[Incubator] Incubation Meeting 15 Minuets [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Fri Nov 25 16:16:10 EST 2011

I'd like to belatedly add a +1 vote for Bruce as a mentor.

As I've worked closely over the years with Bruce on both OSGeo marketing 
activities and also in a professional sense on OSGeo related work, I'd 
like to share a few insights into why Bruce would make a excellent mentor.

Bruce's commitment to the vast array of tasks he took on in making 
FOSS4G 2009 a success has already been mentioned. He has also been 
prominent in promoting OSGeo in the Australian and New Zealand area.

What hasn't been mentioned is that Bruce's opinion counts in high 
government decision making circles, partly due to his position as a lead 
technical architect and manager, within a lead Australian national 
agency responsible for monitoring weather, environment and climate 
change (which is very important for our dry continent with a lot to 
loose from climate change). Bruce was appointed to this role due to his 
strong technical and management experience. You can understand why he 
has been appointed to this job when you read some of his emails to OSGeo 
lists, which usually combine insightful discussion about both technical 
and business aspects of Open Source software (in the Geospatial space).

As such, I consider OSGeo lucky to have someone such as Bruce as a 
champion, and also that he would make an excellent incubation mentor.

On 22/11/2011 4:05 PM, Bruce Bannerman wrote:
> That's fine Daniel,
>
> I'm glad that we do have 'a high bar'. Our desire in the end should be 
> to get quality projects coming out of Incubation.
>
> In addition, there is certainly nothing wrong with questioning 
> potential conflicts of interest. It is in fact a desirable part of the 
> process to have a clear statement from mentors, so that appropriate 
> assessments can be made.
>
> Bruce
>
>
> On 22/11/11 2:06 PM, "Daniel Morissette" <dmorissette at mapgears.com> wrote:
>
>     On 11-11-21 06:11 PM, Bruce Bannerman wrote:
>     >
>     > @Daniel,
>     >
>     > By way of background:
>     >
>     > I am a former developer. However, it has been many (>5) years since I
>     > have cut code in anger. I have spent a number of years in sysadmin,
>     > solutions and enterprise architecture. In addition, I have managed a
>     > very diverse development team for the last few years. I'm currently
>     > managing a large and complex platform migration to RHEL with
>     significant
>     > (>350) bespoke applications and associated databases. I have a
>     diverse
>     > spatial background with qualifications, skills and experience in
>     > cartography, surveying, GIS, spatial and image analysis. In all,
>     I have
>     > around 30 years experience in the spatial / IT domains.
>     >
>     > Granted, I have not spent time on a specific OSGeo Project.
>     However, I
>     > have been part of the OSGeo Community for over five years and the
>     > broader open source community for ten+ years. I do have a good
>     feel for
>     > how OSGeo would like to run projects from the many lists that I
>     > subscribe to and participate in (e.g. Discuss); from my two years
>     > helping to organise FOSS4G-2009; and five years helping to establish
>     > OSGeo-AustNZ. I have also read and been inspired by Ken Fogel's
>     > excellent book [1]. For the OSGeo bits that I haven't picked up yet
>     > through my career, my time as a manager; and my time in FOSS, I'm
>     sure
>     > that Jody will keep me honest and on the right track.
>     >
>
>     Hi Bruce, and all,
>
>     I guess it would have been easier if I just +1'd the decision without
>     asking any question, but since I raised the bar I feel that I have to
>     justify myself now for having expressed higher requirements than the
>     rest of the group, so here we go...
>
>     (please do not read this as a rant... just an explanation of a
>     point of
>     view)
>
>     Hopefully you all realize that it is nothing about Bruce
>     personally, but
>     more that as a rule of thumb I think that until one has been
>     involved in
>     an OSGeo project for a while it is hard to understand the reasons
>     behind
>     the way some things are done, and to properly relay those reasons and
>     ways to operate. BTW, I never suggested that a mentor had to be a
>     developer (others may have suggested that, but not me)... I personally
>     believe that any type of contributor (e.g. a docs contributor, QA
>     specialist, project manager or power user) could do a great job too if
>     they've been involved in a project for a while, hopefully as
>     contributor.
>
>     My take is that the reason why we want mentors during incubation
>     is not
>     just to have one sit on a mailing list, but to actually have that
>     person
>     actively advise the project on the way to adjust their processes
>     to meet
>     OSGeo's expectations. (Once again, I am not suggesting that Bruce
>     would
>     "just sit on a mailing list"... this is my rule of thumb for any
>     mentor... and it's just mine since I don't think it's documented
>     anywhere)
>
>     I didn't write -1, but +0... so it was not an objection, but a weak
>     support since I don't know Bruce personally and the main arguments
>     that
>     I received in favor of him were related to his hard work on the
>     conferences, which while they demonstrate very strong commitment to
>     OSGeo, didn't demonstrate direct project involvement and didn't fully
>     meet my criteria for an *incubation mentor*.
>
>     Of course if I had known you (Bruce) personally I would have known
>     about
>     your strong IT background and would have had less questions. After
>     your
>     response (thank you for taking the time to provide so much
>     details) I am
>     confident that your exceptional commitment to OSGeo combined with your
>     IT experience will help you go through this exercise, and Jody can
>     fill-in for the rest if needed.
>
>     Thank you for your offer to mentor and all your volunteer work for
>     OSGeo
>     BTW. We need more people like you, and I hope my tough questions
>     are not
>     discouraging anyone from getting involved.
>
>     Daniel
>     --
>     Daniel Morissette
>     http://www.mapgears.com/
>     Provider of Professional MapServer Support since 2000
>
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>
>
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-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
http://www.lisasoft.com

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