Modernize process for proposing Fedora events

[jwflory]

Summary

Modernize the process for proposing events funded in part by the Fedora Project public budget.

Background

Fedora has a public budget that is given to the project each year by Red Hat. It is the responsibility of the Fedora Community Architect (me) to manage this budget, seek input from the community on how it is spent, and responsibly manage our financial resources. Events are one of the largest expenses in our budget each year. Yet it is opaque and unclear to the Fedora community about how to get financial assistance for local or global events. There is a historical challenge that there are contributors with several years of context with different processes for how Red Hat has asked them to comply with our processes. But the process has changed, and our old-school folks are left unsure of how the process should work. Our newcomer contributors are also confused, because there is documentation that explains processes that are seldom followed or maintained.

The scope of this issue is a large project to determine the successes and failures of the Fedora events process and empower community members to request funding for events, especially events that are small and regional in focus. There is a large amount of research and community interviews that should be done to make sure the efforts in modernizing the process are well-received by the Fedora community.

Details

• Research phase: Define the problem statement clearly. Identify strengths and shortcomings of the process today. Talk to community members who received funding recently to get their feedback.
• Review phase: Process the data collected in the research phase. Identify key areas of improvement for a modernized process. Triage communication points that are essential for rolling out a modernized process.
• Implementation phase: Update documentation. Update git repository issue templates. Update wiki pages. Redirect old content to new content. As much as possible, eliminate duplicate sources of information about Fedora events and promote a singular source of truth.
• Outreach phase: Promote the modernized process. Write about it. Talk about it. Promote it.

References for the existing process

• Official documentation:
  • 2024 events
  • Ambassador Role Handbook
• Event wiki pages:
  • GNOME Asia 2023
  • SELF 2018
• Mindshare budget request: Fedora @ FOSDEM 2024

Feedback from Flock 2024 workshop: "How to Propose a Fedora Event"

• "It'd be great to have an onboarding wizard on our webpage that connects people with the different collaboration groups in Fedora. Sometimes the newcomers ask for it."
• "Create a docs page to document the process on how to organize an event, how to be an event owner, etc."
• "Create a GitLab template similar to the one created on how to ask for budget"
• "Active mindshare - so we have a point of contact for each outreach team like design, marketing, etc"
• "Budget transparency - it makes it easier to know how much budget you can spend on your event for snacks, speakers, travel etc."
• Around the table:
  • Wants a clear strategy for local people get-together
  • Junior: Computer science . Why is Fedora better than the Ubuntu community?
  • Best practices to present to other newcomers
  • Is there a framework for a talk on Fedora?
  • Needs more structure... Like a playbook
• Topics:
  • What questions do you anticipate?
  • Script was included in Fedora event book....could be used as the seed for generating playbook
  • Furnish a place where people can go to find out infomration?
• Highlights:
  • Incubator - mentor training program
  • Automatic way to get onboarding for people
  • Content creators
  • Infographic for what this process is...

Outcome

• Address the long-standing headaches of Fedora contributors on proposing events and getting support from the Fedora Project in executing the events.
• Bring more transparency and openness into how we prioritize and fund events.
• Usher in the next generation of Fedora Ambassadors?!