During the Newton Design Summit the Nova team had a session regarding new contributor activities (https://etherpad.openstack.org/p/newton-nova-getting-started). We agreed that we should update the Mentoring wiki page (https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Nova/Mentoring) with a list of projects and resources for new folks, and I volunteered to take on the "Mentoring Czar" role as a result (which I changed to "New Contributor Liaison"). I moved our "low hanging fruit" etherpad contents over to the Mentoring wiki and have done my best to keep it current. I also want to thank the sub-project team members who updated their sections on that wiki page and I would encourage those who haven't to make sure your contact info and any newbie-friendly project info is up to date.
During the Newton release cycle, I've spoken with several new contributors over IRC, via email, and in person. I think we've done a great job of addressing the need to have someone to provide a first contact and make suggestions on things to get started on. I'd like to take this further and continue to follow up with new contributors to find out what's going well and what they are struggling with. As new contributors become more established in the community, they may have some valuable feedback for others looking to get involved that would be worth capturing. In addition, if new contributors decide not to continue with Nova, I think it could be valuable to find out why. Over the past 6 months, I didn't just reach out to new contributors but I also spoke informally with a few established Nova community members about their on-boarding experience. The thing I really took away from these conversations is how helpful it would be for new contributors to have access to these insights and expectations. In the next few months, I would like to reach out to established Nova contributors to talk about their on-boarding experience and what advice they'd give to new contributors looking to get involved with Nova. Ultimately I'd like to use these conversations to put together a document for new contributors. If you would like to participate, please feel free to email me or let me know on irc (auggy) and I'll add you to my list! Proposed Nova New Contributor Goals for Ocata: 1) Determine what new contributor/nova onboarding information/feedback we'd like to collect and how we should collect it 2) Put together a "New Contributor Advice" document based on feedback from established Nova contributors I will be at the Barcelona Summit and can add an agenda item to the Friday Nova Unconference if folks feel it's necessary. I had originally proposed this as a session but given the amount on Nova's plate for this super short release, we determined a mailing list post for this would suffice. I started a Nova New Contributor brainstorm etherpad for the original session I'd proposed, feel free to check it out and add any thoughts - https://etherpad.openstack.org/p/nova-new-contributor-brainstorm -- Augustina Ragwitz SeƱora Software Engineer --- Ask me about contributing to OpenStack Nova! https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Nova/Mentoring Waiting for your change to get through the gate? Clean up some Nova bugs! http://45.55.105.55:8082/bugs-dashboard.html --- email: aragwitz+n...@pobox.com irc: auggy __________________________________________________________________________ OpenStack Development Mailing List (not for usage questions) Unsubscribe: openstack-dev-requ...@lists.openstack.org?subject:unsubscribe http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev