# Issues & Action Items

This document captures how the Board manages issues and action items.
A point of terminology:

- **Issues** are intended to capture a problem or topic that the Board neesd to
spend some time addressing (though not necessarily immediately).
- **Action items** are specific actions that people (typically one person) are
expected to carry out.

## Issues
Everyone is empowered to create a new issue at any time. Unless there is a good
reason to keep an issue Board-confidential, it should be [created in the member-visible
repository](https://github.com/w3c/board/issues/new). When creating an issue, please:

- Make sure it isn't a duplicate by looking at the
[list of existing issues](https://github.com/w3c/board/issues).
- Be specific and explain the problem, don't assume that the title will be
clear enough.
- Label it according to which committee it belongs to, if it is a committee issue.

## Actions
Action items are created by the Board or a committee. They are managed in the
[Board-confidential repository](https://github.com/w3c-bod/board/issues/new). In
addition to the requirements on issues, when filing an action item please:

- Give it the `ActionItem` label.
- Provide it with a due date.
- Assign it to one person (in rare occasions, assigning to several may be
acceptable but it's better to have a responsible owner). It is generally considered
polite to make sure that a person accepts an action item before assigning it to them.

### Proposing to close an action item

When you wish to close an action item, please:

- Indicate in comments whether you believe you have completed the action item, wish to
drop it, wish to reassign it, etc. Provide any useful information in these comments.
- Add the `ProposedToClose` label.

The Chair will add action items so labeled to an upcoming Board (or committee) agenda.
Action items are closed during Board or committee meetings.

### Action item management in meetings

- Directors are expected to review all `ProposedToClose` action items in an agenda prior
to the meeting. If you see a `ProposedToClose` action item that you believe should *not*
be closed, please say so in an issue comment and be prepared to discuss it during the
meeting. Otherwise, all `ProposedToClose` issues for a given meeting will simply get closed.
- Before the Chair adjourns a meeting, the participants should review all new action
items. Shortly after the meeting, the scribe should record all new action items as
described above.