These are not voted on, but group members who do not agree with a particular plan, or think an alternate plan would be better, are obligated to inform the group of their feelings. In general, it is always better to hear about alternate plans prior to spending time on less adequate solutions. Short term plans are announcements that a developer is working on a particular set of documentation or code files, with the implication that other developers should avoid them or try to coordinate their changes. This is a good way to proactively avoid conflict and possible duplication of work. A release plan is used to keep all the developers aware of when a release is desired, who will be the release manager, when the repository will be frozen in order to create the release, and assorted other trivia to keep us from tripping over ourselves during the final moments.
Lazy majority decides each issue in the release plan.
Showstoppers Showstoppers are issues that require a fix be in place before the next public release. An issue becomes a showstopper when it is considered such by an active developer and remains so by lazy consensus. Votes are being requested early so as to uncover conflicts before too much work is done. All product changes to the currently active repository are subject to lazy consensus. Doubtful changes, new features, and large-scale overhauls need to be discussed before being committed to a repository.