Any reasonably large project eventually needs someone at the helm to help steer the project’s general direction, make official decisions, and decide the right path to take in difficult situations. Ubuntu is no different, except for that it is so big that there are many, many different sub projects within it, each one governed by its own set of leaders.
Below is a list of key teams that operate within the Ubuntu project and their responsibilities:
Engineering Teams
| Team Name |
Responsibility |
| Desktop Team |
Handle all of the packages which go into the Ubuntu desktop installation. |
| HPC Team |
The Ubuntu High-Performance Computing (HPC) team aims to provide the highest quality HPC infrastructure, applications, and user experience for the Ubuntu ecosystem. |
| Kernel Team |
Maintain the Linux kernel in Ubuntu. |
| Foundations Team |
Deliver the core Ubuntu system, common to the whole Ubuntu family of products and services, i.e. plumbing |
| QA Team |
Develop tools, policies, and practices for ensuring Ubuntu’s quality as a distribution as well as providing general advice, oversight, and leadership of QA activities within the Ubuntu project. |
| Release Team |
The Release Team helps bring together all the essential building blocks for every Ubuntu release. |
| Rocks Community |
The Rocks Community is your hub for exploring Ubuntu Rocks and everything “containers”. |
| Security Team |
Keep Ubuntu and its users secure through fixing vulnerabilities and contributing to its security development. |
| Server Team |
Deliver the best operating system for the cloud and scale-out computing. |
| Ubuntu Flutter Community |
Design and implementation of the flutter visuals, a whole additional set widgets specifically designed for the Ubuntu desktop, flutter yaru theme for the Ubuntu visuals in flutter apps, a dedicated flutter icon theme and the new snap-store front-end, plus many more apps in development. |
| Yaru Gnome Team |
Responsible for the visual design and implementation of modifications to the gnome shell theme and all Gtk app themes and icons. |
Quality Assurance and Packaging Teams
| Team Name |
Responsibility |
| Bug Squad |
Heroically handles the stream of bugs reported by Ubuntu users. |
| Papercuts Ninjas |
Papercuts fixing and new contributors supporting. |
| Ubuntu Universe Packaging Team |
Make Ubuntu’s Universe better and more attractive; be the optimal starting point for new Ubuntu Developers. |
Localisation and Accessibility Teams
| Team Name |
Responsibility |
| Accessibility Team |
Improve the accessibility technology and support available with Ubuntu and provide outreach. |
| Translation Team |
Co-ordinates the translation of Ubuntu into many languages. |
Communication and News Teams
Support and Documentation Teams
| Team Name |
Responsibility |
| Documentation Team |
Writes and maintains the core documentation for Ubuntu, including the system documentation and the help wiki. |
| Wiki Team |
Group of active wiki contributors working as a team to get things done quicker without redundancy. |
Flavor Teams
| Team Name |
Responsibility |
| Kubuntu Team |
Provide the KDE desktop and software to integrate KDE with Ubuntu. |
| Lubuntu Team |
Provide a lightweight and easy-to-use distribution, based on Ubuntu and LXQt. |
| Ubuntu Budgie Team |
Provide an Ubuntu powered desktop integrating the Budgie Desktop Environment. |
| Ubuntu Kylin Team |
Its purpose is to provide exquisite UE and make an operating system catering to the specific needs of Chinese users. |
| Ubuntu MATE Team |
Provide an Ubuntu based operating system that beautifully integrates the MATE desktop. |
| Ubuntu Studio Team |
To provide an installable disk for multimedia production machines and better maintain those apps in Ubuntu. |
| Ubuntu Unity Team |
Provide the Unity desktop environment for the modern Ubuntu desktop. |
| Xubuntu Team |
To develop and promote the Xfce desktop on Ubuntu, striving for an elegant and easy-to-use OS, that is also light and accessible. |
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I think this should be Libera.chat rather then Freenode. 
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Indeed! Thank you for the heads-up!
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Hello there 
I think we are somehow missing on this list.
- Yaru Gnome Team: responsible for the visual design and implementation of modifications to the gnome shell theme and all Gtk app themes and icons
(https://github.com/ubuntu/yaru)
- Ubuntu Flutter Community: design and implementation of the flutter visuals, a whole additional set widgets specifically designed for the Ubuntu desktop, flutter yaru theme for the Ubuntu visuals in flutter apps, a dedicated flutter icon theme and the new snap-store front-end, plus many more apps in development
(https://github.com/ubuntu-flutter-community) (link to discord is in there)
Most of us are also Ubuntu members.
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Ah - Ubuntu Budgie (link) isn’t part of Ubuntu Mate … but we are all friends! Should be https://ubuntubudgie.org/team/
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Thank you, @frederik-f and @fossfreedom! I just updated the table with the changes you suggested.
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Thanks for adding us @aaronprisk! I like that the community lead and engineering teams were combined. I think the page has better organization. One thing though is that I noticed that Ubuntu Cinnamon is missing from the flavor team list.
You’re very welcome! Excellent job on the HPC Team page.
Ubuntu Cinnamon and Edubuntu are both working on updating their online resources. Once they have their team pages ready, we’ll be sure to add them in.
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Can we add the link to the Release Team in this? ReleaseTeam - Ubuntu Wiki It looks like I can edit, but I’m a bit scared to try to just reach in and do it 
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Is it going to still be around much longer? There is a note on the front page talking about how unless they get $250k, $165 of which is to pay the guy running the lab, it’ll be shut down later this year. It might be best to see if the lab stays open first before anyone contemplates moving too it.
Second consideration is how many people will be lost by such a move? More casual users set up channels and forget about them for months, sometimes years. If the channel they have configured is gone the next time they go there, they’ll assume it no longer exists unless you have a bot displaying the new location fairly frequently.
Another consideration is that would also mean changes in the documentation and WIKIs to update with the new IRC channel location.
So what’s gained by switching to the new channel?
It’s probably not a huge amount of work, but volunteers would have to do those changes rather than something else. Potentially to redo it again later this year if the the lab shuts down. Maybe there’s a compelling reason to switch.
I haven’t been on IRC in a few years. Last time I was, it hadn’t changed really since the 2000s. The clients are little better nowadays. Maybe there’s been big changes since the last time I was on.
Given how dead most FOSS IRC chats are nowadays. Might be an idea to develop a new type of chat support for FOSS. IRC does the job and changing stuff to change stuff isn’t really the Linux way. IRC however is probably a bit arcane for many younger users. It might even seem downright barbaric to people who grew up on Whatsap, FB chat, etc.
Another possible problem is liability. With Ubuntu being a commercial entity, things that happen in IRC could potentially be a liability or cause headaches for Ubuntu as a commercial entity. So it might be wise for tor their chat servers to be in their control hosted on their machines and monitored by an official rep. I’m not a lawyer so this might be an unfounded concern.