/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2010/04/12/#ubuntu-meeting.txt

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huatshello everyone16:11
huatsshoward, cyphermox hello16:11
cyphermoxhuats, hi!16:12
showardhello!16:12
huatssorry I was a bit away from my computer :)16:12
huatsRoAkSoAx is missing16:14
huatswe might wait for him a bit..16:14
cyphermoxfyi, I'm there, but might answer slow.16:15
=== qwebirc70998 is now known as RoAkSoAx
RoAkSoAxhuats: am I that late ?16:36
RainCTRoAkSoAx: They are waiting for you :)16:37
huatsRoAkSoAx, we were waiting for you :)16:38
huatsgreat16:38
huatsthanks RainCT :)16:38
huatsRoAkSoAx, , cyphermox and showard16:38
huatsit will be only the 4 of us16:38
czajkowskiI really need to unhighlight cypher16:38
cyphermoxczajkowski, muahaha ;)16:39
RoAkSoAxRainCT: :)16:39
RoAkSoAxhuats: i'm really sorry for the delay but something came up16:39
huatsRoAkSoAx, no pb16:39
huatssorry I clicked on the wrong window :)16:40
huatsso16:40
huatswe are here to talk about the mentoring reception16:40
huatsRoAkSoAx, showard, cyphermox are you here ?16:41
huats:)16:41
RoAkSoAxi am16:41
showardyes16:42
cyphermoxyup16:42
huatsok great16:42
huatsI would have liked that dholbach joined us16:42
huatsbut I should have warned him earlier :)16:43
dholbachI'll be in a call in 17m16:43
huatsok then let's start :)16:43
dholbachI'm not sure I can very actively contribute to the discussion16:43
huatsdholbach, nope but you are at the start of the mentoring so you are aways welcome :)16:43
dholbach:)16:44
huatsso the idea is o renew the mentoring program, including the reception that is clearly failing its purpose righ now...16:45
huatssomeother have shown a real interest in that, which great16:45
huatssince I do beleive that this task could be really pleasant to do if it is shared amongst many people16:45
cyphermoxmost likely16:46
huatsAs I have said in my email16:46
huatswe have one current workflow that need to be changed16:47
huatsand one of the idea that I share with Daniel is the need of gathering the efforts of the developpers in the teaching aspect of the mentoring16:48
huatsit is a bit useless that 10 developpers spends each 1h to explain the same thing to 10 mentees16:49
huatsand this is something that we currently fail to do16:49
huatssince every mentor/mentee couple is free to learn as they want16:49
huatsbut from my point of view, the mentoring steps is not the first thing that needs a revamp16:50
huatshave you all looked at the files in bzr that we use to track the mentors/mentees ?16:50
RoAkSoAxso what you are saying is that we need to standarize the learning process?16:51
huatsRoAkSoAx, in a second time yes I think16:51
huats(but once again it is just my opinion)16:52
huats(and to be able to do that, it will require some lessons I think, so to recreate a bit the classrooms that existed in the past and to 'ask' mentors to attends these)16:53
RoAkSoAxhuats: well it is my opinion as well and is an Idea that i talked about before. However, they always told me "some might not want to follow it, becuase they might just want to learn A,B,C, instead of A,B,C,D,E"16:53
showardbut for now you think just reworking the reception part16:53
huatsshoward, I think we should start working on the reception part, which means to create a new workflow16:54
huatsand then to start to setup these lessons16:54
showardah ok16:54
huatscurrently the workflow is quite simple : there is a private mailing list16:54
huatswhere mentees send email requests16:55
huatsand since I don't really have the time to process them, are just archived16:55
huats(yes I have keep a record of every request)16:55
showard(how frequent are the requests?)16:56
huatslet's say 3 every months at the moment16:56
huatsbut we are not very active clearly16:56
huatsso if we are doing a good team work16:57
huatswe should be able to create a little buzz16:57
huatsand thus to attract new contribtors16:57
ScottKIf the discussions are on #ubuntu-motu that will both create some buzz and reduce the need for repetition.16:57
huatsScottK, I agree that ubuntu-motu should be a part of the new process16:58
huats:)16:58
huatswhen we were answering the request16:58
huatsafter the reception of the email we were starting to find a good mentors that matches the area of interest of the future mentee16:58
huatsand that was really a long process16:59
huatsa process that is clearly not seen by the mentee16:59
huatsthis is something where we should work on16:59
huatsin my idea we should have a separate file for each mentee17:00
huatstracking the actions we are doing on his application17:00
huatsto let them know that we are not forgetting them17:00
huatsthe thing is that we cannot put every detail of an application in a public file since we might have some private date17:03
RoAkSoAxcorrect:17:03
huatsdata17:03
RoAkSoAxok, so  first step is to improve communication with mentee17:05
showardHow knowledgeable are the applicants (are they contributing-developer level, or pretty much new to packaging? This will help me understand how much pairing and specialization needs to be done at first)17:06
showardThe current system has lots of work finding the mentor/mentoree pair - but if we move to a more "classroom" type model, could we do it in two waves...17:07
huatsshoward, both kinds17:07
huatsRoAkSoAx, I agree17:07
showardrather than matching a specific mentor right away, how about finding "general" mentors at first, then when they graduate from that (i.e. reach contributing-developer) they can work with a team (desktop, kubuntu, MOTU, etc.) for more specific training?17:08
showardor is that too much work for reception and the mentors17:08
huatsshoward, from my point of view ideally it would still be a pair (mentor/mentee) with the mentee that would have lessons to attends17:09
huatsshoward, actually it is a good idea I think17:09
huatsit gives time for the mentee to know on what he decides to specialize (if he wanted to)17:09
RoAkSoAxhuats: but doing so that in those general lessons the mentee will need to learn pretty much everything relaeted to packaging17:09
RoAkSoAxi do think that we can have some general lessons, such as where to start,how to work with packages (ie. regular tools or bzr), to just give them a head start of what they are doing17:12
huatsRoAkSoAx, that would help to ask mentees to attend lessons17:12
cyphermoxRoAkSoAx, yup, that sounds like a good idea17:12
RoAkSoAxand the, match them with the mentors to follow a determined number of learning items17:12
cyphermoxthen onto more specific stuff like, how it is different if you're dealing with desktop apps vs. server for example?17:12
RoAkSoAxthe general lessons would allow us to look for a metor to match the mentee with17:13
showardI feel like a lot more people in MOTU would be comfortable doing this "general" training as well, especially if lessons are laid out17:13
showarddoing = being a mentoee17:13
showard*mentor17:13
RoAkSoAxthe general lessons should give them the knowledge of how to work with the available tools that they will use during the learning process with their mentors17:14
RoAkSoAxso that for example, a mentor won't have to explain him what debuild -S -sa does17:15
persiaIsn't that handled by the Packaging Training sessions?17:15
showardfor general lessons, see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Learning/DeveloperTopics17:15
showard(disregard my link, it wasn't what I thought it was)17:16
showardpersia's right, perhaps motu-reception should direct people to Packaging Training sessions as that first phase of training17:17
persiaAnd maybe also encourage mentors to regurlarly present there.17:17
showardthat's a good place for people to self assemble into ment{or,ee} pairs17:18
huats_sorry17:18
huats_my computer just froze :(17:19
huats_thanks lucid :)17:19
huats_(I am using another one waiting for the other to boot)17:19
huats_anyone said anything <,17:19
huats_?17:19
huats_(I mean while I was away)17:20
showardpersia suggested leveraging the existing packaging training sessions as the "general" training, but we would need to have a monthly "general packaging" session for the new people17:20
showardand encourage mentees to attend17:20
persiaAnd encourage mentors to rotate giving that session: if it's the same person all the time they will get annoyed.17:21
BlackZhi17:21
BlackZso, has the meeting end?17:22
huats_persia, that is really a good idea persia ! thanks emmet17:22
persiahuats_: You might remember an email about that from 18 months ago :)17:23
* persia completely failed to follow-up on that, and apologises17:23
cyphermoxwhat about making sure the topics are covered in MOTU videos? right now I see ~three new mentees per month as few people for a monthly class?17:23
huats_persia, don't worry, I am blameful too ...17:23
RoAkSoAxthat's indeed a good idea, and that lesson should be *required* for the mentee to attend to be able to start they learning process with the mentor17:24
huats_cyphermox, I think it will drag a lot more if with encourage people to talk about it17:24
huats_I really liked the motu journal that effraie was writing17:24
huats_it is something that could be encouraged17:24
persiaRoAkSoAx: No way to enforce attendance, but it can be recommended, and guidance can be given to mentors that if a mentee doesn't have basic concepts down, they should attend class.17:24
huats_I will second persia, I am not very confortable to "enforce" attendance17:25
