Half-year review of Stskeeps's work as distmaster

[Stskeeps]

So, today is almost half a year since I started as distmaster in maemo.org.

In this regard, I'd like to ask the community for a review of my work over the last half year (starting November).

Since seems to be a lot of sentiment against my work in Mer which seems to pop up in any initiative I'm doing, let's get it all on the table.

Please post about things I have done well and/or things I did not do well. In addition to that, state what you would like to see me actually do in the next six months (if I survive this review, that is and I don't decide to give up on technology and become a full-time monk..)

I'll be replying to your posts and either 1) admit I did a mistake and state why if I can or 2) defend myself with facts if I disagree with your view.

All yours for a beating or thanks in one thread

[Texrat]

Great work, keep it up, no complaints!

[danramos]

For those of us who aren't familiar with your involvement and maybe aren't here every day, can you elaborate on your position of 'distmaster' and enumerate on your accomplishments?

[silvermountain]

Some subjective thought:

1) Project Management
Seeing how Mer went to Mer2 went to Mer2-for-N900 to MeeGo and how every initiative was touted as the way to go I cant help but to feel that there was a significant lack of proper project management and focus.
It is one thing to look at alternatives and options and it is another how to manage focus and how/when efforts are communicated to the public.
I feel that the ball was really dropped here and it has indeed impacted me in such a way that I have lost faith and interest in seeing more posts on this (Diablo alternative OS) topic from the op.

2) Bridging community efforts with Nokia assistance/resources
One of the 'benefits' that I assumed would come from Nokia sponsoring your position was, I thought, an improved channel to Nokia for resource/assistance on the distro work you embarked on.
It might very well be that Nokia have met any such request but the perception (read: My perception) is that not enough contacts/requests were made especially in terms of when working out what direction the OS development should go in. The whole 'missing driver issue' is another example of something that went on way too long and should had triggered a decision sooner.

3) Effort
I don't doubt for a second that a LOT of effort was poured into this so kudos on that.

4) Results
I read in another thread that the past months had taught you a lot personally and professionally and while that is great it doesn't take away from the fact that nothing has come out of the efforts and the perception (read: mine) is that a lot of efforts were wasted/thrown away due to the lack in focus and committment.

As mentioned a number of times above I am simply stating how I perceive things from being a simple end-user following the forum.
I am convinced that there might be results and accomplishments that I simply don't see/know of.

The above is not meant to be harsh or negative but rather an honest summary.

Using your own list of responsibilities, I'd grade my perceived value on each of them as follows (1-5 where '1' is poor and '5' is great)

* Developing collaboration spaces for developers of Maemo variants
Grade: 3
I think you did get some people involved and enthusiastic. I am not quite sure on names or numbers of them but there were posts where people chimed in.

* Mentoring and engaging developers in order to move the Maemo platform and variants ahead
Grade: 2
I am convinced a lot went on behind the scenes but I can't judge things I don't know of - and, I feel as if the 'enthusiasm' has lessened each time the project has restarted. I fear that this will in the end discourage future participation by people.

* Communicating with stakeholders (Nokia, distributions implementing the Maemo platform, users and developers)
Grade: 2
Goes back to the project management topic above. I don't feel/see that this was managed well at all.

Secondary role is serving as a paid system developer for the maemo.org community:

* Developing fixes and features for the Maemo OS & variants either on his/her own based on the input of maemo.org community council
Grade: 1
I haven't see any deliverable in six months. I may be wrong on this one though so please correct me in that case.

* or through activating, mentoring for and collaborating with community developer(s) in order to get it completed in collaboration with upstream developers.
Same as above (Grade: 1).

If I get my math right that gives a GPA of 1.8 out of 5.

[mornage]

Sorry, but I dont know what you do! or even what a distmaster is! Please eleborate for us newer peeps!

[silvermountain]

Originally Posted by mornage

Sorry, but I dont know what you do! or even what a distmaster is! Please eleborate for us newer peeps!

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=359877

[geneven]

To me, you are one of the heroes of this site.

Still, Mer seems to have turned into the elusive pot at the end of the rainbow that always beckons but never arrives.

[GeneralAntilles]

Originally Posted by silvermountain

Some subjective thought:

Subjective, indeed.

As you freely (and frequently) admit all of this is based only on your perceptions as a user of these forums, perhaps it'd be best to start out questing for information and painting is a picture of your own perceptions, rather than immediately jumping into an analysis based on incomplete information.

If you never get out into the wide world of Maemo, it seems awfully presumptuous of you to set out to grade someone performance based on such a thin slice of the community. Especially for the distmaster, whose work rarely directly affects self-described "end-users" (primarily because it is both platform-focused and long-term).

Seek first to understand, before you seek to judge. In judging first, you've missed an excellent opportunity to help educate yourself and others, and missed out on cutting directly to areas where improvement can happen while we first cut through your misconceptions.

[GeneralAntilles]

To that end, Carsten, I'd love it if you could point specifically to areas you've worked in (hopefully with useful citations where possible/relevant), to help anyone wishing to provide feedback focus their own opinions. Especially since so much of your activity takes place out of the Talk sphere of the community.

[Termana]

As i keep in close contact online with Stskeeps on a regular basis, I feel I could not provide a complete review that was unbiased enough.

However, just saying this wouldn't be useful to the thread.

I do understand how some people feel about the subject of things not being brought to completion in some circumstances, however I feel Stskeeps has a good understanding of how and where things are going and that he is able to facilitate community action based on that understanding. For me, Stskeeps has shown that he can be counted on if you need help with pushing something out for community purposes.

Some people seem to be getting too hooked on what they believe to be non-deliverables rather than looking at the bigger picture of Stskeep's role as distmaster, the contributions that happen behind the scenes and the contributions that indirectly effect everyone.

Maybe a bit of understanding from both sides of the table needs to happen? You know - like a community does.