j.fp.o design process strawman (criticism please!)

[Sijis Aviles]

As someone that is new to the joining process, I think Mike is right
that some of the problem is expectation. I think some of it is also
direction. After someone joins and sends a 'intro' message to the
list, there is a welcome response but not exactly a follow-up on what
the next steps are. I know that folks are busy and you cannot guide
everything through the process, but we should provide some next steps
and direction.

A thought is having a list of what is currently being worked on for
each group, something like
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Websites#Projects (see
join.fedoraproject.org area). The only thing i would add a 'task to be
completed' item or help needed area.

Another thought would be somehow list what an individual could do
right after they join and have "levels" of tasks. Infrastructure might
be different since folks might require some level of system access to
complete tasks, so we'd have to provide types of 'tasks' they can do,
in order to gain trust in the group before access is granted.
(these are just rough ideas)
Level 1 - review open tickets, fix wiki entries
Level 2 - assist in group tasks, code review, improvement ideas
Level 3 - lead project/implementation, etc..

I've enjoyed and been frustrated with the joining process but overall
is been a positive one. Like many things, it can be improved
(mentoring is a good idea). In its current state, individuals need to
be self-motivated and figure out what to do next on their own.

Sijis

On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 10:12 PM, Todd Zullinger<tmz at pobox.com> wrote:
> Mike McGrath wrote:
>> I've always found one of the biggest problems with joining is
>> setting expectations, fedora is a HUGe place.  I think people get
>> lost and don't know what we expect from them.  This is especially
>> true of more passive volunteers that just want to be told what to
>> do.  I've found they don't know what to do, don't enjoy being told
>> what to do and generally don't have a good experience after joining.
>
> Judging from my past experiences in other volunteer organizations,
> this is a common problem.  I think this could be a niche filled by
> mentors, if there are folks that know their way around the various
> systems in Fedora and enjoy showing others the ropes.  Of course,
> finding good mentors can be a challenge in itself.
>
> FWIW, I think you do a pretty good job at this in the infrastructure
> area Mike.  You have my respect for organizing the relatively large
> and diverse group of folks who work on the many tasks that make the
> Fedora Infrastructure successful.
>
> --
> Todd        OpenPGP -> KeyID: 0xBEAF0CE3 | URL: www.pobox.com/~tmz/pgp
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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