use Perl

• cat herder may be available (Score:2)

  by jmm (276)

  As long as the recent proposal for TPF to fund Richard Dice for 6 months is approved, the cat herder post is already covered.  That would make this an auspicious time to provide funds for numerous small projects.  (Of course, I'm just assuming that Richard will want to have his time be volunteered in this fashion - you'd of course have to discuss it with him.)
  • Re: (Score:2)

    by domm (4030)

    For reference: http://news.perlfoundation.org/2009/05/continued_review_of_tpf_grant.html [perlfoundation.org]
    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nicholas (3034)

      As long as the recent proposal for TPF to fund Richard Dice for 6 months is approved, the cat herder post is already covered.

      For reference: http://news.perlfoundation.org/2009/05/continued_review_of_tpf_grant.html [perlfoundation.org]

      Actually, if I read that revised proposal correctly, the cat herder post is not covered, as the first 6 months are now tied directly to 1 2-month and 4 1-month deliverables. So, unfortunately, the positions of "project manager", "line manager", "mentor" and "recruiter" are still vacant.
      • Re:cat herder may be available (Score:1)

        by RichDice (5762) on 2009.05.22 12:17 (#68741)

        Nick is correct - my original proposal had room for this kind of work but the new version of the proposal that the TPF board wanted is much more tightly focussed. Though in theory I still have the latitude to help with some of these items, to the degree that I spend time on them I will jeopardize success on my grant deliverable items, as time given to that work will take away from from working on deliverables. As such, I don't plan on doing this kind of work again, at least over the next 6 months. (This is all assuming that the grant application is approved and other terms that are mutually acceptable are arrived at. This won't be known for a few days.)

        Regarding domm's original question - 25.000 euros is substantial funding and I think it is excellent that Vienna.pm has this level of resources that it wants to use to support the Perl community and its projects. But as I think you (and Nick) correctly identify, it isn't _enough_ to pay for a large-scale effort, e.g. commitment to fund a senior and a junior for a long-term basis (2+ years?), which is probably the minimum plan that has any kind of sustainability and critical mass.

        However, while it can't pay for this kind of effort directly, it can be a step in _finding_ funds for this level of support effort. Basically, I think Perl needs a business development (a.k.a. sales) person. Think of it this way: how many booking.com level donations could be found, if only someone was out there looking for them? How many Hague level donations? 25.000 euro doesn't pay for this person either, but it may pay for their plane tickets and hotel stays for a number of months. Four of each and you've got a sufficient level of funding to pay for the senior, junior, the bizdev person and their support costs for 2 years.

        Anyhow, I'm not suggesting that this money be put towards this. It would be ill-advised to go forward with this kind of effort before a solid analysis was performed and a plan was put in place. But it seemed like a good opportunity for me to introduce this way of thinking to a larger audience.

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