Handbook for successful online Open source sprints

We have organized many mentored sprints, but being in lockdown meant we had to run our first online mentored sprints. Moving such events from in-person to an online setting was a challenging yet quite enlightening experience. To start with, there are many things that work in traditional sprints but does not work in an online format. Learnt from our experience, so that you do not have to start from scratch. In this talk, we are going to tell you what challenges you will face organizing an online event, and how to overcome them, from making the right technical choices to supporting sprinters and open-source mentors.

Transcript

1. Handbook for
   successful
   online Open
   source sprints
   DevRelCon Earth - 2020/07/09
   Cheuk Ting Ho @cheukting_ho
   Tania Allard @ixek
   

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2. Tania Allard
   Sr. Developer Advocate @Microsoft
   PSF Fellow
   Pyladies Organiser
   JOSS editor
   UK RSE / UKPA trustee
   

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3. Cheuk Ting Ho
   Developer Relations Lead
   @TerminusDB
   EuroPython Organiser
   Ex-Data Scientist
   Streamer on Twitch
   

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4. We love sprints
   ● We bring the community
   together
   ● We encourage contributions
   ● We empower users
   ● We welcome diversity in
   leadership
   ● We celebrate inclusivity
   ● Inclusion + inclusiveness
   @cheukting_ho @ixek
   

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5. Come 2020
   

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6. Move everything online!
   Easy right? Everyone is connected
   

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7. Including...
   ● Time zones
   ● Interpersonal interactions
   ● Support participants
   ● Support mentors
   ● Keep people engaged
   ● Enforce code of conduct
   ● Tools / tech / WiFi
   @cheukting_ho @ixek
   

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8. Roll with it
   Well kinda...
   

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9. Dealing with timezones
   Challenges
   ● Global participation
   ● Increased access (folks who would
   otherwise not attend the
   conference/event)
   ● Mentors & organisers distributed across:
   Australia, Europe, America
   Solutions
   ● 24 hour long event to cover timezones
   ● Not 1 but 3 events across 3 major time
   zones
   ● Ongoing rotation for mentors, organisers
   and CoC enforcement committee
   @cheukting_ho @ixek
   

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10. Online interpersonal interactions
    Challenges
    ● Distributed folks (lack of centralised
    physical space)
    ● Make it a safe space
    ● Connect folks to each other:
    ○ Mentor & mentees
    ○ Organisers & mentors & mentees
    Solutions
    ● Workshops & debrief: Zoom (chat disabled)
    ● Main sprint: Discord (platform for gamers)
    ● Mentors & mentees: voice & text channels
    @cheukting_ho @ixek
    

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11. Supporting participants
    Challenges
    ● Provide mentorship
    ● Easy to get help (not project specific)
    ● Support those that are not as familiar with
    git or OSS
    Solutions
    ● Beginners’ help desk
    ● Contributing to OSS and intro to GitHub
    workshop
    ● Git helpdesk
    @cheukting_ho @ixek
    

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12. Keeping folks engaged
    WITH NO
    SWAG!!!
    

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13. Keeping folks engaged
    Challenges
    ● No swag (well we did not manage to get
    any)
    ● Many distractions when at home
    Solutions
    ● Regular check-ins
    ● Openly celebrate wins! (create a bot +
    specific channel for this)
    ● Indicate when timezone rotation happens
    @cheukting_ho @ixek
    

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14. Providing a safe environment
    Challenges
    ● Having a Code of Conduct is not enough
    ● Need to moderate online interactions and
    enforce the Code of Conduct
    ● Too many chats? Too many tools? How to
    keep track and respond to incidents
    efficiently
    Solutions
    ● Bot + human moderated
    ● Centralised communication - Zoom chat
    disabled
    ● Build Code of Conduct reporting on the
    Discord server
    ● Have one trained CoC responsible at all
    times (yes 24hrs, so need to rotate)
    @cheukting_ho @ixek
    

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15. ● A series of coding sprints
    ● A community
    ● A global collaboration
    ● A community handbook
    https://mentored-sprints.dev
    

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16. How do I run a mentored sprint?
    CAN YOU RUN A MENTORED SPRINT AT X, Y, Z ?
    

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17. Mentored
    sprints
    community
    handbook
    

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18. https://mentored-sprints.dev
    

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19. Who is it for?
    Organisers
    How to run an online
    sprint from A to Z?
    Participants
    What to expect and
    how to prepare?
    Mentors
    How to prepare to
    mentor on the day?
    How to prepare to
    bring my project?
    @cheukting_ho @ixek
    

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20. One stop handbook
    ● Why reinvent the wheel every time?
    ● An open source resource for sprints organisers (big or small)
    ● Build a Mentored sprints community (online and in person - if
    ever again)
    @cheukting_ho @ixek
    

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21. Get involved
    ● Share your experiences
    ● Contribute to the handbook:
    ● Run your mentored sprint at your online conference, online
    community or else
    ● Share the resource with other organisers
    ● pycon-mentored-sprints/community-handbook
    @cheukting_ho @ixek
    https://mentored-sprints.dev
    

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22. Thanks & Get in
    touch
    https://mentored-sprints.dev
    https://github.com/pycon-mentored-sprints/community-handbook
    Cheuk Ting Ho @cheukting_ho
    Tania Allard @ixek
    

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23. Acknowledgements
    - Images from Unsplash
    

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