New Contributor Feedback - 12.04
Andrew Starr-Bochicchio
a.starr.b at gmail.com
Mon Apr 16 20:08:03 UTC 2012
Over the past development cycle, the Ubuntu Developer Advisory Team
[1] reached out to many new contributors. As part of that work, we
solicited feedback about our development process. We have summarized
this feedback in the attached report. It is our hope that it will help
drive further discussion about our development processes, tools, and
documentation in the lead up to UDS and over the course of the next
cycle.
Attracting new developers and maintaining our welcoming environment
for contributors is an important task for the project. We encourage
both new contributors and existing developers to discuss your
interpretations of the report as well as any other feedback you might
want to share about your experience working on Ubuntu.
The full text is below. It is also available as a PDF [2].
[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DeveloperAdvisoryTeam
[2] http://people.ubuntu.com/~andrewsomething/dat/New_Contributor_Feedback_12.04.pdf
On behalf of the Ubuntu Developer Advisory Team,
-- Andrew Starr-Bochicchio
Ubuntu Developer <https://launchpad.net/~andrewsomething>
Debian Maintainer
<http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=a.starr.b%40gmail.com>
PGP/GPG Key ID: D53FDCB1
New Contributor Feedback - 12.04
The Ubuntu Developer Advisory Team
developer-advisory-team at lists.ubuntu.com
Introduction
============
One core goal of the Ubuntu Developer Advisory Team is to reach out to new
contributors. Over the course of the 12.04 development cycle, the team
contacted many first time contributors offering our thanks for their work which
helps to make Ubuntu better for millions of users. We also seek to identify
stumbling blocks that might make participating in Ubuntu development be harder
than it should.
To that end, as we contacted the new contributors, we also solicited feedback
on their experience with Ubuntu development. We asked three open ended question:
1. What was your general experience with Ubuntu development like?
1. What did you like about it?
2. What do you feel could be improved?
The responses we received fell into five broad categories:
1. Tools & Infrastructure
2. Processes
3. Documentation
4. Outreach
5. People
This feedback, which is analysed in more detail below, showed that the vast
majority had a very positive experience. The most positive response, by far,
surrounded the friendly and helpful nature of our developers. Creating a
welcoming community continues to be one of Ubuntu’s largest assets. As on
contributor replied:
“I think the most positive part of the experience to date has been the
realization that the Ubuntu community cares enough to engage in this kind of
feedback solicitation. That is simply unparalleled in other projects, and a
testament to the many solid reasons so many prefer Ubuntu.”
We also found places where we are coming up short. The largest set of responses
showing where we can improve was around our developer documentation. This
feedback will help us target our work in the coming development cycle.
Statistics & Methodology
------------------------
We reached out to 76 new contributors in total. Of these, 48 gave us their
feedback on Ubuntu development, giving us a 63.16% response rate. We identified
a number of topics that were mentioned repeatedly by respondents:
Topics | Total Mentions | Positive | Improvement Needed
Tools/Infrastructure | 20 | 9 | 11
Processes | 17 | 9 | 8
Documentation | 24 | 7 | 17
Outreach | 12 | 5 | 7
People | 19 | 17 | 2
This was not a survey. The open ended questions we asked allowed respondents to
give answers that prioritized their own experience. The summery below aims to
provide a general overview of the responses we received, highlighting some of
the important insights for a broader audience. We will continue to consult
these responses (and others as they come in) as we plan for developer outreach
related activities over the next cycle.
Report
======
Tools & Infrastructure
----------------------
Feedback surrounding our existing tools and development infrastructure was
decidedly mixed. Nine contributors made specific mention of their positive
experience with Launchpad and/or Bazaar. One reoccurring theme among these
contributors is the convenience of an integrated workflow centralized on
Launchpad. As one noted, “branching a project to fix a bug and getting that
visible to the project's developers is effortless and lets me concentrate on
the actual work.” Though for every contributor that found this workflow
appealing, there was one that had complaints.
Nine contributors also made specific mention of a complaint with Launchpad
and/or Bazaar. While three contributors would rather be using git, these
criticisms were much more varied than the positive responses. Some complaints,
like the large amount of email generated by Launchpad, are well known and being
worked on by the Launchpad Team. Some comments were feature requests. As one
contributor noted, being able to comment on specific lines of a code review
would be a welcome addition (LP: #609297). Others were simply bugs, like the
issues surrounding Ubuntu package searches on Launchpad (LP: #816870).
While the choice of development tools tends to be hotly debated, it seems clear
from the feedback that we’ve received that most new contributors are
generally happy with their experience dealing with our infrastructure.
Processes
---------
Continuing efforts to make the sponsorship process more responsive seems to
have paid off. A number of contributors praised the process. One “had heard
about reviews taking a long time, but didn’t find it to be the case.”
