Becoming Effective

[Stéphane Graber]

On 02/08/2012 12:57 PM, Jono Bacon wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I apologize if this email feels rather pointed, but it is intended
> with the best intentions of Ubuntu and the ARB.
>
> In a nutshell, I am really worried about the effectiveness of the ARB.
> Back in Budapest I sat with my team to identify areas in which we can
> smooth some elements of the ARB process (e.g. requiring PPAs, regular
> queue reviews) and I believe we have a submission process that is
> effective. In fact, when apps get through they are popular...the
> recent Cities, Utilities and Calculator scope have had **8 times**
> more downloads than other items submitted via MyApps, and these apps
> came via the ARB. This shows there is a thirst for the output of this
> board with Ubuntu users.
>
> The challenge as I see it is with the responsiveness and time
> committed from the board.
>
> We have always had a value that we hold important in Ubuntu that says
> that when people don't have time to commit to a leadership position,
> that they step down gracefully. We have always wanted to avoid people
> lurking on boards for the purpose of being in a position of authority,
> yet not committing the appropriate time to delivering on the
> expectations of that board. This is one of the reasons I don't sit on
> boards/councils...with my other responsibilities I don't think I could
> serve the board/council well with my time constraints.
>
> I am worried about the sporadic and unresponsive nature of the current
> ARB team. I have committed extensive resources in my team to helping
> the board be successful: reviewing the ARB process with David P and
> Daniel H, asking David to put together a regular queue review, asking
> Michael to help our lens/scope authors to get content through the ARB
> etc. It worries me that even with these extensive resources that the
> ARB is unable to burn through the queue and get apps into Ubuntu. I
> have seen little responsiveness to the efforts made from these members
> of my team, and little responsiveness and sense of responsibility in
> delivering an awesome experience for app devs who submit their apps -
> the turn-around time for apps right now is making Ubuntu an
> unattractive platform for Free Software app devs. Of course, we all
> have busy periods...as an example, stgraber mentioned he would be busy
> for a bit...that is fine and an expected part of leadership, but we
> need to know up-front where these absences occur so we can work around
> them.
>
> I believe that the ARB serves a phenomenally important role in Ubuntu.
> For commercial apps we are covered...the consumer apps team at
> Canonical can review and submit those apps...but for Free Software app
> devs who feel the traditional core-dev/motu process is too complex
> (which I suspect most Free Software app devs feel who just want to
> deliver content on Ubuntu and not improve Ubuntu itself), they rely on
> the ARB. The ARB has incredible potential to open up Ubuntu as a
> phenomenal platform for app devs.
>
> We have everything in place...easily browsing and installation via the
> Ubuntu Software Center...ratings and reviews to gauge quality and user
> opinion...the MyApps process for easy submission...an awesome
> developer.ubuntu.com...but our challenge today lies with the ARB team
> getting content through.
>
> Again, I apologize about the up-front and blunt nature of this email,
> but I think it is time we started dealing with this issue. I would
> like to ask each of you to carefully consider how much time you can
> realistically commit to this effort. If you want to be part of the
> team, we not only need responsiveness to the queue...but a sense of
> responsibility and urgency in getting items through the queue.
> Remember how I said earlier how the recent Cities, Utilities and
> Calculator scope have had **8 times** more downloads than other items
> submitted via MyApps; this shows the true potential of delivering
> awesome apps to our users and making Free Software more accessible to
> more people. We need to feel a shared sense of urgency though in
> getting these apps through.
>
> Are you folks able to commit the time to getting the ARB and the queue in shape?
>
> Thanks,
>
>     Jono


Not too want to sound too harsh but it feels like to me, that the 30 
minutes/1 hour or so people on the ARB could spend helping with the 
queue has instead be used to read long e-mail discussions lately.

I definitely don't have any issue with the Community team trying to help 
the ARB, I just want to state what some people have been telling me in 
private. Flooding the members with information, wiki pages, e-mails, ... 
is not the right way to help us.

At this point, making sure the Software-Center in Ubuntu 11.10 works 
properly with MyApps, getting our MyApps issues prioritized and fixed 
sounds to me like our main priorities.

Spending hours discussing processes is fine when we have time, like at 
UDS (and even so, just 1 or 2 sessions please!) but for the rest, you 
have to realize members are spending some of their limited free time on 
the ARB and that can either be spent in reading/answering long 
discussions or on getting stuff done.

Speaking of getting stuff done, I need to get back to my pile of work to 
do before Feature Freeze.

Cheers

-- 
Stéphane Graber
Ubuntu developer
http://www.ubuntu.com