[Incubator] Project Incubation Mentor

[Sean Gillies]

On Apr 4, 2006, at 2:21 PM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:

> Folks,
>
> A few weeks ago we designated Daniel Brookshier as mentor for each of
> the projects in incubation.  At the time we were pretty vague about
> what a mentor is and I would like to reassess that and Daniel's role.
>
> I think Daniel was primarily offering to support project leads as they
> migrate to OSGeo infrastructure, and to answer questions on an as  
> needed
> basis.
>
> However, my idea of a mentor is quite a bit more indepth.  Paul  
> Spencer and
> I have written up a document reflecting our idea of what a project  
> mentor
> should be.
>
>   http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Incubation_Mentor_Guidelines
>
> In my view, the mentor not only provides a support and advice role,  
> but
> is also the "pointy end of the stick" of the Incubator as far as  
> assessing
> the project health and readiness to graduate from the incubator.   
> My thinking
> is that we need to do a fairly in depth assessment but it is  
> impractical for
> each member of the committee to dig into a project deeply.  So I  
> think there
> ought to be one person (the "mentor") that should be designated to  
> do this
> in depth.  They would then advise the incubator on their assessment of
> progress.
>
> This wouldn't preclude other committee members from digging in if  
> they have
> concerns or an interest.  But I think it is important that there be  
> at least
> one person who is clearly responsible and who should expect to  
> spend quite a
> bit of time on the project.
>
> It is my hope that this coming monday we can discuss, ammend and  
> approve
> the mentorship guidelines document and appoint incubation mentors  
> for each
> project.  Daniel will of course continue to provide support on the  
> CollabNet
> platform to the project leads, and answer others questions as the  
> arise.
>
> As I see it, (excepting DanielB and Rich who have specialized  
> roles) the
> members of the incubator that are not directly responsible for a  
> project are
> Sean Gilles, Paul Spencer and Chris Holmes.  I would like to  
> suggest that
> they, if they are willing, each be assigned one or two project  
> mentorships.
> Depending on the time they can commit it is likely we will need other
> existing project leads willing to serve as mentors for other  
> projects as
> well.  I hope that everyone will consider if they would have the  
> time to
> mentor a project.
>
> I am keen to move the incubation process into high gear, and so I hope
> we will have good attendance at the coming meeting to finalize the
> mentorship issue as well as address other items of business.  If  
> anyone
> cannot attend I would ask that they email this list before the meeting
> indicating their thoughts on each of the agenda items.
>
>   http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/IncCom_Meeting4
>
> In my dreams we might be assessing a first project for completion of
> incubation within 2-3 weeks.
>
> Best regards,

Frank,

I'm not going to be able to do it. Most of it is time, but it's  
partly that my ideas about incubation are clearly outside the  
foundation main stream.

Sean

---
Sean Gillies
http://zcologia.com