Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@dims

dims/toc.md

Last active April 15, 2026 16:28
Show Gist options

  • Select an option

    Learn more about clone URLs
  • Save dims/4e8cf76f96876972eb335f04fdc6fdb4 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.

Select an option

Learn more about clone URLs
Save dims/4e8cf76f96876972eb335f04fdc6fdb4 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
TOC Member Qualifications & Criteria
Raw
toc.md

TOC Member Qualifications & Criteria

Charter-Defined Qualifications (Charter 6(d))

Nominees must:

  1. Bandwidth — commit available time to invest in the CNCF TOC
  2. Technical Expertise — demonstrate an advanced level of professional experience as leaders in the scope of CNCF
  3. Seniority — demonstrate seniority sufficient to access staff/community resources to assist in TOC preparations
  4. Neutrality — operate neutrally in discussions and balance CNCF goals with corporate objectives or any particular project

Technical Domain Coverage (Charter 6(b)(ii))

Collectively, the TOC should cover key technical domains: container technologies, operating systems, technical operations, distributed systems, user-level application design, etc.

Required Competencies

The onboarding doc lists these explicitly:

  • Cloud native expertise — deep understanding of the technology landscape and viability for use
  • Leadership — transformational, democratic, servant, visionary styles
  • Community management — guiding TAGs, projects, and contributors
  • Communication — empathetic, inclusive, effective, action-oriented
  • Time and task management, accountable autonomy
  • Critical thinking and advanced problem-solving (causal analysis, troubleshooting, logical reasoning)
  • Conflict resolution
  • Systems/strategic thinking — connecting dots across ecosystem
  • Market awareness — technical and economic trends
  • Data-driven decision making and open-mindedness
  • Software engineering methodologies and concepts
  • Problem solving through automation-driven approaches
  • Active listening

Leadership Principles (PRINCIPLES.md)

All TOC members must embody these six Technical Leadership Principles:

  1. Be welcoming and supportive — make conscious effort in interactions, create space for new/existing contributors
  2. Provide feedback constructively — praise in public, constructive feedback in private with neutral third-party support
  3. Always do better — continuous self-improvement, model change for others
  4. Lead inclusively — empower all voices, actively seek diverse perspectives
  5. Foster respectful resolution — de-escalate, provide neutrality, pursue acceptable outcomes
  6. Facilitate open, transparent decision-making — document reasoning, enable future reference

Guidance and enforcement details: Technical Leadership Principles Guidance

All leaders must also adhere to the CNCF Code of Conduct.

Selection Process

TOC has 11 seats filled by different selecting bodies (per operations/election-schedule.md):

  • 6 selected by the Governing Board
  • 2 selected by the End User TAB
  • 1 selected by maintainer representatives
  • 2 selected by existing TOC members

Two-year staggered terms, elected via Condorcet-IRV ranked voting in CIVS.

Nomination Rules (Charter 6(e)(i))

  • Each individual in a Selecting Group may nominate up to 2 people, at most 1 from the same group of Related Companies
  • Each nominee must agree to participate prior to being added to the nomination list
  • Nominations include a one-page pitch with name, contact info, and relevant CNCF domain experience

Related Company Diversity Constraints

  • If more than 2 TOC members would be from the same related company group, they must decide who steps down or random lots are drawn
  • Designed to prevent single-vendor/company dominance

Path to Becoming a Candidate

Per CONTRIBUTING.md and FAQ.md:

  • Active participation in TAGs or working groups is the best way to distinguish yourself
  • Consistent engagement in TOC meetings and discussions
  • Distinguished community contributions over time
  • Non-binding votes from community members are welcomed to express viewpoints
  • Getting involved: cncf/toc repo, public meetings, and communication channels

Core Responsibilities

  • Field community questions and redirect appropriately
  • Foster discussion by asking questions, even obvious ones, to move conversations forward
  • Bring escalated project/group conflicts to closure
  • Maintain consistent attendance and participation
  • Uphold impartiality — act in the interest of the CNCF ecosystem, not any single company
  • Serve as TAG liaison — attend TAG meetings, connect TAGs for interoperability
  • Review sandbox applications (Sandbox Application Board)
  • Conduct due diligence for incubating/graduating projects (max 2 projects at a time)
  • Participate in KubeCon events: TOC Keynote, TOC Panel, TOC/TAG meetings

Time Commitment (operations/onboarding.md)

  • 10–25% of monthly work time (varies with surges/slowdowns)
  • 4 monthly meetings (1 hr each, Tuesdays at 0800 PST/1100 EST/1700 CET)
    • 1st: TAG updates and discussion
    • 2nd & 4th: Private meetings (repo issues, vote parties, open items)
    • 3rd: Public meeting (community-led topics, improvements)
  • Conference travel 2+ times/year including KubeCon+CloudNativeCon
  • Lead or meaningfully contribute to minimum 3 project due diligences per year
  • Serve as liaison to one or more TAGs
  • Chair/Vice Chair time commitment: 20–25% (operations/toc-chair-vicechair.md)

Voting & Decision-Making (toc-decision-process.md)

  • Only TOC members can cast binding votes (+1 Binding)
  • Votes pass with two-thirds (2/3) supermajority of votes cast (Charter 6(c)(viii))
  • Voting via gitvote, email (TOC mailing list), or public meetings
  • Major changes require 2-week public comment minimum + 1 week reasonable time after major review comments
  • Must have at least 2 approvals from TOC members for major changes
  • Operate on lazy consensus for discussions

Impartiality & Conflicts of Interest (onboarding.md)

  • TOC members must disclose conflicts of interest before voting
  • Hard conflicts require abstention from voting (with stated reason)
  • For incubation/graduation DD with conflicts, a secondary unconflicted TOC member is assigned
  • TOC members must disclose if approached by projects for feedback/sponsorship — all TOC members should be aware
  • Sandbox voting process removes single-member ability to dictate preference

Inactivity, Suspension & Removal

  • Voting privileges suspended after consecutive absences without notice
  • Reinstatement requires attending 2 consecutive meetings
  • After 4th unnotified absence, Chair + CNCF Staff will address it
  • Inability to fulfill due diligence commitments = considered inactive
  • Formal removal: TOC vote per Charter 6(f)(ii), with notice to Governing Board
  • Members may voluntarily step down by notifying Chair or CNCF Staff

Key References

Document Link
CNCF Charter (Section 6) charter.md
Election Schedule operations/election-schedule.md
Onboarding Guide operations/onboarding.md
TOC Principles PRINCIPLES.md
Leadership Principles Guidance resources/tech_leadership_principles_guidance.md
Decision Process operations/toc-decision-process.md
Due Diligence Guide operations/dd-toc-guide.md
Chair/Vice Chair operations/toc-chair-vicechair.md
Contributing CONTRIBUTING.md
FAQ FAQ.md
Current TOC Members README.md#members
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment