RetainingUbuntuDevelopers
Summary
This specification describes some of the things we can work on to retain more ubuntu developers.
Rationale
Currently, we're attracting lots of new developers. This is great, but unless we keep our older developers, things like sponsorship, and getting general advice about what people should do in situations, becomes a problem. I think we need to look at why we're losing people, and what we can do to slow this flow down.
Inevitably, we will lose some people, due to them focusing on other areas of life - but I think we're losing people at a faster rate than that. This also has implications for Ubuntu QA.
Retaining Developers
People leave, so we need to cover some reasons they leave, and how we can reduce the flow
Reasons to leave
Too Busy (work, school, significant other, etc.)
- Better news
- Significant events in the team
- Minutes of Meetings (*central location*)
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Community/Specs/PlatformExternalInternalNews, https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/community-communications-internal-external
- Policy changes
- Large transitions
- Simpler Processes
- Areas that need most work / low hanging fruit
- Better job/tasks visibility
- Bitesize bugs
- Help improve hand-over processes so that one doesn't require consecutive time
- Reduction of TIL policies / abolish last-maintainer-check
- Rationale is to help allow people with limited time to do part of something, rather than having the act of doing something be a commitment to doing something else.
- (ScottK) OK, but there are packages people focus on and they should get some consideration.
Boredom
- Identification of things in which we can take pride
- Identification of targets which people may not typically target (eg. NBS, FTBFSes)
- Increase transparency of "how to join special teams processes"
Disillusionment
- Encourage activity with correction
- Better definition of governance model (who can do what, and when)
- process/policy stability
Burnout
- Burnout session planned in the community track
Difficulties with Launchpad
- Launchpad Liaison present, which helps
Bughelper & Launchpad UI
- More scripting tools
- leonov, etc,
- Request to LP Liaison report monthly to the team report === Questions ===
- How can we ensure that work on Ubuntu is fulfilling?
- More meat / less fat
- Make Ubuntu more itchy
- Reinspiration
- How can we reduce the time commitment required to work on Ubuntu?
- See above
- Tend to your favorites
- Time prioritisation as part of becoming developers
- How can we ensure that Ubuntu is a welcoming place to work on Linux?
- Be less slack
- What sort of information would be most useful, in a digest version
- of Ubuntu development?
- See previous discussion re: Ubuntu Developer News
- How do we alert people to new opportunities to help?
- Developer News? Fridge? Exciting announcements to mailing lists?
- If it's in the developer news, make it a hyperlink, so those who are coming back won't have to have them in the middle of the rest of the information they're reading (keep information relevant)
- Developer News? Fridge? Exciting announcements to mailing lists?
Specs/RetainingUbuntuDevelopers (last edited 2008-12-10 23:42:06 by hobbsee)