Reflecting on how we volunteer to do stuff

[Christofer Dutz <ch...@c-ware.de>]

Hi folks,

I'd like to discuss something ... something I have been noticining in the last year or so.

We're a cool bunch of people, doing awesome stuff. However momentum in the project has sort of slowed down quite a bit. I know we have some great new initiatives going on, but let's say it's become a bit quiet around the folks which have been involved for a longer time period.

I would like to get more people involved and active in the project. Therefore I would like to strart posting low-hanging fruit here on the list.

In the past when I did so, the community was quite fast in raising hands and volunteering to do things. However volunteering is one thing, actually doing seems to be something else. In my impression we could improve on the delivering side. I know we are a volunteer driven community and you are therefore contributing voluntarily in your free time or in the time your company is paying you. But ... keep in mind:


  *   If you volunteer to do something, probably others will not raise a hand to also contribute. If you now don't deliver what you signed up for, the others won't either.
  *   If you volunteer to do something, I will think that this base is covered and not jump in (I don't want to interfere in every initiative, but I am happy and willing to help if help is needed)

So could you please do me a favour?

If I start posting some low-hanging fruit in the near future, please consider if you will also have the time to actually do so, before signing up?

Chris

AW: Reflecting on how we volunteer to do stuff

[Christofer Dutz <ch...@c-ware.de>]

I'm not complaining about internal people picking low-hanging fruit.

It's about stepping up and announcing to be willing to do something and then not doing it and not announcing that unfortunately you currently can't do so.

Justin once refered to it as "Cookie Licking" (Well actually he wanted to say that, but wrote something else ;-) )
By announcing you're sort of taking that cookie out of the jar and licking it and putting it back in the jar. By that, you made sure nobody will touch that cookie.

So I would just like to ask you folks to only lick the cookie if you are actually going to eat it in some timely maner ;-) 

Chris


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Łukasz Dywicki <lu...@code-house.org> 
Gesendet: Freitag, 8. Januar 2021 00:23
An: dev@plc4x.apache.org
Betreff: Re: Reflecting on how we volunteer to do stuff

Its low part of the season. People got locked down in their homes (Poland just entered new year with another lockdown, Germany is same AFAIK), so I am not yet worried by "slowdown" you observe.

I am prime example of someone who has more will that abilities to contribute. You know I stayed around since long time and eventually made few contributions. I think there might be few more like me. I agree with you that making an open community (I think we are) and opportunity to contribute is necessary to give dopamine shots we all need.

Now - in terms of low hanging fruits. I saw very few successful initiatives such this. Main reason why they fail is .. well, people are not often not even aware of them. Making them listed somewhere in JIRA does not help (how often do you look in github 'need helps' issues?).
Its mainly about making entry point easier for people who use project.
I know how much effort it was for you to help with Ethernet/IP. You personally helped me with almost every mspec related contribution I made so far. I believe that our main "show stopper" is the mspec. Even existing project staff don't know how to start with it or have troubles with it. If we could publish beginner guide to mspec that could turn into more people trying to write their protocols.

Also we use heavily Maven. While it simplifies life for us (java folks) it makes problems for everyone else. I recall Bjorn complaining about it for C(#/++?) stuff. Not all people know how to use it, especially if they are not from old Java landscape.
Our docs are dug under maven folders making it hard to contribute docs.
Maybe pulling it up could help.

This are just my free thoughts on how to make it easier.

Cheers,
Łukasz

On 07.01.2021 10:28, Christofer Dutz wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> I'd like to discuss something ... something I have been noticining in the last year or so.
> 
> We're a cool bunch of people, doing awesome stuff. However momentum in the project has sort of slowed down quite a bit. I know we have some great new initiatives going on, but let's say it's become a bit quiet around the folks which have been involved for a longer time period.
> 
> I would like to get more people involved and active in the project. Therefore I would like to strart posting low-hanging fruit here on the list.
> 
> In the past when I did so, the community was quite fast in raising hands and volunteering to do things. However volunteering is one thing, actually doing seems to be something else. In my impression we could improve on the delivering side. I know we are a volunteer driven community and you are therefore contributing voluntarily in your free time or in the time your company is paying you. But ... keep in mind:
> 
> 
>   *   If you volunteer to do something, probably others will not raise a hand to also contribute. If you now don't deliver what you signed up for, the others won't either.
>   *   If you volunteer to do something, I will think that this base is covered and not jump in (I don't want to interfere in every initiative, but I am happy and willing to help if help is needed)
> 
> So could you please do me a favour?
> 
> If I start posting some low-hanging fruit in the near future, please consider if you will also have the time to actually do so, before signing up?
> 
> Chris
> 

Re: Reflecting on how we volunteer to do stuff

[Łukasz Dywicki <lu...@code-house.org>]

Its low part of the season. People got locked down in their homes
(Poland just entered new year with another lockdown, Germany is same
AFAIK), so I am not yet worried by "slowdown" you observe.

I am prime example of someone who has more will that abilities to
contribute. You know I stayed around since long time and eventually made
few contributions. I think there might be few more like me. I agree with
you that making an open community (I think we are) and opportunity to
contribute is necessary to give dopamine shots we all need.

Now - in terms of low hanging fruits. I saw very few successful
initiatives such this. Main reason why they fail is .. well, people are
not often not even aware of them. Making them listed somewhere in JIRA
does not help (how often do you look in github 'need helps' issues?).
Its mainly about making entry point easier for people who use project.
I know how much effort it was for you to help with Ethernet/IP. You
personally helped me with almost every mspec related contribution I made
so far. I believe that our main "show stopper" is the mspec. Even
existing project staff don't know how to start with it or have troubles
with it. If we could publish beginner guide to mspec that could turn
into more people trying to write their protocols.

Also we use heavily Maven. While it simplifies life for us (java folks)
it makes problems for everyone else. I recall Bjorn complaining about it
for C(#/++?) stuff. Not all people know how to use it, especially if
they are not from old Java landscape.
Our docs are dug under maven folders making it hard to contribute docs.
Maybe pulling it up could help.

This are just my free thoughts on how to make it easier.

Cheers,
Łukasz

On 07.01.2021 10:28, Christofer Dutz wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> I'd like to discuss something ... something I have been noticining in the last year or so.
> 
> We're a cool bunch of people, doing awesome stuff. However momentum in the project has sort of slowed down quite a bit. I know we have some great new initiatives going on, but let's say it's become a bit quiet around the folks which have been involved for a longer time period.
> 
> I would like to get more people involved and active in the project. Therefore I would like to strart posting low-hanging fruit here on the list.
> 
> In the past when I did so, the community was quite fast in raising hands and volunteering to do things. However volunteering is one thing, actually doing seems to be something else. In my impression we could improve on the delivering side. I know we are a volunteer driven community and you are therefore contributing voluntarily in your free time or in the time your company is paying you. But ... keep in mind:
> 
> 
>   *   If you volunteer to do something, probably others will not raise a hand to also contribute. If you now don't deliver what you signed up for, the others won't either.
>   *   If you volunteer to do something, I will think that this base is covered and not jump in (I don't want to interfere in every initiative, but I am happy and willing to help if help is needed)
> 
> So could you please do me a favour?
> 
> If I start posting some low-hanging fruit in the near future, please consider if you will also have the time to actually do so, before signing up?
> 
> Chris
>