New proposal: QA-LP contact

[Jordan Mantha]

On Thu, 2008-08-07 at 14:34 +0100, Henrik Nilsen Omma wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm suggesting a modified version of the Liaison proposal, with an 
> emphasis on facilitation and coordination rather than representation. 
> Thus the different name. It would be an extension of the existing QA 
> team key positions [1] group rather than part of an Ubuntu-wide Liaison 
> team [2] (though contact with other people in similar roles would of 
> course be natural).

I think we're getting down to semantics here. I proposed that the QA
Liaisons facilitate and coordinate communication between LP and the QA
team. That's what a liaison does (according to Webster's dictionary
anyway). Of course that's also some level of representation. I have no
problem with it being an extension of the QA key positions, but I fail
to see how that means it can't be a part of the Ubuntu-wide Liaison
team. Why would we *not* want to be included in Ubuntu-wide discussions?
Is there something specifically you don't like about the word "liaison"?
It seems to me what you've described hits it right on, and "contact"
just sounds very passive (like an email address to send complaints to or
something).

> The LP contact role in bullet form:
> 
> * A single person with the main responsibility for facilitating 
> communication between the Ubuntu QA and Launchpad teams. He/she should 
> encourage direct communication between teams and individuals at all levels
> 
> * Based on the existing concept of a QA team 'key position' and similar 
> to the existing upstream contact and forum contact positions
> 
> * This person would also be a natural choice for participation in the 
> QA-LP calls, though other people should be encouraged to cover when the 
> primary contact is unable to attend.

I agree that a liaison would do all of those :-)

> So, the main difference from the Liaison is that the contact person 
> should facilitate communication between Launchpad and QA team members at 
> all levels rather than act as a representative for the QA team that most 
> communication would flow through (Jordan has since clarified that this 
> was not the intent of the original proposal either, but it was my 
> interpretation of the phrase 'Advocate on behalf of Ubuntu QA').

Hmmm, I think I can see how "represent" is maybe not a great term, but I
do like "advocate". From Webster's Dictionary:

Advocate:
 3: one that supports or promotes the interests of another

I would think we'd want this person to promote or support the QA
interests in Launchpad.

> With a role that focuses on improving the LP-related communication 
> between all parties rather than being a funnel for the information flow 
> I think the Canonical/community discussion is largely irrelevant as 
> well, which is great! And as such I have no strong preference for who 
> fills this role as long as they are well familiar with Launchpad, with 
> the QA team and its work and has the personal abilities to facilitate 
> communication.

I agree that the focus should be on improving the LP-related
communication, but I think that often includes a "funneling" because
there are many voices in a community and a major part of the problem is
that the team needs to get more of one voice when communicating to LP,
especially as the team grows.

So here's my "let's get going" counter-proposal:

1) the role be named "Liaison" to be consistent with other Ubuntu teams
(only MOTU and Translations right now, but still) and I think it fits
best.
2) the emphasis of the role is facilitating communication with LP and
driving discussion when needed.
3) this person will be the contact person for the QA team when they need
help with LP-related issues.
4) we let the person figure out what else is needed :-)

I want to emphasize 4) here. I think maybe we're trying to over-engineer
this thing and getting caught up in what we want the person to do.
Perhaps it's just better to appoint somebody and let them figure out
what areas are lacking, what needs help, and to define their own work.

I would like to nominate Markus Korn (thekorn) to this role, pending his
acceptance ;-)

-Jordan