2026-03-17 Executive Team

[joecastiglione]

Agenda

• Phase 11C Schedule
• Product Team: Default setting for skipping households

Notes

Meeting Structure & Cadence

The group discussed what to do with a redundant executive team meeting on the calendar (a renamed version of the former all-hands meeting).

Options discussed:

• Cancel on an ad hoc basis when no agenda items exist
• Cancel permanently, leaving an empty slot every third week
• Repurpose as a second Product & Community Team meeting

Outcome: No strong consensus to drop the meeting outright, given the volume of active tasks. Bhargava noted he can commit to running the Product & Community meeting only once every three weeks. The group agreed that product/community-relevant topics can be surfaced in executive meetings when needed, rather than always waiting for a dedicated meeting. Team structure and meeting cadence will be revisited in a future session.

Phase 11C Schedule Review

Joe walked through a shared schedule tracking consultant check-ins across all funded tasks. Consultants were asked to populate the document with planned check-in dates and brief descriptions of what will be covered.

Key discussion points:

• The explicit telecommute implementation task was used as an example. Sijia explained the design was finalized in Phase 9B; implementation is underway but subcontracting with RSG is still being finalized, so the timeline is appropriately spaced.
• Two formal report-outs are planned: one on software design/specifications, and a second in June on estimation specifications for the two new models.
• Shaun requested brief standing status updates at every Tuesday meeting for all active tasks — even a one-sentence "no progress" note — to keep everyone informed across the full task list. The group agreed.

Next week's agenda:

• Outer Loop (Jan) will present on EET implementation and performance improvements.
• RSG/David Hensle will introduce testing concepts for the random number generation task (~10–15 min), coordinating with the Outer Loop work given task overlap.

Agency reviewers: Joe encouraged all interested public agency and consultant partners to sign up as reviewers on active tasks, with the goal of being brought in throughout the process rather than only at the end.

Default Setting for "Skip Households" Parameter

Jeff Newman had previously flagged this as a product/community team decision. The question: should skipping households be on by default, and if so, what is an acceptable failure rate?

Discussion:

• Bhargava's recommendation: default skip set to true, but the rate should be reduced from 10% to approximately 1% or 0.1% (consistent with Jeff's suggestion).
• Joe agreed, noting concern about potential bias at high rates.
• The group discussed how to make these kinds of decisions efficiently without waiting weeks for a scheduled meeting.

Decision process going forward:

• Bhargava will post his recommendation in the relevant issue and tag Product & Community Team members for an asynchronous vote.
• If no objections are raised within approximately one week, the recommendation proceeds (silence = consent).
• Larger or more consequential decisions will still be agendized for a full meeting.

Meeting Time Zone Accommodation

Shaun Tabone raised that, following the daylight saving time change, Tuesday/Thursday meetings now fall at 5:00 AM in Australia — a significant hardship for Australian partners.

Discussion:

• Joe noted strong support for being inclusive across time zones.
• Jeff Newman advocated for treating Australian members as first-class participants, suggesting alternating weekly times (e.g., 1 PM Pacific one week, later the next) rather than a permanent fixed shift.
• Bhargava suggested targeting Tuesday meetings first, before Thursday.
• The current constraint is a 4 PM Eastern / 1 PM Pacific cap to avoid running past 5 PM for East Coast participants.

Action: Joe will send a availability poll covering time slots from 11 AM to at least 6–7 PM Eastern to gauge preferences. Results will inform a potential alternating-week schedule. Once a new time is set, the goal is to maintain it consistently going forward.

Action Items

Owner	Action
Joe (Zephyr Foundation)	Send availability poll for Tuesday/Thursday meeting times; include later slots per Jeff's suggestion
Joe (Zephyr Foundation)	Populate future meeting agendas using Phase 11C schedule; add standing task status updates
Bhargava Sana	Post skip-household recommendation in the issue; solicit async votes from Product & Community Team within ~1 week
All consultants	Continue filling in Phase 11C schedule with check-in dates and brief topic descriptions
Jan Zill / David Hensle	Present at next Tuesday's meeting (Outer Loop EET update + RSG random number generation intro)

Next meetings: Engineering Team — Thursday | Executive/Report-Out Meeting — next Tuesday