Code Sprint Guidelines

A codesprint is an in-person gathering of developers for doing some serious coding, writing documentation, and having face-to-face project collaboration. (It is not aimed at training, presentations, workshops, etc.)

The OSGeo community has two annual "big" sprints (annual, multiproject, multiday events of more than 20 people): the Bolsena Sprint and the North American Sprint. A number of smaller sprints also occur, such as the one-day sprint associated with the FOSS4G conference, single-project sprints such as have been held for GRASS and uDig, and very regional (chapter-level) sprints.

Codesprints are clearly within the scope of OSGeo's mission, and so the Foundation should in general support them. This page provides some guidelines for deciding whether a given sprint should be supported, and if so in what fashion.

= Sprint Info Required =

A proposal for supporting a sprint should include the following information about the event and the funding model for it:

Basic Information


 * Audience: how many people are expected?
 * Region: is the sprint localized to a specific region?
 * Projects: is the sprint to work on just one specific project, or is it for multiple projects?
 * Length: how many days will the sprint cover?
 * Venue: where will the sprint be held? will food be provided?  will overnight lodging be provided?

Expected Expenses


 * what is the expected cost per attendee, for travel, lodging, and food?


 * what is the expected cost for the venue (such as conference room, wifi support, snacks, etc)?

Expected Revenues


 * what is the expected registration fee, if any, for each attendee?
 * what is the expected amount of third-party sponsorships?
 * what in-kind donations are expected (such as donated use of a conference room)?
 * what is the desired amount of OSGeo sponsorship?

Profit / Loss / Risk


 * What is the expected profit of the event, if any? where will any surplus money go?
 * Under what circumstances might the event incur a loss? how will this risk be mitigated?

= OSGeo Sponsorship Criteria =

When deciding to support a sprint, OSGeo should follow these guidelines:


 * OSGeo should not be the sole source of funding for the event. OSGeo prefers sprints to be at least partially funded by third-party sponsors, and may choose to provide funding "matching" the amount of sponsorship money raised.
 * OSGeo understands that some events may require up-front costs, e.g. for deposits, and some events may present a financial risk, e.g. if the number of attendees is not met. Instead of direct funding, OSGeo may provide "back-stop" funding and assume the liability risk.
 * OSGeo prefers code sprints that are aimed at the larger community. That is, sprints that are multiproject and not local to a (small) geographic region are more likely to be funded.

As a very rough guideline, OSGeo will provide financial support proportional to the "size" of the event, as measured by(the number of projects) times (the number attendees) times (the number of days).