Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Code Sprint: How Much?
I would like to second Jody's comments here regarding the timing of the code sprint. Having only attended two of these conferences, I can't speak with any sort of real authority, but from what I've seen, delegates tend to be pretty flogged by the end of the week, be that from thinking or from drinking. Having the code sprints scheduled at the *beginning* of the conference seems to me would offer several benefits: 1) people are at their freshest -- ok maybe the 19 hours in 47C weren't exactly a sponge bath... but you are essentially feeling "on vacation", you haven't yet had to wake up and have your act together by 9am *sharp*, you haven't yet been out drinking till 5am four nights in a row (generally), jetlag might be working to your advantage (or you could at least find a few friends to code with you at 4am), and but most of all, you've been excited about this trip for months and now it's finally happening. game on. 2) time can be used as a last minute sprint to get a release out the door -- or at least an rc. This is always a nice thing to be able to announce to people *during* the conference, ie "And if you want to try this out" "just download the new 5.7 release!" versus "download the latest 5.6 release and then apply this patch at www.example.org/hacks/great_new_feature.patch" 3) The energy of having the developers all together huddling could make for super-valuable last-minute additions to presentations or workshops 4) Any and all unfinished business started during the code sprint can be followed up during coffee breaks and post-prandial brandy sessions in the lobby 5) Last day of conference is really last day of conference, and you can remorselessly go out and celebrate that last night Furthermore, I'd say bumping it up to at least two or three days is *definitely* worth looking into. Especially when you consider that you do get some oddball/outlier types showing up to these things, it's hard to get a plan set up, get newbies directed, *and* manage to actually write some code... that's all pretty hard to do in just one short day -- especially if there are time limitations like we experienced this year. I would say that especially in the case of paying steep airfares to attend, companies/individuals would probably be more than interested in spending a couple more days huddled together banging on work. anyways, just some thoughts. erik On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 1:07 AM, Jody Garnett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > I would go for 3 days - it worked out well for the GeoTools community. > Three days is enough time to effect change; but not so much time you get > bogged down. > > I did find timing of a sprint right after FOSS4G to be a bit of a trouble > for some (in addition to being tired ) reports this year indicate that > sprints were hampered by the occasional hangover (no doubt due to wish > others a good trip home the night before). > > Jody > > > Paul Ramsey wrote: > >> Everyone loves a good code sprint... or do they? >> >> 2007 brought you the one-day sprint (with the GeoToolsers and uDiggers >> going for an extended weekend sprint). >> 2008 brings you another day. >> 2009 is still thinking about it. >> >> How much sprinting would you do? 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 days? >> >> I am wondering if the right way to handle the sprints is to turn them >> from something the conference quietly subsidizes to something that >> OSGeo pays for directly. That way the conference organizers don't >> feel like they are having it taken out of their hide, and it can be as >> long as people like. Also, it fits directly into the OSGeo mission of >> promoting the development of the software. >> >> Book-keeping-wise it's a left-pocket-to-right-pocket transaction for >> OSGeo, but from a authority and decision making PoV it removes the >> issue from the plate of the conference team and puts it into the hands >> of the software promoting team (whomever they may be). >> >> Paul >> ___ >> Discuss mailing list >> Discuss@lists.osgeo.org >> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> >> > > ___ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.osgeo.org > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] FOSS4G 2009 Code sprint
in the event that it's not already completely clear from my post 5 minutes ago (d'oh, before reading this thread) i completely concur with what chris has said here. I think it's pretty reasonable to think that anyone who is going to put in the $ to go out to australia is probably planning on spending at least two or three days to do a bit of travelling (i feel confident of that but maybe it's actually *not* a valid assumption?) and so having the spacing between the code sprint and the conference is in my mind a great idea. -e On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 2:27 PM, Christopher Schmidt < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 04:45:49PM +0800, Tim Bowden wrote: > > The FOSS4G 2009 team are planning a 3 day code sprint. The conference > > itself will