On 09/11/2022 21:33, Joachim Breitner wrote:
Hi,
Am Mittwoch, dem 09.11.2022 um 21:04 +0000 schrieb Adam Gundry:
I'm not sure if we have explicit guidelines regarding conflicts of interest (should we?), but I think I should declare a conflict in this case. The authors of this proposal work for Well-Typed and have proposed and implemented this feature on behalf of a client, which might give the impression of potential bias.
I am happy to take the advice of the committee on how to handle this situation. While I don't think I need to recuse myself from discussion of the proposal completely, it seems like it would be better for it to be shepherded by someone else?
we tend to have multiple well-tyists or tweagers on the committee, and so far we mostly worked under the assumption that committee members manage to do their committee work unencumbered by their jobs. So unless you, say, personally tasked someone with writing that proposal, or genuinely (and not just formally) _feel_ conflicted, I’d say don’t worry. We are all just trying to make GHC better, not govern a country or something like that :)
I've talked this over with my colleagues, and I think I am sufficiently conflicted that I shouldn't shepherd the proposal. In particular, I've have had frequent discussions of the work with the authors and our client, so it would be difficult for me to make an objective recommendation for acceptance or rejection. More broadly, I do think in general it would be preferable for a shepherd not to be from the the same company as or a close collaborator of the proposal author(s). I accept that in a small community this may not always be desirable as a strict rule, not least because the shepherd is "merely" making a recommendation to the committee rather than formally deciding the fate of the proposal. But I think it is helpful where possible for a couple of reasons: (a) to avoid giving the impression that by having a representative on the committee, companies will have an easier time getting their proposals accepted; and (b) to improve the quality of proposals by having them carefully scrutinized by a shepherd with a different background from the authors. Sorry to be ducking out of this one. I'd be happy to swap shepherding duties with someone else if there are any proposals in a suitable state for that to make sense? Cheers, Adam -- Adam Gundry, Haskell Consultant Well-Typed LLP, https://www.well-typed.com/ Registered in England & Wales, OC335890 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX, England