time flies when you're (busy) having fun
If you could excuse me for an off-by-one (day) error, exactly 6 months ago I cried «OH MY!» in reaction to DPL election results. Time flies when you're (busy) having fun.
6 months it's a long time, lots of stuff can happen in such a time frame. But 6 months is also a relatively short time frame to get up to speed in a new job. 6 months, finally, also corresponds to the midterm of any given DPL term. While I've been doing a sort of personal "self assessment" of my DPL activities (and sooner or later I will take the time to put that down into public writing), this seems to be the perfect moment to ask others for feedback. 6 more months of the current term are ahead of us, and there is still time to change or adapt what I've been doing and how I've been doing it.
So, in case you care about what a DPL can do to make your staying in Debian more fun and useful for the Project, then this is your turn to let me know. Feel free to mention not only what you think I've been doing right, but also—and in fact more importantly—what you think I've been doing wrong. (Tip of the day: as usual in volunteer communities, lingering on the side of constructive criticism will maximize the chances of having your suggestions implemented.)
I would very much appreciate if you could take a moment to think about it and get back to me, via the medium you prefer: leave a comment here, mail me, or whatever else you please. Remember that a good deal of DPL day to day activities is about representing the Debian Project and it's entirely up to you, project members, to say how that should best be done. So … many thanks in advance for your invaluable feedback, I'm looking forward to it!
Well, at least you are IMHO the most visible DPL so far, which is already worth a lot.
Thank you very much for intermediatory actings like e.g. this one: http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/10/msg00164.html. This is very important and highly appreciated and furthermore very representative for Debian!
Even if I know about your work in Debian only partially, I've been impressed by your ability of looking at the Debian project as part of the free and open source universe. The talk you gave at DUCCIT 2010 encouraged a better connection among Debian and its derivatives - in this direction, I think it can also be helpful to establish a connection among the distributions, at least as formal agreement on what is the main specialisation of each distribution. What happens (correct me if I'm wrong) is that a newcomer gets the distribution used by his/her guru friend/sysadmin - it's not especially wrong, but it could be officially agreed by the different development teams that distribution X is better for servers, Y for desktop, etc., and not only by the single teams themselves. It will help considering the set of Linux distributions as part of a whole, and not a fragmented world of non-communicating projects - this is a bit outside the competences of DPL, but I believe you have the skills to be this kind of trait d'union.
All the best!
Zac, you are doing a great job as DPL.
I especially like your diplomacy, education and impartiality that you're able to apply to difficult issues.
For my taste, sometimes you maybe too light, and I'm sure many times in your place I could be into a less educated talking, in defense of certain changes within the project, or pointing to external events at certain projects, companies, etc (i.e. Canonical). But maybe I'm not going to any Ubuntu event, and I don't need a good relation with nobody working in that land of closing/monetyzing knowledge, technology and support.
I don't say you should do it. Maybe your approach is the best for everybody
Any way, as said at the begining of my comment, looking in general as DPL... great job !!!
Zack, I love your visibility, your constant activity and how things are going.
Keep on communicating, trying to talk to the different Debian people, try to keep on mediating to solve problems. You're doing great in the delegation front... it's really crystal clear these days! Really, there's so much less frustration in many key areas, thanks to you and Sledge... rock on!
Really a good work, I like having a DPL which interacts with people, tries to solve conflicts and to get the best from every developer. I've really enjoyed your monthly "bits from the DPL": they give a general picture of the human and social side of Debian, which is important to keep people motivated and feel as being part of a community made of human beings.
Thanks!