Ted, doesn't that then suggest that the Board should do such an active task as well, since they "thus can spot common problems easily"? But they don't, possibly due to it doesn't scale. Their man on the field, the VP, is trusted to have a grip on the situation. Why doesn't IPMC trust that the mentor(s) has a grip as its man on the field.
Isn't what you describe "another mentor" with a different engagement level... Cheers Niclas On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 11:17 AM, Ted Dunning <ted.dunn...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 5:03 PM, Marvin Humphrey <mar...@rectangular.com> > wrote: > > > > Statements like shepherds dilute mentor responsibility are false. A > > shepherd > > > provides a mechanism for the IPMC to review the Podling/Mentor > > relationship. > > > This is something the IPMC needs to do when voting to graduate a > > podling. We > > > should be ALL be doing shepherding work. > > > > I can see what Alan's getting at, though. Unless the podling is in > > trouble, > > the podling contributors ought to be writing the report. The people who > > are > > then best placed to give informed feedback on that report are the > podling's > > Mentors. But instead, the people who provide commentary on the state of > > the > > podling community tend to be the shepherds, whose understanding is > > necessarily > > more superficial. Doesn't that seem strange? > > > > Actually, I don't see it as strange. > > More than once while I was actively mentoring a project, a shepherd dropped > in and noticed something that neither the project nor I had been focussing > on. > > The mentor (me) was very actively involved in helping the community but the > shepherd distinctly added value. > > Shepherds see across many projects and thus can spot common problems > easily. Mentors focus on a few problems and thus can spot longer-term > problems. The difference works really well in my experience. At least I > know that I was able to mentor better with the help. > -- Niclas Hedhman, Software Developer http://www.qi4j.org - New Energy for Java
