admin team and delegation status, volunteers?
Hi all,
Nicolas and Sylvestre both resigned and gave us plenty of warning to
update the delegation[1]
Molly put out a call[2] for names to put in the GSoC application but it
wasn't clear if that was a call for people to be part of the new
delegation or just the urgent request to fill out the form.
The DPL also mentioned it in bits[3] but as far as I know, this comment
means he was just responding to queries about the process and is not
actively talking to potential candidates.
Four people, including Molly and myself are in the GSoC system as
administrators now, our names haven't been announced and personally I'm
a bit cautious about not wanting to declare myself an administrator or
pre-empt the new delegation unless there is consensus about the way the
team is formed and how it wants to work.
As mentioned in the other thread, this is something we need to clear up
before deciding how many projects and how to prioritize projects.
Personally, whether I take an active role as admin may impact the way I
respond to student inquiries for my projects so it is also important to
clear up before the end of February.
Based on my experience as a previous admin (Ganglia) and mentor, I feel
that a bigger admin group is needed to preserve organizational memory
between rounds and cope with all the deadlines (there are many more
deadlines for admins than mentors), maybe 3-5 admins in the GSoC system
and at least 2 separate admins to Outreachy (because it happens twice
per year and has lots of little differences that you can easily trip up on)
Having many admins in any team brings new problems but one potential
solution is using the Kanboard as used by the DebConf team and
discussed[4] in another thread on this list. If both mentors and admins
use a single Kanboard (or equivalent) it will be much easier for people
to move around between roles and share the burden, avoiding burn-out,
making vacations and other things easier during the summer. Admins and
backup mentors need to be able to drop into a project at any stage if
the main mentor has an accident or something and using a common tool
like that can make it more seamless.
Another question is whether or not we want to have any policy on admins
acting as mentors - if there are only 2 admins then it is harder for
them to mentor due to admin workload but if we operate with a large
admin group then it may be possible for some to mentor. Then there are
questions about the conflict of interest if we have to choose between
projects.
How do other people feel about the current status, including those of
you who are also listed in the GSoC system as admins today?
Who would potentially want to be an admin, would it be more attractive
to you if the team was bigger and the workload distributed more?
Regards,
Daniel
1. https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Outreach
2. https://lists.debian.org/debian-outreach/2018/01/msg00026.html
3. https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2018/01/msg00005.html
4. https://lists.debian.org/debian-outreach/2018/02/msg00018.html
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