[OSGeo-Discuss] FOSS4G 2009 Code sprint

[Tim Sutton]

Hi

2008/10/11 Christopher Schmidt <crschmidt at crschmidt.net>:
> On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 04:45:49PM +0800, Tim Bowden wrote:
>> The FOSS4G 2009 team are planning a 3 day code sprint.  The conference
>> itself will be starting with workshops on Tuesday 20 Oct and finishing
>> on Friday 23rd Oct.
>>
>> The possibilities for the code sprint are for the preceding Wednesday-
>> Friday giving a long weekend in between (giving time for touring, more
>> coding or whatever) or Sat - Monday with no break between the code
>> sprint and the conference.  What would people prefer?


8<------snip-------------------


The downside to the codesprint <-> gap <-> codesprint idea is that it
means folks would need to cover accommodation & living costs for 6
days over and above the conference.....which will hit some of us hard
in the pocket. That said, I think it would be great to have a longer
code sprint. Another option to consider could be to start the sprint
on the day before the core conf. starts and then to provide a code
sprint space (we could have used the speaker prep room this year since
it was underutilised) and allow for ad hoc coding get togethers during
the conference. Of course having the sprint at the start of the conf
does have the negative of people being seriously jetlagged to begin
with....(as opposed to being seriously hung over at the end...).

One thing I learned from organising this years sprint is that almost
everyone you ask will have a different opinion about how the code
sprint should be arranged, and you may be better off just deciding on
one way or the other and then making the arrangements clearly known so
that people can logistically and psychologically prepare for it.

Another point to make is that the turn out to the sprint was 3.5 x the
number of people who said they would come so getting attendance of the
sprint as part of the registration process will help you plan better.

Regards

Tim



-- 
Tim Sutton - QGIS Project Steering Committee Member (Release  Manager)
==============================================
Visit http://linfiniti.com to find out about:
 * QGIS programming services
 * Mapserver and PostGIS based hosting plans
 * FOSS Consulting Services
Skype: timlinux Irc: timlinux on #qgis at freenode.net
==============================================