[OSGeo-Board] Sprinting

Thu Apr 20 11:57:49 PDT 2006

Dave McIlhagga (mobile) wrote:
> Re. Sprints for viscom -- in my experience effective branding, messaging, and well structured information to represent an organization requires a methodical approach that doesn't fit too well with the rapid-fire of a sprint. But maybe I'm misunderstanding the nature of a sprint.
> 

I was thinking more of the 'easy' tasks, just getting content of stuff 
we agree upon, having something rather than nothing, and past that 
taking an iterative, and more methodical approach to refine it.  So less 
the 'well structured' information, but more get the raw material out.

But marketing type things are not my forte, and I'm not even on VisComm, 
so if it wouldn't be helpful I don't need to push it.  I guess I'm just 
looking for ideas on how to kick start things more quickly.  We got a 
lot done in Chicago, which I'd term a 'sprint', a governance oriented 
one.  We could have sat around and debated for weeks, but having us all 
in the same room, with a real chance to get something done, I feel made 
it much easier.  In some ways it just put the pressure on, and while 
with our programming projects we have milestones and specific 
deliverables, it's less clear with this effort.

Chris

> A solid plan and coordinated efforts around osgeo visibility will be essential for success in this area.
> 
> Yup -- definitely easy to say and harder to do. But I just wanted to forewarn before we dive in.
> 
> 
> Having said that -- I agree that viscomm and incubation are our biggest priorities, and I think this was reflected in the individual board member priorities.
> 
> Dave
> 
> 
>    
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Holmes <cholmes at openplans.org>
> Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 14:00:01 
> To:board at board.osgeo.org
> Subject: [OSGeo-Board] Sprinting
> 
> Ok, just saw the agenda item about sprints tomorrow, and figured it's 
> time to check another thing off my todo list.  Got back from two weeks 
> in california, which is when this conversation went down, and have been 
> meaning to sound in for awhile, but it became less urgent as the idea 
> for an incubation sprint seemed to simmer down a bit.
> 
> 
> (from jo)
> 
>>So I imagine an Incubation Sprint, if the Foundation was in a position
>>to sponsor one, would address both sides of this, depending on how soon
>>it could happen or needed to happen: 
>>1/ To establish a firm contract / ruleset describing 'graduation'
>>2/ To help more projects resolve their incubation issues
>>
>>Chris first coined the phrase "Incubation Sprint", and I've been 
>>using it without fully inspecting it; so this has been an excuse 
>>for me to look over the Incubation status docs and get a sense 
>>of where the holes are; and I would appreciate an elucidation
>>from Chris about what else the term could mean. 
> 
> I'd not thought in depth as to what it might actually mean.  The root 
> thought is just that it's hard for all of us to find time to work 
> specifically on foundation stuff, and if we're to all meet in a specific 
> place with a mandate to 'to do something', then things will get done. 
> Perhaps this just reflects on my less than stellar time management, but 
> when juggling a ton of different priorities it helps to just get me 
> around people who are all focused on one of the priorities.
> 
> In my mind, the main thing I would see an incubation sprint doing is 
> first setting some goals of what it means to be a 'foundation project', 
> and then working to meet some of them.  To some extent I'm thinking 
> basic stuff, ie everyone putting up a solid home page on CN, structuring 
> those pages to look and feel similar, with links in similar places.  And 
> then perhaps an overview document of the foundation projects, when to 
> use what, ect.  Beyond that, just having everyone spend 4 hours 
> furthering their IP checks, for example.  Basically all the kinds of 
> bitch work tasks that no one's excited about but that need to get done.
> 
> 
> 
>>Perhaps there's not enough in Incubation alone to justify people
>>getting together F2F; the process will evolve through the wiki, and the
>>projects will complete the process according to their own momentum. 
>>Something that is simply a "policy" sprint may not generate
>>excitement; that's why I'd like to include a code/shared project
>>aspect, and why I thought of the phrase Incubation/Stack Sprint.
> 
> I think the other sprint I see as very valuable at this point in time 
> would be a VisComm sprint.  Put together a coherent set of documents 
> that answer 'what is open source?', 'why does it matter in geo?' 'I'm a 
> user, developer, big vendor, ect., how can it help me?'.  Possibly do 
> use cases of how OSGeo projects can help you, tutorials on how to get 
> involved in a project, ect.  Even just make up some nice slides that 
> people can use, some coherent messaging.
> 
> VisComm and incubation I sort of see as the two things we most want to 
> get done sooner rather than later.  I basically see a face to face 
> meeting and a room with internet connections as kick in the pants to get 
> some effort in to them.  Also they are sort of news items of us 'doing 
> something' in and of themselves, as we can announce that we're having 
> one, and then point to what was accomplished at it.  I'm fine with doing 
> these before mid-June, though it's not really all that far away.
> 
> Anyways, we can chat on the phone, I just wanted to sound in with 
> thoughts that had got neglected (sorry Jo!)
> 
> best regards,
> 
> Chris
> 
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> 
> 
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-- 
Chris Holmes
The Open Planning Project
thoughts at: http://cholmes.wordpress.com
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