Changes

"A related, and sometimes overlapping model of funding involves funding '''code sprints'''. Popular in the Python and Zope communities and with increasingly popularity elsewhere, sprints are intense sessions of development — usually around one week long. They are used as catalysts for development and have seen major leaps forward in the development of features and code within very small amount of time. Sprints are like conferences in most aspects except that the emphasis is more on the production of code and sustained hack-sessions than on presentations and discussions. They also usually involve less people than a conference and attendees are usually limited to the most actively involved volunteers on a project. The Plone Foundation and SLX Debian Labs in Norway has effectively used the funding of sprints to accomplish time-based development goals.

"A related, and sometimes overlapping model of funding involves funding '''code sprints'''. Popular in the Python and Zope communities and with increasingly popularity elsewhere, sprints are intense sessions of development — usually around one week long. They are used as catalysts for development and have seen major leaps forward in the development of features and code within very small amount of time. Sprints are like conferences in most aspects except that the emphasis is more on the production of code and sustained hack-sessions than on presentations and discussions. They also usually involve less people than a conference and attendees are usually limited to the most actively involved volunteers on a project. The Plone Foundation and SLX Debian Labs in Norway has effectively used the funding of sprints to accomplish time-based development goals.

"While conferences and sprints can be a clever way to spend money without sacrificing the voluntary nature of development projects, it is worth keeping one important caveat in mind. When a project selects people for funded attendance at the expense of others, it demonstrates favoritism that can be divisive. In the process of organizing these events, it is important to maintain a high degree of transparency and fairness. Organizers should use published and fair criteria to determine conference funded attendance and leave attendance open to all. Good criteria for fair selection includes "first come, first served," constructive activity on mailing lists, the number of important commits to a source code or documentation repository, or a good reputation among fellow developers (e.g., as determined by a fair and representative committee)."

"While conferences and sprints can be a clever way to spend money without sacrificing the voluntary nature of development projects, it is worth keeping one important caveat in mind. When a project selects people for funded attendance at the expense of others, it demonstrates favoritism that can be divisive. In the process of organizing these events, it is important to '''maintain a high degree of transparency and fairness'''. Organizers should use published and fair criteria to determine conference funded attendance and leave attendance open to all. Good criteria for fair selection includes "first come, first served," constructive activity on mailing lists, the number of important commits to a source code or documentation repository, or a good reputation among fellow developers (e.g., as determined by a fair and representative committee)."