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Ubuntu at the Crossroads of System Logs and Community Feedback

Jono Bacon, Ubuntu's community manager, has been hard at work nailing gelatin to the wall. Okay, not literally, but he's putting a lot of thought into how he can best determine the vitality, growth, needs and wants of the Ubuntu community and how they best mesh with, and give back to, the wider Linux and open source communities.

He stands by his earlier theory that bug reports and feature requests are good, hard evidence of the health, interest, and involvement of the community at large. Recently, he re-emphasized that while the analytic approach is helpful, the data collected is nothing if not viewed as part of the big picture -- or in his words, seeing "the interconnecting lines between different parts of community."

Bacon says that this is where the "softer science" -- feedback -- comes in to play. The most recent focus has been improving upstream bug reporting. After examining some of the issues the Ubuntu faces in reporting bugs to upstream projects, two surveys were produced -- one for the Ubuntu community at large, and based on that input, another for the upstream project. The effort is perhaps more akin to herding cats than nailing gelatin, but Bacon believes the feedback from both sides will foster clear, effective communication.

From the sidelines, the concept seems really quite obvious. I am unsure whether it is because it's a just a logical plan of action, or because Bacon details his thoughts on his approach and methods so well. In the end, it doesn't matter how neatly the game plan was written, it comes down to how skillfully the connections were managed, and how well those involved (every last individual) saw the big picture.

To orchestrate the interaction between the community and the upstream projects (even when based on the facts and figures of features requests and bug reports filed) is no small feat, and it's a job that will never be finished. The "feedback to support figures" model is just starting to take shape, and improvements have been observed in the form of better upstream reports and patches that are easier to work with.

It may be that Bacon's theory will require tweaks and patches of its own here and there, but he is sure of one thing:

It is tempting to try and produce technical solutions to social problems, but many of the problems and issues we can face within a specific community or the wider Free Software world are cultural, social and habitual divergences in practise...Bureaucracy is the ultimate enemy, but decisions without enough feedback from those who your solutions will affect, are just as potent an enemy.

Exactly. The end result of software essentially produces a tool -- it is the development and continual improvement of software, projects, ideas and relationships that are lasting and more significant than the offerings of any single release.

• ubuntu
• jono bacon
• community development

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