Minutes from Developer Membership Board Meeting 2013-01-07

[Iain Lane]

On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 11:16:34AM +0100, Daniel Holbach wrote:
> Hello,
> […] 
> Still you've got to set expectations and provide people with clear
> instructions. Especially if they have to reapply.
> 
> As a Developer Advisory Team member I talk to many folks who seem ready
> to apply and I can feel how some of them are quite nervous about
> applying, some just don't want to do it. Every single declined
> application has an additional impact on people who are nervous about
> applying. So if there's a way how we can minimise the amount of declined
> applications (and I'm not talking auto-accept), I think that'd help.
> Clear expectations and clear instructions, maybe some prior consultation
> might help a lot here.

Indeed. I can't speak for everyone else but I'd definitely encourage
people to email the DMB either in public on devel-permissions@ (so that
others can read the responses) or — if they feel more comfortable — in
private on developer-membership-board@ to ask for an informal
non-binding (etc) assessment of their 'readiness'.

A couple of constructive improvements the DMB can make (both of these
I've suggested before and we can/will start doing right away)

  - if an application comes in that members feel would have a low chance
    of success then gently emailing the applicant in advance to suggest
    some directions to work in and a possible postponement of the
    application (suggestions only)
  - giving a public summary when a
    rejection/deferral/call-it-what-you-will does happen, in addition
    to the more detailed private (which happens in the interests of not
    enumerating shortcomings in public) so as to build up some kind of
    body of 'case law'

It's always possible to improve. I hope and believe that we can continue
to recognise and act on opportunities to do so, and that the rest of you
will continue to support the DMB (and other governance bodies) in their
efforts which are being carried out in good faith and with the right
intentions.

Cheers,
 
-- 
Iain Lane                                  [ iain at orangesquash.org.uk ]
Debian Developer                                   [ laney at debian.org ]
Ubuntu Developer                                   [ laney at ubuntu.com ]
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