Mentoring Program

[Phil Bull]

Hi Charles,

On Fri, 2008-08-15 at 13:31 -0500, Charles Davis wrote:
[...]
> here is my revised thought:
> 
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam/Mentoring step 4 of the
> process could be changed from "We'll set you up with some tasks as soon
> as possible" to maybe point at a list of tasks separated by "focus"
> area. Possibly have it set up in the way the tech review status page is
> arranged.

That's a great idea. Each "focus area" (e.g. server guide, wiki, system
docs) could have its own wiki page with instructions on how to get
started, who to contact with questions and a list of available tasks. We
could add information which is not specific to mentoring too, such as a
roadmap for that particular area.

Most of the instructions on how to get started would involve learning
wiki markup or DocBook and bzr, so we could just link through to our
existing docs on these topics (which could be improved).

Having multiple contacts for each topic area would help because the
student would be able to get in touch with people who are actively
working on that part of the documentation. For example, people often
express an interest in working on Kubuntu or server docs, but I'm not
aware of what's going on in those parts of the documentation so can't
provide much help. Having several people to get in touch with reduces
the risk of emails going unreplied to for long periods of time as well.

Having a good, regularly-updated task list for each focus area would be
particularly beneficial as students would be able to work towards a
specific and useful goal, learning what they need to on the way. They'd
have much more choice of tasks too.

To be honest, I think that forming groups to concentrate on specific
areas of the documentation would be really helpful not just for students
but for everyone. All of the members of a group could pitch in to help
students, suggest tasks, review patches and so on and it would be easy
for people to move between different groups.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this, whether it sounds practical for
example?

Thanks,

Phil

-- 
Phil Bull
http://www.launchpad.net/people/philbull