DeveloperOutreachResources

Summary

We need good material with which we can reach out to new developers. We might need to trim down the necessary information to get a good understanding of how development is done and not overwhelm new contributors.

Release Note

http://ubuntu.com/developer now has a easy-to-understand and inviting high-level overview of Ubuntu development. There is also translated presentation material available to demonstrate what Ubuntu development is all about.

Rationale

When you try to get involved in Ubuntu development there is a lot of things you need to understand in the very begining. It's not only parts of the infrastructure, key players we interact with, but also processes, workflows and tools. This is all pretty overwhelming in the beginning. What it needs is a nice overview that explains how all the bits work together.

User stories

Daniel wants to give a talk about Ubuntu development at an event in Germany. He download the presentation material, reads it beforehand and is ready to go.

Paul likes Ubuntu and wants to get involved in Ubuntu development. He heads to ubuntu.com, clicks on Community, then on Developers and spends half an hour on the page and has good idea how things work.

Implementation

To identify which moving parts are the most important ones to mention, we will first look at the use-case of trying to fix a bug and getting the change into Ubuntu. Everything's that relevant to this use-case will need to be explained. Following on from there we will follow common ramifications and explain things like the release schedule and our collaboration with external projects.

Where possible and where it's helpful, we will use diagrams to illustrate what's going on.

The resulting text we will user-test with people who have an interest, but no idea about Ubuntu Development.

The content will later on be translated and nice presentation material generated.

Test/Demo Plan

We have connections to programmers of other platforms and independent software vendors who will be a perfect audience for giving the introduction a neutral read.

BoF agenda and discussion

Audience:
 * Someone fixes something locally 
 * Programmer from another platform (e.g. Java, OS X, Windows)

The million dollar question:
  What should we tell someone if they have an hour to be introduced
  to the world of Ubuntu development?

What should we tell someone that asks:  hi i am new to development ....can any one guide me how can i start the development (#ubuntu-beginners-dev right now actually)

Good properties the solution should have:
 * Short
 * Not many options
 * Warm and encouraging



Questions:
 - How do I find people to talk to? (IRC, ...) (Organise by teams instead of communication mediums?)
 - A mentor?
 - How do I get started?
 - Ambiguity of the word "Developer"
 - The release cycle            (DIAGRAM)
   - Different times lead to different expectations
 - How to set up my system
 - Programming languages
 - What do developers do? Why is it fun? Why should I care?
 - A good example
 - What kind of tasks do I get started with? (bitesize)
  + don't go and package something new
    + what about voice recognition ?
 - Infrastructure and what it's used for (archive, bugs, ...)
 - How do I find projects just in [insert programming language]?
 - Collaboration with Upstream (different parties involved)
 - Where do I send my contribution? (set expectations)
 - What makes up the thing I install via Software Center        (DIAGRAM)
 - At least point people to Launchpad
 - A contribution from start to finish  (DIAGRAM)
 - SET EXPECTIONS




ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO CONTRIBUTE! (It's actually possible)
 
Translations!
As part of a translated guide, add good examples of the use of English language.

Format
 * Document with really short chapters
 * ubuntu.com/developer
 * A single overview diagram
   * But it is really hard, there's a lot of stuff
 
Actions:
 * dholbach to create launchpad project for it
 * dholbach to first draft
 * jml, doctormo, dylan, deryck, jledbetter to test-read
 * doctormo to work on diagrams
 * dpm and dholbach to thnk about translations
 * Test the document (ISVs, peoplw who migrate from Windows/Mac/...)
 * randy, jml to help with getting feedback
 * dholbach to create presentation from text

CategorySpec

Specs/DeveloperOutreachResources (last edited 2010-11-05 15:26:36 by p5DDC16F6)