That's a fair concern. I think that the podling should mention in podling report if they need help from mentors and they don't have it (because the mentor is not active).
Regards JB On 03/29/2018 12:20 AM, Julian Hyde wrote: > The incubator has an ongoing problem with lack of mentor engagement. Mentors > are a crucial component of the incubation process. Incubation is the time > when projects learn the Apache Way, and they cannot learn in a vacuum. > > I’d like to discuss possible solutions to this problem. I’d like to hear from > both podlings (PPMC members) and from IPMC members. > > (By the way, it’s not just a problem for podlings. As a mentor, I am > demoralized when I feel my co-mentors are not pulling their weight, and I get > a little closer to burn-out.) > > How to detect deadbeat mentors? One solution that has been discussed before > is counting mentor sign-offs on podlings’ quarterly reports. Any project that > received one or two sign-offs was deemed to be doing just fine. This is an > imperfect metric. > > Another remedy is to require podlings to be proactive: if they are not > receiving adequate supervision, they should reach out to the IPMC and demand > a change in mentors. The problem is, podlings have by definition not been > through incubation before, so do not know what to expect. They don’t want to > rock the boat. > > I propose another solution. Let’s add a question to the podling report > template, as follows: > >> Have your mentors been helpful and responsive? If not, describe what advice >> or help >> you needed, or need: > > It isn't too onerous for the podling, and only embarrasses mentors who > deserve to be embarrassed. > > What to do about deadbeat mentors? The current thinking is that every project > should have three mentors, and if at least one of them is active, that’s OK. > I think that the “rule of 3” actually makes the problem worse. It’s difficult > to find three motivated individuals (or find enough work for them to do), so > a podling will inevitably have one or two inactive mentors. It has become the > norm that most mentors are inactive. > > I propose that we get rid of the rule of 3. If mentors are not active, they > should be encouraged to step down, and if they don’t, the IPMC should remove > them. If this leaves the podling with zero or one mentors, then IPMC can step > in and appoint new mentors. A podling with two active mentors is probably > doing just fine. > > Is this problem as serious as I think it is? Would my proposed solutions help? > > Julian > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org > -- Jean-Baptiste Onofré jbono...@apache.org http://blog.nanthrax.net Talend - http://www.talend.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org
