Re: Draft Delegation for the Community Team
Hey Tina!
I hope you're keeping well in these difficult times... *hugs*
On Tue, Apr 14, 2020 at 07:14:01AM +0100, Martina Ferrari wrote:
>On 09/04/2020 22:40, Sam Hartman wrote:> I'm pleased to finally be
>able to propose a Community Team delegation
>> for discussion. During the last year it has become clear that we
>> can accomplish more at lower emotional cost when we have the
>> Community Team, Account Managers and DPL working together,
>> supporting each other. It's become clear that the Community Team
>> does need a project-level mission/mandate.
>
>It seems to me that this delegation text does not improve the
>situation of the Community Team compared to the current non-delegated
>team. I do not think it serves the actual needs of the project, nor
>that it will help address the problems that have caused burnout and
>high turnover rates.
In the team we're happy enough with what's here. It's not seeking to
redefine the role, but more to describe what we've already been doing
and make it more official. Our own work to improve processes and grow
the team should help to reduce the burnout problem.
>* All of the activities of the CT seem subordinated to the interest
>and willingness of other parties to work with them and listen to their
>advice. No provision is made for when this is not the case.
>
>* In particular, Debian events are not required to do anything. This
>can result in big events going ahead without any kind of support for
>on-site conduct issues, as it was almost the case for DebConf19 (when
>the CT noticed the omission just before DC started).
A delegation for the CT can't *force* event organisers to do anything,
but making us official should help to raise visibility. What else
would you suggest?
>* It mandates the team to coordinate responses, but my experience
>shows that other teams -such as DAM or the DPL itself- do not always
>collaborate when discussions get heated and coordination is most needed.
>
>How is the team going to make that coordination happen? How is it
>going to prevent burning out people when they are left alone to face
>the angry mob?
Mainly by not leaving them alone. That's been a problem in the past,
and it's a mistake we don't want to make again.
...
>* At a first glance the people chosen do not seem to reflect the
>diversity of our project, which is of tremendous importance when
>dealing with cultural conflicts. The DPL has stressed repeatedly the
>need to find "the right people for the job", but I am still curious
>about the criteria.
>
>The less-than-transparent way personnel changes have been handled
>lately, combined with this apparent lack of diversity in the team that
>has been finally blessed by the DPL is not a great look, IMHO.
Fundamentally, we have the team we have today; this specific
delegation is for the 5 current full members, all volunteers. As you
know from discussions we've had in the past, we care *very* much about
diversity and we're going to continue to work on improving the team in
that way. One previous member of the old A-H team is looking to rejoin
us very shortly, and we have another new volunteer who is going
through the onboarding process with us right now.
>In conclusion, I do not think this delegation is going to be effective
>in helping the CT become a sustainable and useful vehicle to better
>our community.
Thanks for your feedback.
--
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK. steve@einval.com
"Managing a volunteer open source project is a lot like herding
kittens, except the kittens randomly appear and disappear because they
have day jobs." -- Matt Mackall
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