[mailed to debian-qa (because I think improving the way teams work is an aspect of QA in Debian), and to debconf-discuss (since it's debconf related). RT and MFT set to debian-qa]
"Teams in Debian: Finding and integrating new members" ====================================================== "Trying to find ideas to make the first phase of group membership easier" [BOF held during DebConf9, 2009-07,25, Cáceres] 1) Background ------------- During DebConf8 two BOFs took place around the topic of team-maintaining packages. One issue defined as a common challenge for all teams was the question of how to find and integrate new members. The discussion showed that none of the present teams was using a structured approach for recruitment and induction at that time. The BOF this year was intended to pick up the discussion of finding and integrating new members into teams where it stopped in Mar del Plata. It will focussed on collecting models of good practice and developing ideas for improvement. 2) Steps -------- After a short introduction and overview the participants were invited to join an "imaginary journey", a travel back in memory to the period in time when they joined a team in Debian. Some of the experiences from this journey were shared afterwards. The main part of the BOF was a group discussion about various points around finding and integrating new members, based on the experiences of the participants both as "new members" and as "regulars" in teams. Thankfully the ideas of successful approaches and areas for future improvement were noted simultanuously at http://whiteboard.debian.net/bof_members.txt This is the attempt to summarize the output, group by category of issue. 3) Information about team, "advertising" ---------------------------------------- Question: How can we let potential contributors now about our teams, which ways of advertisement work? * People learn about teams by getting replies to bug reports. * People find links on related webpages or detect team pages directly. * People actively look for teams when trying to package something or work in some area. * People are pointed to teams when looking for sponsors. + Clearly state the benefits of joining. + Publish contact info on bug reports. + Invite people at real-life meetings. ? One central place instead of n-plicating info for all teams? How about the developer's reference? And/or http://www.debian.org/devel/join/ ? 4) Motivations for joining -------------------------- Question: What reasons do contributors have for joining a group, which benefits should be stressed? * "You get free sponsorship." * "You get advice, help, mentoring, ..." * "If you already working on stuff related to the team's main goal, we can join forces, use synergy." 5) How to get fresh blood ------------------------- Question: What methods work to attract potential contributors? * Invite them when they ask for sponsorship on debian-mentors. * Inquire anyone with a doubt to see if they feel competent to join the group. Sometimes showing interest is enough. * Blog about concrete problems and ways to help. 6) Stepping stones and obstacles -------------------------------- Question: What makes it easier or more difficult to join? How can we make joining as low-threshold as possible? * When there's no real team, just a group of people everyone working on their own. * Inertia before de-lurking on IRC/mailing lists. First "announcement" of request to join team can be scary! --> Instructions/example helps. * People working in the team is scarce, so it's difficult getting anyone's attention to have directions or advices. --> Don't leave mails un-answered! * Understanding the local customs and idioms. There can be plenty of those. -- When there is already a team with a specific workflow you need to learn first. --> Maybe a special "introductory documentation" could help? Or some ways of mentoring? * Perhaps non-DDs/beginners do not realise that they /can/ join a particular team, even if they know of its existence. --> How can we make teams in general more visible? * Language barriers (aka language cabals :). * Strongly connected "local teams" which do a lot of communication "off list" so you don't notice many aspects when trying to join the team. * Timezones. * [Often mentioned and stressed:] A friendly "welcome" and gentle support is encouraging. * A low threshold for getting commit rights etc. makes it easier to join. * Send the clear message that it's ok for newcomers to make mistakes. * Presentation of the group members (e.g. profiles on wiki) so the potential contributors don't face an anonymous "group" but individuals. 7) Mutual expectations ---------------------- Question: Do (potential) new contributors know what they can expect from the group and what the group expects from them? * All bugs are small with enough eyes. * Peer review of your own work (does anyone actually do that? -- yes, all the time when I was new I got feedback, specially from the DDs in the group. Tincho. -- well, yeah... but, it is usually just a couple of people reviewing other's RFS'). * Improving the applications you use. * If you stop having time for maintaining, others will pick it up (some groups, of course). * Improving delay for sorting out problems, eg: bugs. * Clearly stated goals limit wrong expectations. * It's less about lists of requirements, but more about offering benefits. 8) Integration: ways of support ------------------------------- Question: What kind of support can be offered during the first steps in a group? * Existing: mailing lists and IRC. * Presential meetings: BoF, bug squashing parties or specific sessions. * Documentation: goals, tasks, new contributor tutorial. * Mentors/community managers, who (1) at the beginning lend a helping hand and (2) regularly contact members. 9) Resources ------------ http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Resources (please add useful links) http://wiki.skolelinux.de/Mitarbeiten (German) http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Contribute The videos of the BOF should turn up at http://ftp.acc.umu.se/pub/debian-meetings/2009/debconf9/ Cheers, gregor -- .''`. http://info.comodo.priv.at/ -- GPG Key IDs: 0x00F3CFE4, 0x8649AA06 : :' : Debian GNU/Linux user, admin, & developer - http://www.debian.org/ `. `' Member of VIBE!AT, SPI Inc., fellow of FSFE | http://got.to/quote/ `- BOFH excuse #57: Groundskeepers stole the root password
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