Code Sprint Guidelines

Disclaimer: This page is a working draft and does not reflect official OSGeo policy.

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 C Tribe Sprint. A number of project-oriented sprints also occur, such as the one-day sprint associated with FOSS4G conferences, single-project sprints such as have been held for GRASS GIS, QGIS 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 request for supporting a sprint by OSGeo 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 budget

• Where is the prospective budget published? Provide a link to a publicly accessible resource (e.g. wiki). The prospective budget shall list the levels/amounts of forecasted sponsorship, and show that OSGeo is providing matching funds (see Sponsorship Criteria below).

The budget shall contain the following information:

• 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?
• 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)?

(idea/TODO from Anne: provide a budget template)

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?

Submission of a funding request

Proposed workflow:

1. Sprint organisers fill out the questionnaire above and submit it to Board list.
2. Board adds a "Sprint support" agenda item for upcoming Board meeting, and invites sprint organiser(s) to join the meeting and provide clarification where needed.
3. Board votes on the funding request.
4. Upon approval, and within one month from the end of the sprint, sprint organisers provide a publicly accessible summary budget of the actual expenses. A more detailed budget shall be made available to OSGeo Treasurer. Would the final budget not be available to OSGeo, future fund requests will be taken on hold until final budget publication.

OSGeo Sponsorship Criteria

- Draft proposal -

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

• OSGeo has a limited budget, and gives priority to proposals which provide value to a wide OSGeo community. Greater value might be achieved by incorporating sprints from multiple OSGeo projects into one, or by extending the code sprint to incorporate virtual participants from around the world.
• OSGeo should not be the sole source of funding for the event. OSGeo prefers sprints to be partially funded by third-party sponsors, and may choose to provide funding "matching" the amount of sponsorship money raised for the event. OSGeo's contribution should go towards reducing the net cost for participants instead of for instance supporting a more expensive venue or setup.
• 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.