Call for votes: Developer Membership Board restaffing

[Scott Kitterman]

On Thursday, January 31, 2013 11:43:41 AM Daniel Holbach wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> On 31.01.2013 11:08, Iain Lane wrote:
> > As others have said, it's probably not going to be possible to reduce
> > the process to going through a checklist. What we can do is to be
> > responsive /and proactive/ when applications first come in (or even
> > before then, if applicants contact the DMB speculatively or if teams
> > like the DAT want to link up with us which I think would be a good
> > idea). It's true that most of the information required to make a
> > decision is often available before the meeting in which the decision is
> > ultimately taken.
> 
> I like this suggestion a lot.
> 
> The Dev Advisory Team reviews the work of contributors all the time and
> we actively encourage developers to apply and help them set up their
> application pages. I mentioned it in another thread already: the fear of
> being rejected is real - so that's a reality we have to work with.
> 
> Having a regular exchange between DMB and DAT in the form of "these
> developers look ready to apply to us, what are your thoughts?" might be
> a good start towards:
> 
>  1) providing applicants with either some reassurance ("no immediate
>     objections") or some concrete tasks to work on ("clarify some
>     bits in the application" or "put some more work into Ubuntu and
>     apply a few weeks later").
>  2) establishing a clearer set of requirements for applicants in the
>     long run.
> 
> For now I'd be happy if we got better at 1) and have more successful
> applications by being more proactive, but in the long run I think we
> should get better at 2) too. Clearer expectations will make contributors
> much more likely to apply.
> 
> Maybe with more collaboration between the Advisory Team and the
> Membership Board we can also look into simplifying the process a bit, so
> it's even more straight-forward, but maybe that's a separate discussion.

I don't think having an intermediary between the DMB and the applicant is a 
good idea.  I think approximately that last thing we need is more meetings.

Scott K