LoCo Mentoring

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• Launchpad entry: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/loco-mentoring

• Created: 09 Nov 2006

• Packages affected: None (Community related).

• Owner: Melissa Draper
• Drafter: Melissa Draper

Summary

During September and October 2006, an Ubuntu LoCo Team Mentoring Case Study was conducted between the Ubuntu Australian Team and the Ubuntu New Zealand Team. It was a successful case study and could conceivably be deployed as a community service.

This spec discussed the good and bad points of the mentoring experience, taking input from the Australian and New Zealand teams. The experience netted some great feedback, and some key points to inspire from and points to improve on. The process was conducted out in the open with a blog published at http://locomentor.geekosophical.net/.

The session evaluated the experience with a single action point:

• The Australian and New Zealand team will work together with consultation from Jono Bacon and other LoCo members to produce a set of best practice methods for performing effective mentoring. These methods will form the basis of a mentoring HOWTO.

Rationale

Within the international community, some LoCo teams have had more success than others. Some teams achieve extraordinary impact on their local communities, while other teams struggle to establish themselves.

A way to strengthen existing LoCo teams and assist new teams would be good for the entire LoCo initiative.

Use cases

• Rich from Chicago wants to start up a LoCo for his region. He approaches Joey from the Colorado Team and seeks guidance for getting started. Joey explains to Rich what he did, what worked, what did not and other wisdom he gained through the process. Rich then goes off and successfully starts the Chicago Team.

• The New Zealand Team is languishing a bit since they began. There are not having much success in recruiting members. The Australian team intervenes in the process, identifies issues that are holding the New Zealand Team back and makes suggestions that would help improve the team.

Scope

The scope of this project is to evaluate and document the best practice methods from the Australian/New Zealand pilot case study.

Implementation

This project has the following action points:

• Develop a list of best practice elements from the Australian and New Zealand participants.

• Seek input from the wider LoCo community to evolve and refine the document.