Sprints/Howto

How to organize a KDE developer sprint

Small gatherings of developers have proven to be a very efficient tool to get important work done and strengthen the community. Thanks to the increasing number of supporting members KDE e.V. has the resources to support developer sprints financially and in organizational matters.

The sprints should be something like two to three days meetings of around ten to fifteen developers in an environment where they can focus on getting work done. The sprints should include core people, but also new people to get fresh developers into the community and help them to find their way around. At least one or two new people should be invited to every sprint.

KDE e.V. can cover travel and accommodation costs for those who have no other means to cover the costs. Participating in developer sprints should be no personal financial burden to any of the participants. If it simplifies logistics and helps developers to concentrate on their work KDE e.V. can also cover food costs in exceptional cases. For all expenses the motivation should be to provide a productive environment, not to give any special benefits.

The KDE e.V. board can help for example with finding locations or getting flights booked. It will also provide help and advice where needed and appropriate.

All sprints need to have a person who acts as responsible organizer and contact person. If possible this person should be supported by one or two co-organizers. The responsibility of the organizer is to coordinate the sprint, take care of invitee lists and agenda and interaction with the KDE e.V. board.

It is recommended to partner with other organizations or companies to conduct the sprints. Additional sponsorship is welcome. This can for example happen through providing rooms, sending people, taking over costs or similar means. Direct financial support should go through KDE e.V., though. This has proven to be more effective than each sprint dealing with sponsoring separately.

After the sprints a report has to be written and published on the dot. If appropriate it might be accompanied by a private report to the e.V. membership. It's also required to create a sprint landing page on the community wiki sprint overview page, which should give a brief summary of the sprint and link to the dot story, blog posts, press reports, and other relevant material.

If you want to help organize a KDE e.V. supported developer sprint please get in contact with the KDE e.V. board. We will then sort out what needs to be done, what information is required and how to make the meeting happen.

Checklist

Before the sprint

• Decide on a topic and the goal of the sprint
• Get a date (e.g. a weekend)
• Get a list of developers (around 10)
• Get a location (KDE e.V. can help, if needed)
• Estimate travel costs
• Send the data to the KDE e.V. board
• When it's approved, tell people to book their flights asap as prices usually increase over time
• Make sure people are informed that they need to sort out visa applications asap
• Put up information about how to get there n'stuff

During the sprint

• Hack
• Prepare reports

After the sprint

• Create landing page in community wiki. The landing page should contain the following information and be targeted at an external audience:
  • Date of the sprint
  • Short summary of the sprint
  • List of what has been achieved
  • Links to blog posts about the sprint
  • Links to press reports about the sprint
  • Links to other material created at the sprint or covering the sprint
  • Some picture
  • List of participants
• Write dot article
• Participants hand in paperwork for reimbursement of travel and accommodation costs to KDE e.V.

References

Alexandra Leisse: Organize a sprint and keep your sanity