Intro to Sprints

Speaker 1: I think everybody's ready to take their seats. That would be very great right now. So welcome everybody to the last session of DjangoCon Europe or of the talk days. We'll continue to have great workshops tomorrow. And we'll start off with Daniele who's going to tell us what sprints actually are so that all of you who come to the sprints will know what is going to happen there. Thank you Um

Speaker 2: if you're very lucky or or very good, then this might be the last time you see me on stage today. So I 'll try I try not to get up here anymore. So we we've finished uh or we're just about to finish our three days of um uh talks and we're going to follow it up with Two days of code sprints and somebody was just talking to me outside and said why is DjangoCon Europe five days long? And my first thought was, well, because we probably couldn't get away with ten. But uh um more people tend to come to the talks then to the code sprints and partly it's because people aren't really sure what um code sprints are although for those who come regularly

Speaker 2: um and come to the code sprints They often turn out to be the most important and enjoyable part of the event. And if you think that something can be more enjoyable and important in the last three days, then you can believe it because uh Come to the sprints and you might find out it's really true. So what is a code sprint? Well, um has any who here has never been to a sprint uh code sprint in a conference before? A lot of you. Good. Okay. So they haven't come to the sprints yet, but it's I mean it's good that they're here. We'll save the appropriate. So most of us who collaborate on open source projects um collaborate at a distance.

Speaker 2: And a code sprint at a conference is a chance for us to get together and talk and work in person. on um the project. So if um if you've done any open source collaboration then already you're in a good position to uh take part in a code sprint. Um what happens at a code sprint? Uh a number of developers who who might be programmers, designers, documentation writers, so not necessarily um Only programmers will get together in a room, they'll be talking to each other, sitting at their computers, working on their own, or in pairs, or in groups, or discussing problems. And

Speaker 2: What typically happens is that if you decide that you're going to sprint on something, is that you will select a ticket or a problem, perhaps a bug or an improvement that a particular project needs. And you'll get to work on that. And as you work, you'll find that there are maybe more experienced um Members of the project around to help you with it, or possibly you might be one of those more experienced people who's there to help other people get started. Um so you it's a very good way of getting feedback on your work in a in a in a really nice environment. And the Um the word sprint is maybe a bit unfortunate because it doesn't matter if you

Speaker 2: just walk or take a few faltering steps, because those are also both absolutely fine. Um so you don't need to f feel that at a sprint you actually have to do anything very fast or keep up with anyone else. Um I'd like another show of hands for all the people here who already know they're going to be at the code sprints in order to work on a particular project, whether as a leader or Just to contribute to something. Just please put your hands up so everyone can see who's already got an idea of what they're going to be doing. Good. Thanks. Um some of those people are going to be uh sprinting on Django itself. So if you ever thought that you might like to do some work on Django

Speaker 2: This is an excellent opportunity because there are several Django core developers here, and they are here because they want to help you and other people do something in or with Django. Can I join in? Well yes, funny you asked. Everyone is welcome. It's not an elite club. It's not for experts only. All of the projects, every single one of them, that will be running sprints will welcome anyone who wants to help. And there are lots of different ways to help. You don't need, as I said, to be a programmer. You might be um

Speaker 2: translating things, you know, from English to another human language without actually touching any code. And that can also be a very valuable contribution to a project. You might be a user getting the project started up and running on your own computer for the very first time and decide that you and notice that you had some problems with it and that you can help other people by documenting how to um get around those problems. So there are lots of different ways in which you can participate But you've never taken part in a sprint. Well, there will be a first time for everything, and the important thing is that there are going to be people there to help you and to induct you into

Speaker 2: the process. What do you need? It's very basic. You need a computer of your own to work on. Or you may even find that somebody's got one to lend you. And you need to be able to put in a bit of time. So we've got two days for it. There's no pressure, but if you've got the time to sit there with the code and the computer with with the problem um you'll make some progress doing something What if you're not a very good Python programmer? Well, it's okay, neither am I, and not everybody else who's there is a very good Python programmer. And I already m said you don't actually need to be much of a program Python programmer. any kind of program at all because there are lots of different ways that even the most novice sprinter

Speaker 2: can make a valuable contribution And you might be worried about holding up other people because you're slow. But it simply does not work like that. Because one of the main points of the sprints is to encourage and help new people. You'll be able to learn at your own pace, learning the things that you need to learn as you go along, and you'll be supported. And when I went to my first um Code sprints I dropped in and to see what it was and the next year somebody finally showed me how to use Git And the third year I ran a workshop showing people how to use Git. So that's the way it works. It might take you two or three years to do it, but that's fine.

Speaker 2: We're not in a hurry, even though it's called a sprint. You don't have to stay for the whole thing. Drop in just to get a taste of the atmosphere. Because you know, atmosphere, you want nerds in front of computers. This atmosphere, you know, it's like Club 54 in New York in the 1970s. But There'll be plenty of other things on the day. There'll be workshops and clinics, so um maybe you don't want to miss those either. And other people will be dropping in and out and nobody's keeping tabs on you. The curious are very welcome too. And Tobias reminded me that lunch will be provided, but very sadly it won't be as elaborate as the lunch food the nice lunches we've had here, but don't let that uh Disappoint you. So I hope that if anybody was thinking maybe they might come, that has tipped them over the edge into thinking that

Speaker 2: Perhaps they they will indeed. So I hope that we'll see you there. You'll join in and learn something and contribute something. See you tomorrow.