Open Stack

During the Newton Design Summit the Nova team had a session regarding
new contributor activities
(https://etherpad.openstack.org/p/newton-nova-getting-started). We
agreed that we should update the Mentoring wiki page
(https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Nova/Mentoring) with a list of projects
and resources for new folks, and I volunteered to take on the "Mentoring
Czar" role as a result (which I changed to "New Contributor Liaison"). I
moved our "low hanging fruit" etherpad contents over to the Mentoring
wiki and have done my best to keep it current. I also want to thank the
sub-project team members who updated their sections on that wiki page
and I would encourage those who haven't to make sure your contact info
and any newbie-friendly project info is up to date.

During the Newton release cycle, I've spoken with several new
contributors over IRC, via email, and in person. I think we've done a
great job of addressing the need to have someone to provide a first
contact and make suggestions on things to get started on. I'd like to
take this further and continue to follow up with new contributors to
find out what's going well and what they are struggling with. As new
contributors become more established in the community, they may have
some valuable feedback for others looking to get involved that would be
worth capturing. In addition, if new contributors decide not to continue
with Nova, I think it could be valuable to find out why.

Over the past 6 months, I didn't just reach out to new contributors but
I also spoke informally with a few established Nova community members
about their on-boarding experience. The thing I really took away from
these conversations is how helpful it would be for new contributors to
have access to these insights and expectations. In the next few months,
I would like to reach out to established Nova contributors to talk about
their on-boarding experience and what advice they'd give to new
contributors looking to get involved with Nova. Ultimately I'd like to
use these conversations to put together a document for new contributors.
If you would like to participate, please feel free to email me or let me
know on irc (auggy) and I'll add you to my list!

Proposed Nova New Contributor Goals for Ocata:
1) Determine what new contributor/nova onboarding information/feedback
we'd like to collect and how we should collect it
2) Put together a "New Contributor Advice" document based on feedback
from established Nova contributors

I will be at the Barcelona Summit and can add an agenda item to the
Friday Nova Unconference if folks feel it's necessary. I had originally
proposed this as a session but given the amount on Nova's plate for this
super short release, we determined a mailing list post for this would
suffice.

I started a Nova New Contributor brainstorm etherpad for the original
session I'd proposed, feel free to check it out and add any thoughts -
https://etherpad.openstack.org/p/nova-new-contributor-brainstorm

-- 
Augustina Ragwitz
Señora Software Engineer
---
Ask me about contributing to OpenStack Nova!
https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Nova/Mentoring

Waiting for your change to get through the gate? Clean up some Nova
bugs!
http://45.55.105.55:8082/bugs-dashboard.html
---
email: aragwitz+nova at pobox.com
irc: auggy