Some comments about AM reports

[Martin Michlmayr <tbm@cyrius.com>]

Here are some comments about writing good AM reports.  Please consider
them when preparing your report.

  - Don't use the sample report from http://www.debian.org/devel/join/nm-amhowto#ap5
    in a verbatim way.  The sample report is only there to show what
    should be considered when writing the report.  However, not
    everything is relevant -- and when something is not relevant,
    don't include it.  So, don't write stuff like:

        1. The applicant's photo ID which is digitized and signed
        by the applicant (if necessary)

            * Not necessary

    We see anyway when it's not necessary, so don't waste 3 (or more)
    lines for this.  Only include what is necessary!  Also, make sure
    the first page contains all the relevant information (who is the
    applicant, what has he done, is the philosophy ok, which login
    name, which email address).

  - Include some background on the applicant.  Make sure the applicant
    knows that this information will be published on the web and
    archived.

  - When preparing a report, go for readability.  Basically, the AM
    report should be printable.  It's good to include many logs, but
    try to remove unimportant headers when including emails (Date,
    From, etc should stay, however).  Also, don't tar.gz your
    records.. this makes it really painful to read.  (Only to do if
    there is a really good reason... I guess there isn't a good
    reason, so contact FD before you do and ask.)  And, in general,
    don't worry about including too many mails.

  - Include the advocate's mail in your report.

  - Try to get the opinion of the applicant's sponsor or people who
    have met them IRL (look at their GPG key).

  - Please include mail records for the Tasks/Skills stage.  That is,
    include mails in which you tell an applicant about their packages
    and how they repond to it.

  - If you have not done so yet, check out Joerg's templates and use
    them or include questions from him in your templates:
    http://goliathbbs.dnsalias.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/templates/?cvsroot=NM+Stuff

Thanks.
-- 
Martin Michlmayr
tbm@cyrius.com