Project Organization

The organizational structure and development workflow of the OctoMY™ project.

Overview

Our organizational structure is loosely based on the Linux kernel team structure. Since we are much smaller, we follow an organic growth path which divides responsibilities into tiers as workload grows beyond the capacity of the original role.

Organic Growth Model

Example growth path:

1. Leo gives team member "Alice" maintainer status over a certain part of the project
2. That part grows in complexity until Alice can no longer cope alone
3. Alice recruits "Bob" to serve under her to take over part of her task
4. Bob receives a title as prescribed by the tier structure

Key principles:

• Each member is responsible for the members they directly recruit
• When a higher-level member steps down, responsibility falls to their supervisor until a replacement is found
• Internal mobility is preferred - subordinates may step up in a promotion

Tier Structure

Tier 1: Benevolent Dictator (BD)

Current: Leo (Founder)

Tier 2: First-Level Subsystem Responsible (Captain)

Trusted members responsible for top-level subsystems:

Captain responsibilities:

• Receive patches from subordinate Lieutenants
• Manage who will be the Lieutenants
• Continuously vet candidates for their replacement

Tier 3: Second-Level Subsystem Responsible (Lieutenant)

Maintain specific second-level components within a Captain's domain.

Example for Core Framework & API:

• Maintain code and manage pull requests and patches from contributors
• Use OGL (OctoMY™ GitLab) for discussions
• Manage who will be the Enlists

Tier 4: Patch Reviewers (Enlist)

Experienced developers who review patches before merging.

Responsibilities:

• Ensure code quality
• Ensure security
• Ensure performance
• Catch bugs early
• Write and run tests
• Use OGL for discussions
• Recruitment pool for Lieutenant role

Tier 5: Project Developers / Contributors (Trooper)

Write and submit patches for the project.

Can be:

• Independent contributors
• Corporate employees

Responsibilities:

• Use OGL for pull request submission
• Participate in discussions, testing, and bug fixing
• Recruitment pool for Enlist role

Specialized Teams

Tier 6: Stability Team (Marine)

Tier 7: Security Team (Marine)

Corporate Contributors

• Manage contributed code such as controller drivers and bug fixes
• Follow the same open-source process for submitting patches

Development Workflow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Development Flow                              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                  │
│   1. Developers submit patches to subsystem maintainer via OGL  │
│                            │                                     │
│                            ▼                                     │
│   2. Patch reviewers provide feedback and request improvements  │
│                            │                                     │
│                            ▼                                     │
│   3. Second-level maintainers merge accepted PRs into branches  │
│                            │                                     │
│                            ▼                                     │
│   4. First-level maintainers merge accepted PRs into branches   │
│                            │                                     │
│                            ▼                                     │
│   5. BD merges everything into mainline during merge window     │
│                            │                                     │
│                            ▼                                     │
│   6. Stable maintainers apply fixes to release branches         │
│                                                                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Characteristics

OctoMY™ GitLab (OGL)

The primary communication hub for project development.

Used for:

• Patch submissions / pull requests
• Technical discussions
• All project development

Project Parts