Another found it to be a “surprisingly painless process.”
One place in our process that received some concerns was when contributors are
directed to Debian. Some remarked that in isolated cases waiting times were
increased due to pending code reviews in the Debian bug tracker. The general
awareness of collaboration with Debian is notable and a very positive sign.
Over all, despite having room for improvement, our developer processes seem to
be efficiently shepherding contributions into the archive. One contributor
summed it up well by noting that it was “exciting to realize that a bug fix
(simple, but there nonetheless) could go from a proposed fix to being available
for installation in just over 24 hrs.”
Documentation
-------------
The area where we received the most feedback was documentation. While our
existing documentation was quite helpful for some, we heard from even more
contributors who found it wanting. As one goal of the process was to find
stumbling blocks for new contributors, this was unsurprising.
One contributor noted that they were “overwhelmed at all the information”
that is provided. This was not an uncommon view. Often the problem was that
“there is some redundancy with documentation” and that there is
“contradictory information on how to do things.” While we have been working
on consolidating our developer documentation on developer.ubuntu.com, we’ve
left a sometimes confusing situation for new contributors who find information
both there and on the wiki.
We also heard advise that we should take into consideration as we continue
working on our new consolidated documentation. One concern raised by a
contributor was that the documentation is “difficult to follow in a logical
manner.” Another contributor echoed this requesting a “more cohesive
introduction” that would “walk someone through the entire lifecycle of a
bug, from discovery to fix released.”
Outreach
--------
The development updates posted to Planet Ubuntu and OMG!Ubuntu as well as the
Fix-It Friday initiative were both mentioned as things that helped motivate new
contributors. The desire to give back to the community was also a strong
motivation. As one contributor said, “Contributing to free and open source
projects makes me excited. It is great that I can participate and improve
Ubuntu. I feel awesome when my work is released. “
Another reoccurring theme was that it can sometimes be “hard to find things
to work on initially.” Another contributor mentioned that they would have
fixed bugs in the past if they “had realized just how easy it is.” We
obviously have more work to do when it comes to outreach. Specifically, it
seems we need to do a better job at highlighting some of the existing tools we
have that expose opportunities to contribute like Harvest.
People
------
The most resounding piece of feedback we received was about the amazing help
our existing developers provide. Over half of the respondents specifically
mentioned the welcoming and helpful nature of our developers. “It's an
amazing community of bright and enthusiastic people who are very appreciative
of each other's work,” said one contributor.
It is also clear that the #ubuntu-motu IRC channel remains as an indispensable
resource for new contributors. Like one contributor said, “Whenever I got
stuck with the process or did not know how to approach the problem, help was
always at hand on #ubuntu-motu.” Creating a friendly and open environment for
contributors has always been an important goal for the Ubuntu community, and we
are glad to see that we are living up to that.
Though as one contributor mentioned, relying on asking people in the community
for help when our documentation fails “doesn't scale very well and might be
too big a hurdle to get started for some folks.” As our community continues
to grow, we need to take efforts to ensure that we remain as welcoming as
we’ve been in the past.
Highlights
----------
Among many others, we loved reading the following comments and thought you
would enjoy them too. Ubuntu is a great place to be involved in, also thanks to
YOUR great work!
* Developers always respond very friendly.
* I'm also very much impressed by the smoothness of online collaboration
through launchpad and bzr (wow, would not have thought I'd be praising bzr at
some point ). Branching a project to fix a bug and getting that visible to the
project's developers is effortless and lets me concentrate on the actual work.
* Had heard about reviews taking a long time, but didn’t find it to be the
case.
* I really enjoyed getting to see my contributions go through the whole cycle
from inclusion to available update. Seeing the process was interesting, as I
had not known the different stages previously, and it was exciting to realize
that a bug fix (simple, but there nonetheless) could go from a proposed fix to
being available for installation in just over 24 hrs.
* Developers always respond very friendly.
* Much easier than I had expected. I had always assumed that one had to be an
official packager to apply a patch to a package and submit it. Overall, it was
a surprisingly painless process.
* I think the most positive part of the experience to date has been the
realization that the Ubuntu community cares enough to engage in this kind of
feedback solicitation. That is simply unparalleled in other projects, and a
testament to the many solid reasons so many prefer Ubuntu.
* Overall, the entire was quite enriching and engaging. To be frank, I was
desperately waiting for an opportunity to fix an easy bug for quite some time.
And, so when I eventually found one, I was overly joyed. Given another
opportunity, I will surely contribute again to Ubuntu development.
* The people. Good response from other people, great impression about the whole
community.
* Contributing to free and open source projects makes me excited. It is great
that I can paticipate and improve Ubuntu. I feel awesome when my work is
released. Also I was glad when people found out their problem doesn't exist in
new release.
