PyCon DC 2003 Sprints

[Jeremy Hylton]

PyCon DC 2003 Sprints: Call for Participation
http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/moinmoin/SprintPlan

We are seeking coaches and participants for the sprint sessions
preceding PyCon DC.

A sprint is a two or three day focused development session, in which
developers pair in a room and focus on building a particular subsystem.
A sprint is organized with a coach leading the session. The coach sets
the agenda, tracks activities, and keeps the development moving. The
developers work in pairs using extreme programming's pair programming
approach.

The sprint approach works best when the first few hours are spent
getting oriented -- presenting a tutorial for the development material,
laying out the stories to tackle for the day, getting everyone a CVS
checkout to work with.

We need coaches to develop a sprint topic, lead the development effort,
and help with the logistics of matching participants with sessions.  In
a successful sprint, the coach usually spends a lot of time helping
others and little or no time doing development.  

What makes a good sprint topic?  It must be possible to make real
progress with just a day's effort.  It would be good to make small
enhancements to existing projects, finish off ongoing development on
some project, or work on a new library that you'd like to contribute to
the standard library.  It probably doesn't make sense to sprint on a
project that is brand new; you'd be better off sitting in a coffee shop
talking.  We're looking for topics that would hold the interest of 6-12
developers for a day or two.

If you would like to coach a sprint, please send mail to
jeremy@alum.mit.edu.  We would like to finalize the sprint topics next
week, so get in touch as soon as possible.

We already have two sprint sessions planned.  Chris Armstrong will be
coaching a Twisted sprint, and Jim Fulton will be coaching a Zope
sprint.

People who want to participate in the sprints, but not coach, should
make arrangements with a specific coach.  The coaches will help me 
allocate the space fairly among the different topics.  Space may be
limited, so we would prefer to have people make plans to attend a
specific sprint in advance.  If you want to come, but don't know what
session to attend at your name to the Wiki so that we can match you up
with a sprint.

The cost for attending the sprint sessions will be $25/day.  That amount
will cover the cost of the sprint rooms and electrical and network
infrastructure.  We don't expect to provide meals, but there is a
cafeteria in the building.

Jeremy Hylton
PyConDC sprint chair