Key Ubuntu teams should have an open process for new members

[Steve Langasek]

On Thu, Jul 06, 2023 at 04:08:07PM -0700, Erich Eickmeyer wrote:
> On Wed, 2023-06-14 at 20:48 -0700, Steve Langasek wrote:

> > To be clear, the Ubuntu Release Team has always been open to non-
> > Canonical employees.  I just don't expect community members of the
> > Release Team to increase our "core" capacity.

> I think that's a rather short-sighted expectation. If you have a
> volunteer Release Team member that is passionate and sold-out for the
> project, I think you'd be surprised as to what they'll accomplish.

> Again, going back to my education, we're taught volunteerism.
> Volunteers are in some ways easier to work with than employees, but in
> some ways harder. When it comes to volunteers, you don't have a
> paycheck to hold over their heads, so you have to cast the vision of
> the project/organization to them often, especially if they're feeling
> close to burnt-out. At the same time, if they need to take a break, you
> have to let them. That said, they tend to be more passionate because
> they're not doing it for a paycheck; they're doing it because it's the
> thing they love. An army of volunteers is typically the most powerful
> force in the world. So, don't ever underestimate community members.

Driving a milestone is a two-week, full-time committment possibly in excess
of 40 hours a week.  Because Ubuntu releases are time-based, this work
cannot be deferred or spread out as a result of other committments.

I would not ask a community member of the Ubuntu Release Team, who is not
being paid to do this work, to make such a committment.  Even if someone did
volunteer to do this, I do no think the Release Team should accept such an
offer, as it's both exploitative of volunteer labor and unfairly places the
volunteer in a position that, if they fail to deliver for any reason,
impacts the business of Canonical.

This is what I am referring to as "core" capacity.

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                   https://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 833 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/technical-board/attachments/20230707/29308bdd/attachment.sig>