Open Stack

I remember we used to have a lot of information about summit attendees made
entirely too transparent...

I did some analytics back then and notices some interesting culture
differences by geographic lines.  I analyzed people based on their first
name being identified as male, female, or unknown.


April 2013:

female attendees: 193
male attendees: 1493
unknown attendees: 718

Prior summit:

female attendees: 91
male attendees: 843
unknown attendees: 380

I also did a quick check against the old Authors file back then:

females : 29
males : 297
unknowncount : 201

that put us about 10% female contributorship.

There are more female developers in teams originating over seas from asia.
Not sure why that is.  But it does raise a point, the OpenStack community
is a global one.  And it's something of a hodge podge of cultures in that
regard.  So the establishment of a unified culture is only going to extend
so far.  That being said, development culture is evolving regardless of the
contributors background.

I love the gnome women's outreach program.  And I'd love to see that
furthered on a global level.  Getting young women involved and getting
their feedback as part of a structured introduction to open source
development could be beneficial to all.  We basically need to reach out to
as many women from the pool of young developers as possible if we intend to
create any sort of balance.

I'd love to see more women promoted to core reviewer positions.  I think
that's an area we could make an effort to promote a greater level of parity
in gender balance.  And I think that would be beneficial.  The problem is,
that we vote in core reviewers and providing an avenue for artificial
weighting there is somewhat perilous in terms of allowing further avenues
for gaming the system.  Not sure how we address that.

At NYC Resistor in Brooklyn ( my local hackspace ) we've been pretty
serious about trying to maintain some level of gender parity, and that's
been interesting, and difficult.  But we're also a group of like 50 people,
not the several thousand that openstack is.  We're also a closed
invitational group, openstack isn't.  What I can say is that what we've
learned is that cross disciplinary efforts can bring in new folks who
otherwise wouldn't have considered being involved, and that perspective can
be very beneficial.  Also the way in which technology is used or presented
engages different audiences.  When we decide to create working groups the
scope, the purpose, the goals... these have an intrinsic impact on who
those things reach out to and draw into them.

Better numbers on gender would be nice. If I can find some free time I'll
try to analyze stackalytics again for gender breakdowns.  It would be nice
to know if anything is actually working.

Best Regards,
    Matt Joyce







On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 12:47 PM, Scott, Debra (PMP, OSPO) <
debra.scott at hp.com> wrote:

>  I agree, Roland, that measurable and meaningful objectives are
> fundamental, however, I think there is an earlier starting point.
>
>
>
> The issue of diversity and inclusion rests on the foundation of
> organizational culture. In order to steer a change in culture you first
> have to know where it is and then where you want it to go.
>
>
>
> The OpenStack foundation in particular is a blend of many divergent
> cultures. Every member comes to the foundation with a unique framework of
> values and cultural orientation. Typically, individual value systems are
> what drive behaviors. As we interact with one another we develop a
> collective cultural norm that makes up the overall organizational culture.
> In such a large organization there will be pockets of subcultures where one
> or more sets of cultural features are dominant. Some of these will
> naturally be more inclusive of “different” than others.
>
>
>
> I believe it is important to assess the current culture as a first step.
> This could be done through a well-crafted professional survey of the
> membership. It would be prudent to engage with experts in the field of
> organizational culture to develop such a survey. There are several existing
> tools that could be employed but an expert would be versed enough to
> recommend the best suited for this type of organization.
>
>
>
> With that knowledge in hand it would be possible to create purposeful
> objectives, with meaningful measurements to steer the culture where the
> board wants it to go.
>
>
>
> Best,
> Debra
>
>
>
> *************************
>
> Debra Scott, PMP  866-814-73304
>
>
>
> First up the board should set some goals. Create a diversity or inclusion
> policy with specific measureable objectives. Then it is possible to have a
> meaningful discussion about what to do.
>
>
>
> One starting point would be to have the foundation  regularly or
> continuously report on itself (board and staff at a minimum. Reporting on
> the membership would be great but perhaps only partially achievable).  That
> at least would demonstrate transparency and make it fairly clear whether
> there is a problem with the diversity of the foundation. It may also
> provide a mechanism for tracking progress towards the goals, whatever they
> may be.
>
>
>
> Roland
>
>
>
> OpenStack Community,
>
>
>
> The Board has been discussing how to encourage diversity (all types from
> gender and region to commercial and technical) and also work to improve
> transparency of Board processes.
>
>
>
> If you have ideas for us to consider, please feel free to reply to this
> thread.
>
>
>
> If you think that we're doing OK (or not) on this, please let us know that
> too.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> Rob
>
> ____________________________
>
> Rob Hirschfeld, 512-773-7522
>
>
>
> I am in CENTRAL (-6) time
>
> http://robhirschfeld.com
>
> twitter: @zehicle, github: cloudedge & ravolt
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Foundation mailing list
> Foundation at lists.openstack.org
> http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foundation
>
>
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