Mentoring Program

[Connor Imes]

Matthew East wrote:
> Hi
> 
> On Sat, Aug 16, 2008 at 6:19 PM, Phil Bull <philbull at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 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?
> 
> I think the idea of having clear distinctions between the different
> areas of our work on our wiki pages (system docs and wiki, possibly
> the server guide as a separate area) is definitely a way to make those
> pages clearer for the newcomer. But I don't think setting up
> sub-groups for those areas will work, because I don't think the
> current levels of contribution in the docteam are enough to justify
> splitting the team, and I'd also be concerned that splitting might
> lead to the sub-groups growing apart. I really like the coherence that
> comes from a single team.
> 
While it is true that some teams might "grow apart," this is not
necessarily a bad thing.  We all still fall under the Documentation
Team, but trying to keep everything so tightly coordinated makes it
impossible for the leads to stay on top of everything, and the lack of a
hierarchal system means members don't necessarily know where to go to
get help or direct their questions or coordination efforts.  A group
leader can act as a middleman between the Doc team leaders and a focus
group, and team members can certainly take part in multiple groups.

> Also, I don't think it's necessary: if someone mails this list and is
> interested in working on Kubuntu or Server material, then they will
> get a reply from someone who is interested in that area or at least
> get a decent pointer from someone else. I think it's important for the
> list to be the central contact point for everyone, rather than
> individuals, because individuals come and go in terms of contribution
> levels, and the list will always be around.
> 
As has been noticed before, people are generally _not_ getting the
responses necessary get pointers they need.  We should definitely still
keep things like the mailing list, IRC channel, Doc team leads + LP
organization.

> I don't think we need to make our processes more elaborate in order to
> improve the way that people can contribute, actually I think it's the
> reverse - we need to make them simpler!
> 
I think that's what focus team/groups can help with.  Choosing an area
to begin with helps a new team member focus their efforts somewhere, and
during this time can be introduced to other areas they might be
interested in.  A big problem is that there is so much that the doc team
covers, it is overwhelming and I certainly found it difficult in the
beginning to find the help pages I was looking for.  With focus
groups/teams a new member can have a more specific place to start
instead of having to take in the whole picture - this can help keep them
from getting overwhelmed and just walking away.  New members should
"start small".

-Connor