be starting with workshops on Tuesday 20 Oct and finishing > > on Friday 23rd Oct. > > > > The possibilities for the code sprint are for the preceding Wednesday- > > Friday giving a long weekend in between (giving time for touring, more > > coding or whatever) or Sat - Monday with no break between the code > > sprint and the conference. What would people prefer? > > I'm strongly in favor of the former. > > For one, like Cape Town, Sydney is too long of a flight to make it just > a trip about the conference, in my opinion. We had an organized group do > a two day trip down the cape after the Code Sprint in Cape Town, and I > think it was a really successful bonding experience for those of us who > came along, allowing some non-coding social time where we all go to hang > out and know each other a little better, which I expect will help > develop better communications in the coming months within the project. > > Also, having a break between the conference after the code sprint keeps > the possibility of having a 'finished' result of something by the > conference more likely as well. In general, code sprints are good at > producing a lot of unpolished code: a couple days can help to get the > code a bit more polished in order to present it as a new development > during the conference, if people so choose. > > Lastly, I think that having a break before the conference gives people a > bit of time to unwind: code sprints tend to be exhausting if you do them > right (taking full advantage of shared physical location with long > hours, for example), and going directly from that into a conference > (described by one attendee as being similar to 'a 5 day long rave' due > to the amount of energy it consumes) feels dangerous. :) > > Regards, > -- > Christopher Schmidt > Web Developer > ___ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.osgeo.org > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] FOSS4G 2009 Code sprint
It's not a given. Those of us with young families back home are under a certain pressure to "get back to the nest". For every example, there is a counter-example. :) P. On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 10:15 PM, Erik Uzureau <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > in the event that it's not already completely clear from my post 5 minutes > ago (d'oh, before reading this thread) > > i completely concur with what chris has said here. I think it's pretty > reasonable to think that anyone who is going > to put in the $ to go out to australia is probably planning on spending at > least two or three days to do a bit of > travelling (i feel confident of that but maybe it's actually *not* a valid > assumption?) and so having the spacing between > the code sprint and the conference is in my mind a great idea. > > -e > > On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 2:27 PM, Christopher Schmidt > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 04:45:49PM +0800, Tim Bowden wrote: >> > The FOSS4G 2009 team are planning a 3 day code sprint. The conference >> > itself will be starting with workshops on Tuesday 20 Oct and finishing >> > on Friday 23rd Oct. >> > >> > The possibilities for the code sprint are for the preceding Wednesday- >> > Friday giving a long weekend in between (giving time for touring, more >> > coding or whatever) or Sat - Monday with no break between the code >> > sprint and the conference. What would people prefer? >> >> I'm strongly in favor of the former. >> >> For one, like Cape Town, Sydney is too long of a flight to make it just >> a trip about the conference, in my opinion. We had an organized group do >> a two day trip down the cape after the Code Sprint in Cape Town, and I >> think it was a really successful bonding experience for those of us who >> came along, allowing some non-coding social time where we all go to hang >> out and know each other a little better, which I expect will help >> develop better communications in the coming months within the project. >> >> Also, having a break between the conference after the code sprint keeps >> the possibility of having a 'finished' result of something by the >> conference more likely as well. In general, code sprints are good at >> producing a lot of unpolished code: a couple days can help to get the >> code a bit more polished in order to present it as a new development >> during the conference, if people so choose. >> >> Lastly, I think that having a break before the conference gives people a >> bit of time to unwind: code sprints tend to be exhausting if you do them >> right (taking full advantage of shared physical location with long >> hours, for example), and going directly from that into a conference >> (described by one attendee as being similar to 'a 5 day long rave' due >> to the amount of energy it consumes) feels dangerous. :) >> >> Regards, >> -- >> Christopher Schmidt >> Web Developer >> ___ >> Discuss mailing list >> Discuss@lists.osgeo.org >> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > > ___ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.osgeo.org > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
