Niclas, I merely speak about what I experienced. My experience is that shepherds provided valuable help to me while I was acting as a mentor. This was (as I understand it) part of the expectation for shepherds. The board has never provided me specific help like this in mentoring. I don't think that it was ever expected that they would.
If you would like to characterize shepherds as cross-cutting mentors-at-large, I wouldn't disagree. I don't much care about names unless they confuse people. I really did appreciate the help when I got it. >From your tone, however, it sounds like you would like for me to disagree with something you say. I can't figure out what it is that I should disagree with. On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 2:06 AM, Niclas Hedhman <nic...@hedhman.org> wrote: > Ted, > doesn't that then suggest that the Board should do such an active task as > well, since they "thus can spot common problems > easily"? But they don't, possibly due to it doesn't scale. Their man on the > field, the VP, is trusted to have a grip on the situation. Why doesn't IPMC > trust that the mentor(s) has a grip as its man on the field. > > Isn't what you describe "another mentor" with a different engagement > level... > > Cheers > Niclas > > On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 11:17 AM, Ted Dunning <ted.dunn...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 5:03 PM, Marvin Humphrey <mar...@rectangular.com > > > > wrote: > > > > > > Statements like shepherds dilute mentor responsibility are false. A > > > shepherd > > > > provides a mechanism for the IPMC to review the Podling/Mentor > > > relationship. > > > > This is something the IPMC needs to do when voting to graduate a > > > podling. We > > > > should be ALL be doing shepherding work. > > > > > > I can see what Alan's getting at, though. Unless the podling is in > > > trouble, > > > the podling contributors ought to be writing the report. The people > who > > > are > > > then best placed to give informed feedback on that report are the > > podling's > > > Mentors. But instead, the people who provide commentary on the state > of > > > the > > > podling community tend to be the shepherds, whose understanding is > > > necessarily > > > more superficial. Doesn't that seem strange? > > > > > > > Actually, I don't see it as strange. > > > > More than once while I was actively mentoring a project, a shepherd > dropped > > in and noticed something that neither the project nor I had been > focussing > > on. > > > > The mentor (me) was very actively involved in helping the community but > the > > shepherd distinctly added value. > > > > Shepherds see across many projects and thus can spot common problems > > easily. Mentors focus on a few problems and thus can spot longer-term > > problems. The difference works really well in my experience. At least I > > know that I was able to mentor better with the help. > > > > > > -- > Niclas Hedhman, Software Developer > http://www.qi4j.org - New Energy for Java >
