Re: Question to candidates: About burnout and in-person meetings
Hi Nilesh,
Am Sun, Mar 30, 2025 at 12:17:22AM +0530 schrieb Nilesh Patra:
>
> 1. There are many contributors who maintain a large chunk of packages, including
> but not limited to key packages. The bus factor on some key packages is good, on
> others, it's usually one or two people doing a large majority of work.
>
> What are your views on ensuring that major parts of the system are maintained
> more sustainably, easing off too much workload on just a few people?
I've seen that problem last year as well, but I can't claim to have
found a solution yet. To identify weak spots, I reached out to various
teams - but I got the impression that the most overloaded and
understaffed teams are also the least likely to respond, understandably
so.
We definitely need to be more welcoming to newcomers. That said, the DPL
can only offer support and a helping hand - ultimately, the team itself
needs to engage with the issue and work toward a more sustainable
structure.
> 2. As an extension of previous question, this is also true for some of the DPL delegated
> teams. Lot of work and less bandwidth, and the role in some of these teams are directly
> related to package maintenance. How do you go about it here?
I often refer to the Debian Med approach - being welcoming to volunteers
and lowering the barrier to contribution - as a model. It's something
I've been advocating for years.
That said, when it comes to DPL-delegated teams, the challenge is
harder. Unfortunately, I don't have a clear solution as DPL. I can
encourage openness and offer support, but lasting change usually has to
come from within the teams themselves.
> 3. I read in at least 2 of all DPL candidate platforms this year that they intend to
> promote in-person meetings and f2f meetings. That sounds good.
> However, there are always travel constraints for many contributors or even
> time synchronization problems. How do you ensure that people who do not get to attend such
> meetings also get a chance to participate?
That's a real logistical challenge - and unfortunately, long-term travel
or visa issues aren't something I can solve directly. I did once suggest
splitting a team sprint into two locations, connected via video, to help
avoid visa barriers and also reduce costs for Debian. In that case, the
team preferred to meet in person, and fortunately all visa applications
were successful, so the meeting went ahead smoothly.
In general, I believe we should consider hybrid formats where possible
and be flexible - solutions will often need to be worked out on a
case-by-case basis, depending on the team and situation. The key is to
ensure that participation isn't limited only to those who can travel.
Kind regards
Andreas.
--
https://fam-tille.de
Reply to: