[Ksummit-discuss] [CORE TOPIC] Recruitment (Reviewers, Testers, Maintainers, Hobbyists)

[Laurent Pinchart]

On Wednesday 08 July 2015 09:04:58 Peter Hüwe wrote:
> Am Mittwoch, 8. Juli 2015, 04:03:04 schrieb Krzysztof Kozłowski:
> > Before doing some work there is always a cause, an answer to "why I am
> > doing this"? Employer may pay for my commits but would he pay for
> > reviewing time? That is his decision and it would be difficult to
> > change policies inside companies.
> > 
> > Other reason for doing open source work may be the fame. Being
> > recognizable, getting better job offers, doing tasks which are
> > sensible and meaningful for someone. Currently probably most of the
> > fame goes to authors and maintainers. For example in the form of `git
> > log --author/committer=` or LWN articles about statistics.
> > 
> > How to get more reviews from such people (when employer does not pay
> > for it)? Give them fame! :)
> 
> Exactly!
> 
> This is also what Rafael wrote in the other mail:
> > Most of the time there's a little to no recognition for doing that work
> > and, quite frankly, writing code is more rewarding than that for the
> > majority of people anyway.
> 
> So changing our fame-statistics from commits to reviews and tested by might
> change the situation a bit.
> -> The next LWN stats and coverage should probably focus on the reviewed-by
> / tested-by stats.
> People love to be on some "top 10" lists - and also they can show something
> like that to their bosses.
> 
> "I've been a kernel reviewer and tester" -- meh, who cares
> "I've been a top 100 kernel reviewer and tester over the last X releases" --
> give him a raise/the job (esp. if kernel is not the core competency of the
> company :)
> 
> 
> Another thing I noticed over the last few years (also in corporate), people
> get really motivated by memorabilia - "tokens of appreciation".
> E.g. I constantly wear my Google T-Shirt which I received for a contribution
> with such proud and so often that it is almost faded --- but still
> everytime I look at it I have a good feeling.
> 
> --> Maybe LF can organize something?
> "Here is a small token of appreciation (t-shirt, cup)  for spending
> countless hours on reviewing and testing stuff in the Linux kernel -- keep
> up the good work"
> 
> > The only way to address this problem I can see is to recognize reviewers
> > *much* more than we tend to do and not just "encourage" them, because
> > that's way insufficient.
> 
> Yes again!
> 
> What I definitely would also recommend is to organize some 'get togethers',
> like a miniconf/minisummit at the next conference near you -- and where you
> grab a beer _together_ with the reviewers / testers afterwards (and maybe
> the maintainer can pay).
> This also helps as forms of appreciation.

While real life meetings are invaluable, let's not forgot that they also have 
a major drawback: not everybody can attend them. In a very distributed 
development environment like the Linux kernel contributors come from many 
different horizons, and not all of them can afford to attend conferences (or 
sometimes just don't want to, for various reasons). If we focus too much on a 
groups of contributors who can meet in real life we'll alienate the rest of 
the "online" crowd, and risk losing contributors who will feel left out.

-- 
Regards,

Laurent Pinchart