Re: [board-discuss] Enable TDF to contribute more code to LibreOffice with in-house developers to address our donors specific needs

Hi Kendy,

thanks for participating to the discussion.

On 08/02/2022 16:41, Jan Holesovsky wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Paolo Vecchi píše v Po 07. 02. 2022 v 19:16 +0100:
>
> > Enable TDF to contribute more code to LibreOffice with in-house
> > developers to address our donors specific needs
> My candidacy statement was much more focused on the community growth;
> so I'd like to propose a different vision:
>
>    TDF should be a pleasant place for contributors to feel welcome.
>    TDF should focus on growing the community, mentoring, and welcoming
>    newcomers.
>
> I don't think that paying in-house developers is in line with this
> vision;
I totally share your vision which is very much complementary to what I 
propose.

I've been a developer as well many years ago so I know how important is 
to have an open and relaxed environment where developers can exchange 
experiences and ideas.

Having in-house developers will make it easier to share the knowledge as 
developers can/should be also mentors enabling us to help more people.

>   if we talk about TDF employees or contractors, we need more
> mentors - because that is the only way how to scale:
>
>    "Give a person a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach a person
>    to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime".
>
> This is what TDF should be doing in my view - teaching how to fish, not
> fishing itself.
The best person that can teach you how to fish is an experienced fisherman.

While we have an excellent Team that is doing its best, TDF needs to 
grow more in-house experienced fishermen that can help in making 
LibreOffice better while teaching others to do the same.

Even Mr Meeks confirmed today during the Team call that there is so much 
work that could be done to keep 100s of developers busy for a lifetime 
so it's likely we will have to employ more than 2 developers to do some 
actual development and also to enable new contributors to participate in 
the efforts of keeping LibreOffice as the best Open Source office suite 
available.

I believe TDF will be very well positioned to offer a neutral 
environment where everyone is welcome even in situation where 
contributors may be competitors outside this safe environment where we 
can provide experienced "fishermen" that will teach how to improve 
LibreOffice to all interested parties without distinction.

I'm sure we can work very well together in combining our complementary 
visions for TDF.
> All the best,
> Kendy
Ciao

Paolo

--
Paolo Vecchi - Deputy Member of the Board of Directors
The Document Foundation, Kurfürstendamm 188, 10707 Berlin, DE
Gemeinnützige rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts
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