Conclusions
-----------
Overall, we are enthused to report that the Ubuntu community continues to be
incredibly welcoming. It’s important that new contributors have a positive
first experience, and the Developer Advisory Team is committed to doing all we
can in order to improve this aspect of our community.
Our outreach has also shown us places where we can still improve. Specifically,
we need to continue to improve our developer documentation and work on making
it easier for people to find opportunities to contribute.
As we begin planning our work for the next cycle, we will continue reaching out
for feedback on our development processes. If you have anything you would like
to share about your experience working on Ubuntu, feel free to get in touch
with us.
-------------- next part --------------
New Contributor Feedback - 12.04
The Ubuntu Developer Advisory Team
developer-advisory-team at lists.ubuntu.com
Introduction
============
One core goal of the Ubuntu Developer Advisory Team is to reach out to new
contributors. Over the course of the 12.04 development cycle, the team
contacted many first time contributors offering our thanks for their work which
helps to make Ubuntu better for millions of users. We also seek to identify
stumbling blocks that might make participating in Ubuntu development be harder
than it should.
To that end, as we contacted the new contributors, we also solicited feedback
on their experience with Ubuntu development. We asked three open ended question:
1. What was your general experience with Ubuntu development like?
1. What did you like about it?
2. What do you feel could be improved?
The responses we received fell into five broad categories:
1. Tools & Infrastructure
2. Processes
3. Documentation
4. Outreach
5. People
This feedback, which is analysed in more detail below, showed that the vast
majority had a very positive experience. The most positive response, by far,
surrounded the friendly and helpful nature of our developers. Creating a
welcoming community continues to be one of Ubuntu’s largest assets. As on
contributor replied:
“I think the most positive part of the experience to date has been the
realization that the Ubuntu community cares enough to engage in this kind of
feedback solicitation. That is simply unparalleled in other projects, and a
testament to the many solid reasons so many prefer Ubuntu.”
We also found places where we are coming up short. The largest set of responses
showing where we can improve was around our developer documentation. This
feedback will help us target our work in the coming development cycle.
Statistics & Methodology
------------------------
We reached out to 76 new contributors in total. Of these, 48 gave us their
feedback on Ubuntu development, giving us a 63.16% response rate. We identified
a number of topics that were mentioned repeatedly by respondents:
Topics | Total Mentions | Positive | Improvement Needed
Tools/Infrastructure | 20 | 9 | 11
Processes | 17 | 9 | 8
Documentation | 24 | 7 | 17
Outreach | 12 | 5 | 7
People | 19 | 17 | 2
This was not a survey. The open ended questions we asked allowed respondents to
give answers that prioritized their own experience. The summery below aims to
provide a general overview of the responses we received, highlighting some of
the important insights for a broader audience. We will continue to consult
these responses (and others as they come in) as we plan for developer outreach
related activities over the next cycle.
Report
======
Tools & Infrastructure
----------------------
Feedback surrounding our existing tools and development infrastructure was
decidedly mixed. Nine contributors made specific mention of their positive
experience with Launchpad and/or Bazaar. One reoccurring theme among these
contributors is the convenience of an integrated workflow centralized on
Launchpad. As one noted, “branching a project to fix a bug and getting that
visible to the project's developers is effortless and lets me concentrate on
the actual work.” Though for every contributor that found this workflow
appealing, there was one that had complaints.
Nine contributors also made specific mention of a complaint with Launchpad
and/or Bazaar. While three contributors would rather be using git, these
criticisms were much more varied than the positive responses. Some complaints,
like the large amount of email generated by Launchpad, are well known and being
worked on by the Launchpad Team. Some comments were feature requests. As one
contributor noted, being able to comment on specific lines of a code review
would be a welcome addition (LP: #609297). Others were simply bugs, like the
issues surrounding Ubuntu package searches on Launchpad (LP: #816870).
While the choice of development tools tends to be hotly debated, it seems clear
from the feedback that we’ve received that most new contributors are
generally happy with their experience dealing with our infrastructure.
Processes
---------
Continuing efforts to make the sponsorship process more responsive seems to
have paid off. A number of contributors praised the process. One “had heard
about reviews taking a long time, but didn’t find it to be the case.”
Another found it to be a “surprisingly painless process.”
One place in our process that received some concerns was when contributors are
directed to Debian. Some remarked that in isolated cases waiting times were
increased due to pending code reviews in the Debian bug tracker. The general
awareness of collaboration with Debian is notable and a very positive sign.
Over all, despite having room for improvement, our developer processes seem to
be efficiently shepherding contributions into the archive. One contributor
summed it up well by noting that it was “exciting to realize that a bug fix
(simple, but there nonetheless) could go from a proposed fix to being available
for installation in just over 24 hrs.”
