Open Stack

Hi John. Thanks for the questions.


> 1. Do you actually have the time to spend to be PTL
>

I'm very much aware, and discussed with my management prior to standing,
that being PTL is a pretty much full time job. I realise I'm somewhat
limited by not being in a US time zone, however I'm pretty flexible with
working hours, and already spend a few evening a week working US hours. I'd
also like to use my time-zone shift as an advantage - I'm aware of how
difficult it is for non-US contributors to get really involved in cinder
due to our (generally very efficient) IRC-centric nature. I'd like to see
if we can make better use of the tools we have for getting attention on
bugs, features and reviews.


2. What are your plans to make the Cinder project as a core component
> better (no... really, what specifically and how does it make Cinder better)?
>

My main worry with Cinder is that we're drifting away from the core vision
of both Openstack and the original Cinder team - A really good cloud, with
really good block storage, no matter the technology behind it. We've so
many half-finished features, APIs that only work under limited
circumstances and general development debt that is seriously hurting us
going forward. The new features being proposed are getting more niche, more
'everything and the kitchen sink' and less 'top quality, rock solid
service'. I'd like to shift a focus on back-to-basics, and work on fixing
the road blocks to fixing these issues - we have plenty of competent
motivated people, but communication and bureaucratic issues issues both
within our team and between cinder and other projects (primarily but not
limited to nova and glance) have gotten in the way.

Things I'd like to see done this cycle:
- Python3 work - let's just push through it and get it done. Maybe focus on
it exclusively for a few days or a week some time this cycle. It's dragging
on, and since we aren't at the point where cinder actually runs under
python3, new problems slip in regularly.

- Replication, CGs, online backup etc rolled out to more drivers. Lets
limit the amount of new things drivers need to add this cycle until we've
caught up on the backlog.

- Nova <-> cinder API. Fixing this in a way that works for the nova team
appears to need micro-versions. This API has been a thorn in our side for
all sorts of new features and bugs many times, let's tame it.

- Making CI failures easier to understand. I really struggle to read most
CI failures, and so don't follow up on them as often as I should. I'm sure
I'm not alone. I'm convinced that a small amount of work with white space,
headings etc in devstack and tempest logs could give a really big boost.
I'd also like to see a state other than 'failed' for situations where there
was a problem with the CI system itself and so it didn't get as far as
trying to deploy devstack. As I mentioned, we've enough smart people to
make improvements that should allow us all to be more productive

- Reducing review noise. I suspect that some policing and emailing people
to improve etiquette on reviews (don't -1 for spelling and grammar, don't
post a review until it is ready to be reviewed, give people time to batch
comments rather than posting a new version for every nit, etc) will pay
off, but it needs time dedicated to it.

- Less out-of-band discussion on community decisions. I'm a big believer
that discussion on record and in public, either on IRC or email, has much
more value than private discussions and public statements. It also reduces
accusations of bias and unfairness.


> 3. ​Why do you want to be PTL for Cinder?
>

I wan to see cinder continue to succeed. My code contributions have, for
various reasons, reduced in quantity and value against my efforts on
mentoring, designs, reviews and communications. I'd like to free up the
people who are actually writing good code to do more of that, by taking on
more of the non-code burden and working to remove road blocks that are
stopping people from making progress - be those internally with-in the
team, between openstack teams or even helping people solve problems
(managerial, legal or educational) within their own companies. I've had a
fair bit of success at that in the past, and I believe that now is the time
when those skills are the most effective ones to move cinder forward. We've
a great technical team, so I want to enable them to do more, while keeping
on top of scope creep and non-standardisation enough to enable cinder to be
what I and many others would like it be.




I hope this helps people with their decision. Whomever wins, I have high
hopes for the future, there is nobody standing who hasn't been a pleasure
to work with in the past, and I don't expect that to change in the future.

-- 
Duncan Thomas
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