On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 3:27 PM, Samuel Verschelde <[email protected]>wrote:
> Hello to everyone, > > I'm sure there's someone among you who wants to help Mageia but hasn't > found > yet the good way to do it. Today is your lucky day, because there's a job > that's available and can be really useful and interesting: coordinating the > packagers mentoring program. > > You know that one key point of success for Mageia is in the ability to > welcome > new packagers. The better we will be at it, the better the distro will be. > The > packagers mentoring program has been created for that reason and several > packagers have been or are being mentored. But we have some difficulty > knowing > who is being mentored by who and who hasn't found a mentor. And we need > also > to find more mentors and more apprentices. > > During a packagers weekly meeting, misc invited us to read the following > article about mentoring programs in open-source projects: > http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2011/05/31/effective-mentoring-programs/ > > I invite those who haven't read it yet, to read it. I'll quote one of the > mentoring best practices that were given: "In bigger projects, keeping > track > of who is a mentor, and who is mentoring who, and inviting new mentors, and > ensuring that no-one falls through the cracks when a mentor gets too busy, > is > a job of itself." > > I'm looking for someone who could fill that "job". > > Description of the job: > > - keep track of: > -- who's being mentored by who, how well it's going > -- who needs a mentor and hasn't found one yet (this is one of the most > important parts: no volunteer must be forgotten, volunteers are too > precious > !) > -- who can mentor more apprentices (and sometimes convince packagers to > become > mentors or accept one more apprentice) > > - be available for questions from apprentices or mentors, by mail, and if > possible, to be present on the IRC channel #mageia-mentoring on freenode > > - help mentors with gathering "junior tasks" (bugzilla is a never empty > reserve that can be used for that. Maybe ask the bug triage team to help > identify such tasks. Maybe a "junior task" keyword in bugzilla would do the > trick) > -- small bugs to fix > -- new small packages to import in the distribution > -- backports > > - promote mentoring (empower users into contributers. Working with the > marketing team would be great I think): > -- make the mentoring program known (MLs, forums, web, etc.) > -- look for new apprentices > -- look for new mentors > > Some useful skills: > - be autonomous (ie no need to check that you're doing the work) > - good written english (communication is very important in this job) > - knowledge about packaging is a plus but not mandatory (the key aspects > can > be taught to you) > - being or having been a mentor, or having been mentored would be a plus, > but > not mandatory > > More information about the job: > - does not require a big amount of work, but real committment to the task > and > regularity > - remember that you have a coordination role, not an authoritative role. > The > difference in that is that you're not here to give orders but to facilitate > the > mentoring program. > - you don't have to be alone to do this job if it's too much for one > person: > you can find other helpful people wanting to help you if needed and rely on > the > other teams (but finding them *is* part of your job ;) ). > - this "job offer" concerns everything that revolves around the mentoring > of > new packagers, but if it's successful maybe other teams can follow the same > approach (i18n, QA, etc... ). > - depending on your level of confidence, experience and will, you could be > helped in your work. Maybe someone from the council can supervise and help > you > at least at the beginning; or, if no one steps up, I can help you bootstrap > and organize your new "job". > > So, who's in? > > Samuel Verschelde > > Hello Samuel, the offer sounds nice. Maybe I can give it a try? What do I already have in my mind? - Creating a table on Mageia wiki where someone who wants to be mentored can put his name on, + the date he enters his name (so we can see how long he's waiting for a mentor) - A table with all available mentors and the actual apprentices - On a regular base asking the mentors if they can mentor someone new or if his apprentice is ready for a full membership - Regular meeting where everyone can vote for a full mentorship of an apprentice So what do you think? -- Mit freundlichen Grüßen Greetings Daniel Kreuter
