for inclusion in a Plone release to that release's manager. In the release cycle, they drive the PLIP and bundle code review cycle.

The voting members do the formal duty of collecting information from the community about bundles offered for review, and making the formal decision by voting whether to recommend them to the release manager. One
member of the group is chosen from within the group as the framework team lead and is responsible for communicating all decision of the team onto the plone-devel list.

Q: Who is on the team?

A: Anyone who wants to review code and is interested in actively participating with shaping the technical vision of Plone's future. Each release, a small group in a similiar timezone is chosen to cast the actual votes on proposals (PLIP + bundle) on the advise of the larger team.

Q: How/when are the voting members chosen?

Currently, voting members are chosen arbitrarily on a rigorous *wink* criterion of general interest, recent contribution, timezone and who the former voting members thought would do a good job. As the framework team is dedicated to evolving process, this is open to become a more formalized democratic process.

New voting members are active after the first alpha of a new release and remain active until the first alpha of the next major release.

Q: What happened to the old framework team?

A: The former voting members are still part of the team and will help out with code review. Whit Morriss (aka me) has offered to stay on as a non-voting member (oxymoron, yes) to help with continuity and as a community liaison (read, svn-nanny).

Q: Sounds groovy! How can I participate? (I just can't get enough e-mail from Martin...)

A: Thought you would never ask... the new voting member probably have some ideas, but here are some broad strokes that go from early in the release cycle to late:

* Participate in / start technical discussions of possible PLIPs on plone-devel (preferably with prototype code). This also includes discussions of use-cases and end-user needs.

* Join framework-team@lists.plone.org and participate in discussions of
refining development process and codification of developer best practices.

* As plips come in, help plippers make bundles and prepare their code for review.

* As bundles get ready for review, review code and report your findings to the voting members.

* take off your framework-team hat and help get that release out!

If after this the experience moves you, and you want to bear the responsibility of voting and encouraging others to review code, let the current lead know of your interest.

cheers!

-w

A couple of random thoughts about this:

• I noticed that the new members are listed on the Plone.org Framework Team page, but that much of this helpful FAQ is not yet on there.  (Hint, hint, hint.)
• Chosing Martin Aspeli as the "official spokesperson" was really smart; in recent months, I've been extremely impressed by the clarity, smarts and grace of his communications with the Plone world.
  
• Recruiting a new team for each release is smart -- this helps avoid burnout and makes sure that there is fresh perspective brought to each cycle. 
  
• I have to think that Plone's model of decentralized leadership within a well-defined, transparent framework is a huge long-term win for the platform as it navigates a complex landscape of peers, competitors and collaborators.