Open Stack

> Hi everyone,
> 
> I've been thinking about what changes we can bring to the Design Summit
> format to make it more productive. I've heard the feedback from the
> mid-cycle meetups and would like to apply some of those ideas for Paris,
> within the constraints we have (already booked space and time). Here is
> something we could do:
> 
> Day 1. Cross-project sessions / incubated projects / other projects
> 
> I think that worked well last time. 3 parallel rooms where we can
> address top cross-project questions, discuss the results of the various
> experiments we conducted during juno. Don't hesitate to schedule 2 slots
> for discussions, so that we have time to come to the bottom of those
> issues. Incubated projects (and maybe "other" projects, if space allows)
> occupy the remaining space on day 1, and could occupy "pods" on the
> other days.
> 
> Day 2 and Day 3. Scheduled sessions for various programs
> 
> That's our traditional scheduled space. We'll have a 33% less slots
> available. So, rather than trying to cover all the scope, the idea would
> be to focus those sessions on specific issues which really require
> face-to-face discussion (which can't be solved on the ML or using spec
> discussion) *or* require a lot of user feedback. That way, appearing in
> the general schedule is very helpful. This will require us to be a lot
> stricter on what we accept there and what we don't -- we won't have
> space for courtesy sessions anymore, and traditional/unnecessary
> sessions (like my traditional "release schedule" one) should just move
> to the mailing-list.
> 
> Day 4. Contributors meetups
> 
> On the last day, we could try to split the space so that we can conduct
> parallel midcycle-meetup-like contributors gatherings, with no time
> boundaries and an open agenda. Large projects could get a full day,
> smaller projects would get half a day (but could continue the discussion
> in a local bar). Ideally that meetup would end with some alignment on
> release goals, but the idea is to make the best of that time together to
> solve the issues you have. Friday would finish with the design summit
> feedback session, for those who are still around.
> 
> 
> I think this proposal makes the best use of our setup: discuss clear
> cross-project issues, address key specific topics which need
> face-to-face time and broader attendance, then try to replicate the
> success of midcycle meetup-like open unscheduled time to discuss
> whatever is hot at this point.
> 
> There are still details to work out (is it possible split the space,
> should we use the usual design summit CFP website to organize the
> "scheduled" time...), but I would first like to have your feedback on
> this format. Also if you have alternative proposals that would make a
> better use of our 4 days, let me know.

Apologies for jumping on this thread late.

I'm all for the idea of accommodating a more fluid form of project-
specific discussion, with the schedule emerging in a dynamic way. 

But one aspect of the proposed summit redesign that isn't fully clear
to me is the cross-over between the new "Contributors meetups" and the
"Project pods" that we tried out for the first time in Atlanta.

That seemed, to me at least, to be a very useful experiment. In fact:

 "parallel midcycle-meetup-like contributors gatherings, with no time
  boundaries and an open agenda"

sounds like quite a good description of how some projects used their
pods in ATL.

The advantage of the pods approach in my mind, included:

 * no requirement for reducing the number of design sessions slots,
   as the pod time ran in parallel with the design session tracks
   of other projects

 * depending on where in the week the project track occurred, the
   pod time could include a chunk of scene-setting/preparation 
   discussion *in advance of* the more structured design sessions

 * on a related theme, the pods did not rely on the "graveyard shift"
   at the backend of the summit when folks tend to hit their Friday
   afternoon "brain-full" state

Am I missing some compelling advantage of moving all these emergent
project-specific meetups to the Friday?

Cheers,
Eoghan