Regular communication is important in the summer of code. Regular communication can ensure a student doesn't get stuck too long, and that a mentor knows what's going on. The Zope Foundation (and your mentor coordinator) also wants regular updates. Here are some rules, and some suggestions.
Rules
- have a weekly meeting between student your mentor. Don't just rely on email contact, but either use chat (such as IRC) or voice communication (such as Skype). Set some time aside. We recommend a mixture of both - voice can sometimes be very efficient, so try it at least. It is the mentor's responsibility to set this up with the student, though of course the student can help out. You can of course cancel individual weeks if it really doesn't work out, but try to make this regular.
- weekly reports to the mentor coordinator (faassen at startifact.com). We expect each student and each mentor to send the mentor coordinator a report by email every week on Friday of the corresponding week at the latest. It doesn't have to be long; a few lines is enough, but more is always welcome. You could also report to a more general email list or to a blog, and then send the link to the message to the mentor coordinator. This allows the mentor coordinator to know when people are stuck and projects need help.
- each project needs to select a backup-mentor. The task of the backup-mentor is to keep informed about what is going on, and offer suggestions and help where necessary. This might be if the main mentor is busy or missing; the student should know how to reach the backup mentor. It is up to the main mentor to find (and accept) someone as a backup mentor. You can select the mentor of another SoC? project as backup mentor, or someone else.
- Update SummerOfCode2008AcceptedProjects with your project, including contact information for the student, the mentor, and the backup mentor. The mentor needs to do this.
Guidelines
- Reporting (by students and mentors) through blogs would be good. This way we can share our progress the world, and you might get feedback from a wider group of people. Set up a simple blog for the project, or use your own blog. Put the blog information in SummerOfCode2008AcceptedProjects
- Alternatively, you could report through the relevant Zope-related mailing list. You could also just point a link to your blog entry and ask for comments. This is often a good way to reach core developers who otherwise might miss your blog.
- students: if you have any problem with the project and you need some extra help beyond your mentor, or you don't hear from your mentor in time, please do mail the mentor coordinator (Martijn Faassen, faassen at startifact.com). He's here to help.
- mentors: if you have a problem with the student, please do mail the mentor coordinator (Martijn Faassen, faassen at startifact.com)