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= What is your plan for dealing with disappearing contributors? = | = What is your plan for dealing with disappearing contributors? = | ||
− | If a student's interest or availability to participate in the summer project seems to be diverging or otherwise waning, efforts will be made to motivate the student through discussions and hands-on interactive development intended to stimulate their progress. Being a 3D graphics-oriented game, we have the benefit of most tasks actually resulting in something "fun" that rather easily captures and maintains interest. However, should the student's focus still remain diminished or should the student unexpectedly disappear, the administrator will relay this status | + | If a student's interest or availability to participate in the summer project seems to be diverging or otherwise waning, efforts will be made to motivate the student through discussions and hands-on interactive development intended to stimulate their progress. Being a 3D graphics-oriented game, we have the benefit of most tasks actually resulting in something "fun" that rather easily captures and maintains interest. However, should the student's focus still remain diminished or should the student unexpectedly disappear without notice, the administrator will relay this status with Google after repeated attempts to contact the student fail. |
− | + | Also, as a learned measure from last year, the students are going to be required to make very frequent commits. If they're not committing, then they are not working. At least they won't be working effectively. Having them commit frequently gives us a very good estimate of their activity level as well as where they are in the development process. We strongly adhere to "commit early, commit often". | |
− | If the student is not around or is not working as much as | + | If the student is not around or is not working as much as they need to be, we will have discussions with them, see what's going on, and do so proactively. We learned from one of our students last year when they were in serious danger of failing that a simple change in their accountability can have a massive impact on their motivation. We will strive to recognize our students' personalities quickly, so that we can impose as much or as little process overhead as it required for them to be effective developers. Additional process requirements (such as daily or weekly reports and commit quotas) may then be imposed for students that consistently fall behind schedule. |
− | Similarly, by interacting with the students on a daily basis and preferably by having them be joined to our IRC channel while they are working on BZFlag, it allows mentors to keep a careful eye on all student progress and readily discuss issues with them. As is done for any developer, having them be readily available for interactive discussion on IRC frequently helps avoid misunderstandings, disagreements, and frustrations and at worst makes any issues apparent as soon as possible. The IRC channel is the hub of our primary development activity providing source commit announcements, developer access, user insight, interactive discussions, and | + | Similarly, by interacting with the students on a daily basis and preferably by having them be joined to our IRC channel while they are working on BZFlag, it allows mentors to keep a careful eye on all student progress and readily discuss issues with them. As is done for any developer, having them be readily available for interactive discussion on IRC frequently helps avoid misunderstandings, disagreements, and frustrations and at worst makes any issues apparent as soon as possible. The IRC channel is the hub of our primary development activity providing source commit announcements, developer access, user insight, interactive discussions, and near immediate response to questions and comments. |
− | Other than that, the formula for dealing with disappearing students really just boils down to communication. It | + | Other than that, the formula for dealing with disappearing students really just boils down to communication. It's a very organic process and we don't believe that there is one answer for all students. The measures described above help us focus on having the most effective communication that works with our development team but will necessarily be tailored to each student individually. Issues that we cannot resolve will be brought forward to Google for guidance, as was done last year. |
− | + | ||
− | The measures described above help us focus on having the most effective communication that works with our development team but will necessarily be tailored to each student individually. Issues that we cannot resolve will be brought forward to Google for guidance. | + | |
= What is your plan for dealing with disappearing members? = | = What is your plan for dealing with disappearing members? = |