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propose to use the steering meeting for all manner of discussion
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‎about/steering-meeting.md

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# Steering Meeting
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The compiler **steering meeting** is the place for high-level discussion and planning. The meeting
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takes place every three weeks -- so twice per release. There is a [thread on internals][internals]
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where we discuss what we will be talking about and also scheduling decisions. See [#58850] for
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more information. See the [compiler team calendar](../README.md#meeting-calendar) for the next
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scheduled meeting.
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The compiler **steering meeting** is the place for high-level
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discussion and planning. The meeting takes place weekly. The topics of
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the meeting are selected at periodic planning meetings. See the
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[steering meeting procedure][proc] for more details. See [#58850] for
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more information.
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[proc]: /procedures/steering-meeting.md
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See the [compiler team calendar](../README.md#meeting-calendar) for
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the topics of the next scheduled meetings. There is also a [dedicated
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internals thread][internals].
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[#58850]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/58850
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[internals]: https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/compiler-steering-meeting/8588
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The steering meeting takes place on [Zulip](chat-platform.md). Look for a topic like
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"steering meeting YYYY-MM-DD" (with today's date, of course).
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The steering meeting takes place on [Zulip](chat-platform.md). Look
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for a topic like "steering meeting YYYY-MM-DD" (with today's date, of
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course).
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There are [minutes from previous steering meetings](../minutes/steering-meeting) available in this
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There are [minutes from previous steering
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meetings](../minutes/steering-meeting) available in this
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repository. These minutes summarize our conversations.

‎procedures/steering-meeting.md

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# Steering meeting
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The "steering meeting" is a weekly meeting dedicated to planning and
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high-level discussion. The meeting operates on a repeating schedule:
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- Week 1: Planning
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- Week 2: Technical or non-technical discussion
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- Week 3: Technical or non-technical discussion
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- Week 4: Non-technical discussion
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The first meeting of the 4-week cycle is used for **planning**. The
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primary purpose of this meeting is to **select the topics for the next
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three meetings**. The topics are selected from a set of topic
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proposals, which must be uploaded and available for perusal before the
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meeting starts. The planning meeting is also an opportunity to check
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on the "overall balance" of our priorities.
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The remaining meetings are used for design or general discussion.
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Weeks 2 and 3 can be used for **technical** or **non-technical**
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discussion; it is also possible to use both weeks to discuss the same
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topic, if that topic is complex. **Week 4 is reserved for
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non-technical topics**, so as to ensure that we are keeping an eye on
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the overall health and functioning of the team.
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## Announcing the schedule
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After each planning meeting, the topics for the next three weeks will
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be posted on the README.md of the main repository and also sent a
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dedicated internals thread.
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## Examples of good candidates for discussing at the steering meeting
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Here are some examples of possible technical topics that would be
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suitable for the steering meeting:
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- A working group has an idea to refactor the HIR to make some part of their
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job easier. They have sketched out a proposal and would like feedback.
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- Someone has encountered a problem that is really hard to solve with
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the existing data structures. They would like feedback on a good
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solution to their problem.
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- Someone has done major refactoring work on a PR and they would like
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to be able to explain the work they did and request review.
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Steering meetings are also a good place to discuss other kinds of proposals:
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- A proposal to move some part of the compiler into an out-of-tree crate.
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- A proposal to start a new working group.
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Note that a steering meeting is **not** required to create a new
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working group or an out-of-tree crate, but it can be useful if the
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proposal is complex or controversial, and you would like a dedicated
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time to talk out the plans in more detail.
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## Criteria for selection
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When deciding the topics for upcoming meetings, we must balance a number of things:
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- We don't want to spend time on design work unless there are known
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people who will implement it and support it.
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- We don't want to take on "too many" tasks at once, even if there *are* people to
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implement them.
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- We also don't want to have active projects that will be "stepping on each others' toes", changing the same set of code in deep ways.
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## Adding a proposal
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Proposals can be added by opening a PR and adding a new file into the
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[proposals] directory. The file should use the [proposal
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template][template], but renamed to a suggestive title. **This format
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is meant to be lightweight:** Proposals are generally not expected to
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be a lot of work to produce.
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[proposals]: /proposals
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[template]: /proposals/_template.md
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### Expectations for a technical proposal
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Technical proposals in particular should include enough detail that
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those experienced with the compiler can generally understand the
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plan. We should be able to figure out roughly how much work this idea
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would be to implement and which people would be most important to have
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in the discussion.
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For example, it would not be enough to say "experiment with a new
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hybrid bitfield format for spans" by itself. It is also not enough to
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just describe the format. It *would* be enough to describe the format
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and try to list out key parts of the compiler that would have to be
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changed, and what complications might arise.
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For larger designs, it's a good idea to come with an initial proposal
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early on that sketches out the shape. You can then come back with more
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detailed proposals as the work proceeds.
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### Expectations for a non-technical proposal
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**The requirements for non-technical proposals are somewhat looser.** A
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few sentences or paragraphs may well suffice, if it is sufficient to
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understand the aims of the discussion.

‎proposals/_template.md

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- **Title:** What is the title of your idea?
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- **Estimate:** Will this take 1 or 2 meetings?
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- **Type:** Is this technical or non-technical?
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# Summary
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Summarize briefly the high-level ideas. This should just be a few
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bullet points, ideally.
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# Motivation
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What are the goals of this change? What problem are you trying to solve?
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# Details
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Outline the proposal you have in mind -- or, if you are coming with a
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problem that you don't know how to solve, then outline the reasons
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that it is hard (i.e., what did you try, and why didn't it work?).
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# Challenges
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What are the bits that you expect to be particularly hard?
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# Key design questions
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List out the key design questions. What are the places where there are
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choices to be made? Where would you particularly like feedback?
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