Documentation
-------------
The area where we received the most feedback was documentation. While our
existing documentation was quite helpful for some, we heard from even more
contributors who found it wanting. As one goal of the process was to find
stumbling blocks for new contributors, this was unsurprising.
One contributor noted that they were “overwhelmed at all the information”
that is provided. This was not an uncommon view. Often the problem was that
“there is some redundancy with documentation” and that there is
“contradictory information on how to do things.” While we have been working
on consolidating our developer documentation on developer.ubuntu.com, we’ve
left a sometimes confusing situation for new contributors who find information
both there and on the wiki.
We also heard advise that we should take into consideration as we continue
working on our new consolidated documentation. One concern raised by a
contributor was that the documentation is “difficult to follow in a logical
manner.” Another contributor echoed this requesting a “more cohesive
introduction” that would “walk someone through the entire lifecycle of a
bug, from discovery to fix released.”
Outreach
--------
The development updates posted to Planet Ubuntu and OMG!Ubuntu as well as the
Fix-It Friday initiative were both mentioned as things that helped motivate new
contributors. The desire to give back to the community was also a strong
motivation. As one contributor said, “Contributing to free and open source
projects makes me excited. It is great that I can participate and improve
Ubuntu. I feel awesome when my work is released. “
Another reoccurring theme was that it can sometimes be “hard to find things
to work on initially.” Another contributor mentioned that they would have
fixed bugs in the past if they “had realized just how easy it is.” We
obviously have more work to do when it comes to outreach. Specifically, it
seems we need to do a better job at highlighting some of the existing tools we
have that expose opportunities to contribute like Harvest.
People
------
The most resounding piece of feedback we received was about the amazing help
our existing developers provide. Over half of the respondents specifically
mentioned the welcoming and helpful nature of our developers. “It's an
amazing community of bright and enthusiastic people who are very appreciative
of each other's work,” said one contributor.
It is also clear that the #ubuntu-motu IRC channel remains as an indispensable
resource for new contributors. Like one contributor said, “Whenever I got
stuck with the process or did not know how to approach the problem, help was
always at hand on #ubuntu-motu.” Creating a friendly and open environment for
contributors has always been an important goal for the Ubuntu community, and we
are glad to see that we are living up to that.
Though as one contributor mentioned, relying on asking people in the community
for help when our documentation fails “doesn't scale very well and might be
too big a hurdle to get started for some folks.” As our community continues
to grow, we need to take efforts to ensure that we remain as welcoming as
we’ve been in the past.
Highlights
----------
Among many others, we loved reading the following comments and thought you
would enjoy them too. Ubuntu is a great place to be involved in, also thanks to
YOUR great work!
* Developers always respond very friendly.
* I'm also very much impressed by the smoothness of online collaboration
through launchpad and bzr (wow, would not have thought I'd be praising bzr at
some point ). Branching a project to fix a bug and getting that visible to the
project's developers is effortless and lets me concentrate on the actual work.
* Had heard about reviews taking a long time, but didn’t find it to be the
case.
* I really enjoyed getting to see my contributions go through the whole cycle
from inclusion to available update. Seeing the process was interesting, as I
had not known the different stages previously, and it was exciting to realize
that a bug fix (simple, but there nonetheless) could go from a proposed fix to
being available for installation in just over 24 hrs.
* Developers always respond very friendly.
* Much easier than I had expected. I had always assumed that one had to be an
official packager to apply a patch to a package and submit it. Overall, it was
a surprisingly painless process.
* I think the most positive part of the experience to date has been the
realization that the Ubuntu community cares enough to engage in this kind of
feedback solicitation. That is simply unparalleled in other projects, and a
testament to the many solid reasons so many prefer Ubuntu.
* Overall, the entire was quite enriching and engaging. To be frank, I was
desperately waiting for an opportunity to fix an easy bug for quite some time.
And, so when I eventually found one, I was overly joyed. Given another
opportunity, I will surely contribute again to Ubuntu development.
* The people. Good response from other people, great impression about the whole
community.
* Contributing to free and open source projects makes me excited. It is great
that I can paticipate and improve Ubuntu. I feel awesome when my work is
released. Also I was glad when people found out their problem doesn't exist in
new release.
Conclusions
-----------
Overall, we are enthused to report that the Ubuntu community continues to be
incredibly welcoming. It’s important that new contributors have a positive
first experience, and the Developer Advisory Team is committed to doing all we
can in order to improve this aspect of our community.
Our outreach has also shown us places where we can still improve. Specifically,
we need to continue to improve our developer documentation and work on making
it easier for people to find opportunities to contribute.
As we begin planning our work for the next cycle, we will continue reaching out
for feedback on our development processes. If you have anything you would like
to share about your experience working on Ubuntu, feel free to get in touch
with us.
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