RoAkSoAxpersia: correct! if no packaging knowledge at all, mentee *should* attend before starting work with mentor,so that mentor wont have to explain the mentee all those things. If the mentee already has packaging knowledge it is ok for him not to attend17:26
huats_and I think a mentor should be able to say to a mentee (and to us) : please attend the next session17:27
ScottKConsidering the entire mentorship program is optional, I think the notion of enforcing anything is odd at best.17:27
persiaAnd I'd hope a good mentor spends time helping the mentee use other resources (videos, classes, etc.)17:27
persiaI remember a proposal some time in the past that mentors should never sponsor mentees stuff as a way to encourage this sort of sharing.17:28
huats_persia, it is something to write down17:28
huats_I think17:28
ScottKo/17:28
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ScottKIIRC I proposed that.17:28
showard[I may have to go soon]  agree regarding the sponsoring proposal17:28
ScottKTo get more community involvement.17:28
RoAkSoAx+117:29
persiaScottK: I believe it was you.17:29
huats_ok that is something that should be reminded to mentors17:29
huats_I would like that we spend a few minutes on the way of dealing with applications17:29
persiaBut I'm not sure it's best as a blanket rule: When I was a mentor, I sponsored some stuff, and refused to sponsor others, depending on the goal for the individual work to be done.17:30
huats_since clearly the current workflow is not a good one17:30
huats_RoAkSoAx, showard, cyphermox I will add you to the private mailing list of the reception for the moment17:31
huats_but we need to change to way we deal with applications17:32
huats_to give a clear view to the applicants of how we are dealing with it17:32
cyphermoxhuats_, something similar to the debian NM reception?17:33
cyphermox(I mean, the website)17:33
huats_actually I have never looked at it17:34
cyphermoxhttps://nm.debian.org/17:35
showardI think it could be simpler than the nm process, but the website is very clear as to the steps and what is happening17:36
persiaThere's been previous requests by the TB to avoid the NM process, but don't let that bar sharing tools.17:38
showardthe DM process is interesting, you file a bug report against a dummy package with your application (and can keep it private) and the team then can assign mentors, status of the "bug", and follow up within the bug report17:38
showardhttp://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?pkg=debian-maintainers;dist=unstable17:38
huatsactually such a website would be great for sure17:40
huats but I feel it will be quite long to setup17:40
huats ...17:40
showardthe DM process is different than NM17:40
huatsshoward, I was thinking of exploring the usage of private bugs indeed17:40
huats(in LP)17:41
showardyes, doing it in LP so each applicant is its own bug17:41
huatscan we keep it private for a team + 1 person ?17:41
RoAkSoAxhuats: showard +117:41
showardgotta go17:41
persiahuats: Not easily.  LP has such a feature, but it's a commercial offering, as I understand it.17:41
huatspersia, ok17:42
huatsshoward, we'll send you the "minutes" of the discussion17:42
showardthank you!17:42
persiahuats: I think it's https://answers.launchpad.net/launchpad/+faq/208 if you want to investigate (and compare cost vs. setting up other resources)17:44
huatspersia, thanks I'll have a look17:45
RoAkSoAxhuats: so what else we need to discuss?17:47
huatspersia, on the other side I do beleive that it is not a proprietary goal... since it is for the menroting reception for MOTU....17:48
huatsI do beleive (I might be wrong) that we might have a little help from canonical :)17:49
persiahuats: Ask in #launchpad, but I think bug privacy is only available for commercial stuff, but it may be that you can get a discount :)17:49
huats:)17:49
huatspersia, I will17:49
* persia really doesn't know any details: just reads lots of IRC traffic17:49
huatsRoAkSoAx, I think it pretty done17:50
huatsRoAkSoAx, I'll send an email that sumarize that17:50
huatsand we'll have another meeting to write things dows17:50
huatsdown17:50
RoAkSoAxhuats: ok then. I do feel we should have a few more meetings though, to define stuff. However, before doing so, we need to setup something like talking items for each meeting17:50
huatsRoAkSoAx, indeed17:51
RoAkSoAxhuats: so wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Mentoring/Meetings?17:51
huatsRoAkSoAx, why not17:52
huatsI'll let you  initialize that :)17:52
RoAkSoAxhuats: ok:)17:52
RoAkSoAxhuats: ok them. meeting over I guess. For next meeting, same time/place?17:53
huatsRoAkSoAx, yep, but let's do a doodle with the rest of the new team17:54
huats:)17:54
RoAkSoAxhuats: ok. When you send the email with the minutes, could you please do that?17:55
* RoAkSoAx is gone17:56
huatssure17:57

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