Open Stack

On 15:50 Fri 09 Jan     , Thierry Carrez wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> The OpenStack Foundation staff is considering a number of changes to the
> Design Summit format for Vancouver, changes on which we'd very much like
> to hear your feedback.
> 
> The problems we are trying to solve are the following:
> - Accommodate the needs of more "OpenStack projects"
> - Reduce separation and perceived differences between the Ops Summit and
> the Design/Dev Summit
> - Create calm and less-crowded spaces for teams to gather and get more
> work done
> 
> While some sessions benefit from large exposure, loads of feedback and
> large rooms, some others are just workgroup-oriented work sessions that
> benefit from smaller rooms, less exposure and more whiteboards. Smaller
> rooms are also cheaper space-wise, so they allow us to scale more easily
> to a higher number of "OpenStack projects".
> 
> My proposal is the following. Each project team would have a track at
> the Design Summit. Ops feedback is in my opinion part of the design of
> OpenStack, so the Ops Summit would become a track within the
> forward-looking "Design Summit". Tracks may use two separate types of
> sessions:
> 
> * Fishbowl sessions
> Those sessions are for open discussions where a lot of participation and
> feedback is desirable. Those would happen in large rooms (100 to 300
> people, organized in fishbowl style with a projector). Those would have
> catchy titles and appear on the general Design Summit schedule. We would
> have space for 6 or 7 of those in parallel during the first 3 days of
> the Design Summit (we would not run them on Friday, to reproduce the
> successful Friday format we had in Paris).
> 
> * Working sessions
> Those sessions are for a smaller group of contributors to get specific
> work done or prioritized. Those would happen in smaller rooms (20 to 40
> people, organized in boardroom style with loads of whiteboards). Those
> would have a blanket title (like "infra team working session") and
> redirect to an etherpad for more precise and current content, which
> should limit out-of-team participation. Those would replace "project
> pods". We would have space for 10 to 12 of those in parallel for the
> first 3 days, and 18 to 20 of those in parallel on the Friday (by
> reusing fishbowl rooms).
> 
> Each project track would request some mix of sessions ("We'd like 4
> fishbowl sessions, 8 working sessions on Tue-Thu + half a day on
> Friday") and the TC would arbitrate how to allocate the limited
> resources. Agenda for the fishbowl sessions would need to be published
> in advance, but agenda for the working sessions could be decided
> dynamically from an etherpad agenda.
> 
> By making larger use of smaller spaces, we expect that setup to let us
> accommodate the needs of more projects. By merging the two separate Ops
> Summit and Design Summit events, it should make the Ops feedback an
> integral part of the Design process rather than a second-class citizen.
> By creating separate working session rooms, we hope to evolve the "pod"
> concept into something where it's easier for teams to get work done
> (less noise, more whiteboards, clearer agenda).
> 
> What do you think ? Could that work ? If not, do you have alternate
> suggestions ?

Sounds good to me. Glad we're keeping the Friday format too!

-- 
Mike Perez