This was a riveting soapbox missive - and I agree with what you said - particularly about the focus on breaking down the barriers to building out and supporting the OpenStack contributor base.
But I don't have a good sense for how you want to apply that focus in action on the TC? I went back and looked at a number of mailing list threads you participated in - and happily recalled your very matter of fact presentation. Frankly it was quite refreshing to see how often you seemed to offer historical context more that your personal opinion (!!!) Is there any *specific* goals you have for a one year term on the TC - or do you think more focus on contributors is the most important thing to fix first? Would you perhaps consider to share your thoughts in response to Gordon's question [1]? -Clay 1. http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-dev/2016-October/104953.html On Thu, Sep 29, 2016 at 4:47 PM, Jeremy Stanley <fu...@yuggoth.org> wrote: > I guess I'll send a copy of mine to the ML too, since all the cool > kids seem to be doing it... > > Most of you probably know me as "that short dude in the Hawaiian > shirt and long hair." I'll answer to "Jeremy," "fungi" or even just > "hey you." I'm starting my third cycle as PTL of the Infrastructure > team, and have been a core reviewer and root sysadmin for > OpenStack's community-maintained project infrastructure for the past > four years. I've also been doing vulnerability management in > OpenStack for almost as long, chaired conference tracks, and given > talks to other communities on a variety of OpenStack-related topics. > I help with elections, attend and participate in TC meetings and > review proposed changes to governance. I have consistent, strong > views in favor of free software and open/transparent community > process. > > https://wiki.openstack.org/user:fungi > > I see OpenStack not as software, but as a community of people who > come together to build something for the common good. We've been > fortunate enough to experience a bubble of corporate interest which > has provided amazing initial momentum in the form of able software > developers and generous funding, but that can't last forever. As > time goes on, we will need to rely increasingly on effort from > people who contribute to OpenStack because it interests them, rather > than because some company is paying them to do so. The way I see it, > we should be preparing now for the future of our project: > independent, volunteer contributors drawn from the global free > software community. However, we're not succeeding in attracting them > the way some other projects do, which brings me to a major > concern... > > OpenStack has a public relations problem we need to solve, and soon. > I know I'm not the only one who struggles to convince contributors > in other communities that we're really like them, writing free > software under transparent processes open to any who wish to help. > This skepticism comes from many sources, some overt (like our > massive trade conferences and marketing budget) while others > seemingly inconsequential (such as our constant influx of new > community members who are unfamiliar with free software concepts and > lack traditional netiquette). Overcoming this not-really-free > perception is something we absolutely must do to be able to attract > the unaffiliated volunteers who will continue to maintain OpenStack > through the eventual loss of our current benefactors and well into > stabilization. > > Prior to OpenStack, I worked for longer than I care to remember as > an "operator" at Internet service, hosting and telecommunications > providers doing Unix systems administration, network engineering, > virtualization and information security. When I first started my > career, you couldn't be a capable systems administrator without a > firm grasp of programming fundamentals and couldn't be a good > programmer without understanding the basics of systems > administration. I'm relieved that, after many years of companies > trying to tell us otherwise, our industry as a whole is finally > coming back around to the same realization. Similarly, I don't > believe we as a community benefit by socializing a separation of > "operators" from "developers" and feel the role distinction many > attempt to strike between the two is at best vague, while at its > worst completely alienating a potential source of current and future > contributions. > > What causes software to succeed in the long run is not hype, > limitless funding or even technical superiority, it's the size and > connectedness of its community of volunteers and users who invest > themselves and their personal time. The work we're doing now is > great, don't get me wrong, but for it to survive into the next > decade and beyond we need to focus more on building a close-knit > community of interested contributors even if it's not in the best > interests of industry pundits or vendor product roadmaps. > > OpenStack is people. If we lose sight of that, it's over. > -- > Jeremy Stanley > > __________________________________________________________________________ > OpenStack Development Mailing List (not for usage questions) > Unsubscribe: openstack-dev-requ...@lists.openstack.org?subject:unsubscribe > http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev > >
__________________________________________________________________________ OpenStack Development Mailing List (not for usage questions) Unsubscribe: openstack-dev-requ...@lists.openstack.org?subject:unsubscribe http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev
