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Lucas Nussbaum | 12 Mar 2012 18:42

DPL practicing

Hi,

Let me quote your platform for context:
> 2.3.1  DPL practicing
> 
> > If elected again, the next term will be my last term as DPL, because I
> have different plans for my long term Debian future. Having that in
> mind, I will work since the very beginning of the term to ensure a
> smooth transition to the next DPL. The DPL is an elective charge so I
> don’t get to pick a successor (luckily!). Rather, what I intend to do is
> work to setup an environment where prospective candidates can practice
> with DPL activities. Calling for volunteers didn’t work in the past, but
> might work this time thanks to the certainty—which I’ve just given
> above—that this will be my last term.
> 
> If that will still not work, I plan to contact people I feel like
> working with, and invite them to participate in DPL activities. Either
> way, I hope to be able to form a group of people who are motivated
> enough to, at the same time, help out with DPL tasks for the next term,
> and get a glimpse of what the DPL job is about. Whether it will actually
> happen or not is not up to me, but to the actual interest of people to
> step in and work with me to practice on DPL tasks. If that will work, I
> intend to hold monthly public IRC meetings with the people helping out,
> where outstanding tasks on the DPL agenda can be reviewed and new one
> discussed in a more transparent way than by mailing leader <at> d.o.

Could you give some examples of DPL tasks of the last 24 months that you
could have transferred to someone else?

Looking through your log, I have the impression that most of the tasks
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Stefano Zacchiroli | 15 Mar 2012 21:53
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Re: DPL practicing

On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 06:42:29PM +0100, Lucas Nussbaum wrote:
> Could you give some examples of DPL tasks of the last 24 months that you
> could have transferred to someone else?
> 
> Looking through your log, I have the impression that most of the tasks
> are either very short tasks, or tasks that would require the DPL's own
> attention very frequently (unless you will authorize people to talk as
> if they were the DPL).

That is correct. But those are not contraindications for the DPL to work
with others on DPL tasks (not I'm in principle against at authorizing
people to talk on behalf of the DPL --- I've authorized people to attend
events "on behalf of Debian" and represent the Project there, which
boils down to the same principle).

Generally speaking, I work well in teams and I don't have a tendency to
concentrate tasks and responsibilities on myself. My ideal way of
working is splitting tasks among peers and frequently get back to each
other for feedback, even when one of the peers has the final
responsibility and or saying on all matters. That is something I've been
unable to do as DPL, partly due to the non-success of my call for
helpers (see below for an answer to this), and partly because we're
among peers so the DPL really don't have any power to "make" someone
work on something (which is a very good principle). As a net result, I
ended up working alone on a lot of tasks, and I've thus far preferred
that over letting things linger. But I'd now like to try a different way
to make this work, hopefully establishing a structure that might
continue in the long run.

Regarding specific examples, there are aplenty, but let me present them
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Stefano Zacchiroli | 15 Mar 2012 22:27
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Re: DPL practicing

On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 09:53:35PM +0100, Stefano Zacchiroli wrote:
> (not I'm in principle against at authorizing people to talk on behalf
> of the DPL --- I've authorized people to attend events "on behalf of
> Debian" and represent the Project there, which boils down to the same
> principle).

EGRAMMAR, ever more than my usual babbling.
To be read:

  (not that I'm in principle against authorizing people to talk on
  behalf of the DPL, I'm not --- I've regularly authorized people to
  attend event "on behalf of Debian" and represent the Project there,
  which boils down to the same)

Thanks Wouter for spotting.

Cheers.
--

-- 
Stefano Zacchiroli     zack <at> {upsilon.cc,pps.jussieu.fr,debian.org} . o .
Maître de conférences   ......   http://upsilon.cc/zack   ......   . . o
Debian Project Leader    .......    <at> zack on identi.ca   .......    o o o
« the first rule of tautology club is the first rule of tautology club »
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Holger Levsen | 20 Mar 2012 00:14

Re: DPL practicing

Hi Stefano,

I think that most people who think about running for DPL are well established 
in the community, because they already do lots of useful work, thus they 
probably won't have much||any time for DPL practicing, just as they have no or 
very little time for DebDonf team practicing (thats something we already 
offer) - what do you think you can do to make people actually use the 
opportunity you intend to give them?

cheers,
	Holger
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Stefano Zacchiroli | 23 Mar 2012 13:21
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Re: DPL practicing

On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 12:14:54AM +0100, Holger Levsen wrote:
> I think that most people who think about running for DPL are well established 
> in the community, because they already do lots of useful work, thus they 
> probably won't have much||any time for DPL practicing, just as they have no or 
> very little time for DebConf team practicing (thats something we already 
> offer) - what do you think you can do to make people actually use the 
> opportunity you intend to give them?

I don't think I can do anything special to "make" people actually use
the opportunity. After all, it's just that, an opportunity to get a
feeling of day to day DPL activities well in advance wrt "nomination
period". In all honesty, I had no idea when I first nominate myself; I'd
like to avoid that to others, but only if those others are willing to.

All in all, the problem you're hinting at is well known in all volunteer
communities: over-committing and potential burn out.

When I first became DPL I decided to put on hold all my technical
activities. Looking back, that has been a wise choice to make and I
mostly respected it.

If the opportunity of working on DPL tasks make people anticipate such
doubts ("should I do that or should I rather keep on doing what I'm
currently up to in the Project?"), even better. In my experience, people
who plan to become DPL should eventually face those doubts at some point
anyhow.

Cheers.
--

-- 
Stefano Zacchiroli     zack <at> {upsilon.cc,pps.jussieu.fr,debian.org} . o .
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