[Mageia-dev] "Job offer" : mentoring program coordinator

[andre999]

Samuel Verschelde a écrit :
>
> Le dimanche 12 juin 2011 15:27:59, Samuel Verschelde a écrit :
>> Hello to everyone,
>>
>> ...
>>
>> During a packagers weekly meeting, misc invited us to read the following
>> article about mentoring programs in open-source projects:
>> http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2011/05/31/effective-mentoring-programs/
>>
>> I invite those who haven't read it yet, to read it. I'll quote one of the
>> mentoring best practices that were given: "In bigger projects, keeping
>> track of who is a mentor, and who is mentoring who, and inviting new
>> mentors, and ensuring that no-one falls through the cracks when a mentor
>> gets too busy, is a job of itself."
>>
>> I'm looking for someone who could fill that "job".
>>
>> Description of the job:
>>
>> - keep track of:
>> -- who's being mentored by who, how well it's going
>> -- who needs a mentor and hasn't found one yet (this is one of the most
>> important parts: no volunteer must be forgotten, volunteers are too
>> precious !)
>> -- who can mentor more apprentices (and sometimes convince packagers to
>> become mentors or accept one more apprentice)
>>
>> - be available for questions from apprentices or mentors, by mail, and if
>> possible, to be present on the IRC channel #mageia-mentoring on freenode
>>
>> - help mentors with gathering "junior tasks" (bugzilla is a never empty
>> reserve that can be used for that. Maybe ask the bug triage team to help
>> identify such tasks. Maybe a "junior task" keyword in bugzilla would do the
>> trick)
>> -- small bugs to fix
>> -- new small packages to import in the distribution
>> -- backports
>>
>> - promote mentoring (empower users into contributers. Working with the
>> marketing team would be great I think):
>> -- make the mentoring program known (MLs, forums, web, etc.)
>> -- look for new apprentices
>> -- look for new mentors
>>
>> Some useful skills:
>> - be autonomous (ie no need to check that you're doing the work)
>> - good written english (communication is very important in this job)
>> - knowledge about packaging is a plus but not mandatory (the key aspects
>> can be taught to you)
>> - being or having been a mentor, or having been mentored would be a plus,
>> but not mandatory
>>
>> More information about the job:
>> - does not require a big amount of work, but real committment to the task
>> and regularity
>> - remember that you have a coordination role, not an authoritative role.
>> The difference in that is that you're not here to give orders but to
>> facilitate the mentoring program.
>> - you don't have to be alone to do this job if it's too much for one
>> person: you can find other helpful people wanting to help you if needed
>> and rely on the other teams (but finding them *is* part of your job ;) ).
>> -  this "job offer" concerns everything that revolves around the mentoring
>> of new packagers, but if it's successful maybe other teams can follow the
>> same approach (i18n, QA, etc... ).
>> -  depending on your level of confidence, experience and will, you could be
>> helped in your work. Maybe someone from the council can supervise and help
>> you at least at the beginning; or, if no one steps up, I can help you
>> bootstrap and organize your new "job".
>>
>> So, who's in?
>>
>> Samuel Verschelde
>
> Hello to all,
>
> First, thanks to those to offered to help.
>
> We had 3 candidates, plus one who offered help whoever will be in charge. 2
> candidates were retained (Kharec has too many duties already to take the job),
> who I interviewed on IRC to try to see who would fit best.
>
> The 2 candidates were good, which complicated my task because I had to make a
> choice, but I finally came to a decision : I propose andre999 as a mentoring
> program coordinator (or facilitator, if you think it fits the job better).
>
> What made me choose him over Daniel Kreuter (whose candidacy was good, I
> repeat it) is the fact he already showed interest in this subject before the
> "job offer", has been mentored (even if the mentoring has not been completed
> for now), and I already had enough occasions to exchange with him in the past
> to think that he will have the required communication skills and diplomacy to
> do the job.
>
> Now, it doesn't mean he has to be alone, so I hope than magnus will help him,
> for example to bring an IRC presence at hours where André is not available due
> to his timezone, and if Daniel is still interested in helping for those tasks,
> I'm sure André will be glad to receive his help.
>
> If you have any questions or remarks, don't hesitate to comment.
>
> To ennael and misc : do you want to take part in the boostrapping of André's
> work ? I think it could be good to avoid any misunderstandings and be sure we
> set the good direction.
>
> Best regards
>
> Samuel Verschelde

Thanks for the vote of confidence. :)  I'll do everything to assure that it's not misplaced.

I see the mentoring program coordinator as facilitating contributions to the key process of Mageia. 
  To continue our progress in making Mageia one of the best distros available.
(Packaging/development is the "nerf de la guerre", as we say in French.  Roughly translates as the 
"heart of the war".)

I would appreciate any help, particularly on IRC.
(My availability on IRC is mostly when european contributors are asleep (or falling asleep, as 
shikamaru can testify).

And also any advice/guidance/insights from ennael & misc, of course.

As an aside, I intend to complete my mentoring process so as to be able to eventually mentor those 
in the North American time zones.

-- 
André