2023 Samvera Technology Maintenance Hours Pledge Drive

Owned by Heather Greer Klein
Last updated: Feb 24, 2023
4 min read

Total hours pledged: 1,845

Hours goal: 4,000 hours

Number of institutions making a pledge: 4

Institution participation goal: 15 Institutions/organizations

Pledges accepted anytime via this form

Common Questions

Who will be determining what maintenance work is done?

Pledged hours will inform priorities for all the Community groups responsible for maintenance, including:

  • The Core Components Maintenance Working Group

  • The Hyrax Maintenance Working Group

  • The Avalon User Group

  • The Hyku Development Group

  • Any other groups that form to prioritize documentation and/or training needs

In addition, the Roadmap Alignment Group will work with all these groups to coordinate cross-technology priorities and planning for updates that impact more than one codebase.

Will developers have a say in what they work on?

Absolutely! Developers and other participants will work collectively, with and within the technology Maintenance Groups to determine how best they can contribute based on their skills and interests and identified maintenance priorities.

Are Partners required to contribute?

Pledging is completely voluntary and open to any institution that has or wants to implement Samvera technologies. It would be excellent to see all Partners pledge to contribute to maintaining the software that is so important to all of us.

Is there a minimum or maximum number of hours to pledge?

There is no minimum or maximum number of hours expected, and no expectation that an institution can contribute to every cycle. Plan to allocate staff time in the cycle(s) that are best for your organization.

What about new developers or those new to the Community?

At the beginning of each cycle, if there is sufficient demand, there will be a week of onboarding for Hyrax maintenance contributors. In addition, all developers and other participants will have access to support and help from experienced developers involved in maintenance groups.

What about Developer Congresses?

Developer Congresses in 2023 can hopefully focus on development of new features and skill building instead of maintenance.

What is the criteria for success?

In a retrospective after each cycle, individuals and technology leaders will reflect on questions including:

  • What worked, what didn’t, and any changes needed for the next Section

  • Does the completed work align with the expectations based on the number of hours available?

  • Are there any concerns about sustainability?

  • Are there any issues going unaddressed?

  • How can this process be improved?

These results will be shared in a Tech call and a Partner call. Institutions who contributed participants will also be asked about their experience and if the contribution is sustainable.

The Samvera Community is asking Partners, adopters, and all users of Samvera technology to commit to technical maintenance in 2023.

Predictable maintenance commitments have proven to provide better and more efficient planning for maintenance work across all Samvera technologies. It allows Community maintenance groups to prioritize and plan their work, and is an opportunity for developers, QA testers, documentation writers, and any other interested participants at all levels to contribute to the maintenance of code, documentation, and training materials across all our technologies: Avalon, Hyku, Hyrax, Samvera Core Components, and Valkyrie.

How This Commitment Works

  • Maintenance will be planned and scheduled within three timeframes:

    • Cycle 1 (January 1 - April 30, 2023)

    • Cycle 2 (May 1 - August 31, 2023)

    • Cycle 3 (September 1 - December 31, 2023)

  • Institutional decision-makers and individual contributors can pledge any number of participant hours within any cycle of 2023.

  • There is no minimum or maximum number of hours expected, and no expectation that an institution can contribute to every cycle. Plan to allocate staff time in the cycle(s) that are best for your organization.

  • Participants can be anyone at any level who can contribute to code, technical documentation and/or technology training. Participants will be able to indicate their skills and interests and to work on the technologies most relevant or interesting to them.​

  • Providing this commitment well ahead of time will ensure that institutions, participants, and the Community know who will be available to contribute to maintenance work, for how long, and when the work will occur.

How to Pledge:

  1. Determine the number of hours your institution, organization, or yourself as an individual contributor can commit in each cycle of 2023. Committed hours can be assigned to participants at any level, as long as they are willing to contribute to code maintenance, training, and/or documentation.

  2. Select from three scheduling options for the hours of each individual who will be contributing to maintenance:

    1. Maintenance Working Group option: An individual is committed at .5 or .25 FTE (320 hours or 160 hours), scheduled in 2 week sprints (2 weeks on, 2 weeks off), for a full four month cycle.

    2. Sprint option: An individual is committed at 1 or .5 FTE for 2 weeks (80 or 40 hours), coinciding with Maintenance Working Group sprint(s) in a given Section. Individuals new to the Community should plan to also participate in Onboarding and Orientation, which will be scheduled for the beginning of each cycle.

    3. Flexible Hours option: An individual will contribute for a set number of hours in a cycle (every Monday, two afternoons per week, etc.) to work independently on maintenance tasks in coordination with maintenance groups (this could be work on maintenance Github issues, training updates, documentation, PR review, bug fixes, etc).

  3. Institutions can choose to commit hours to a cycle without indicating a scheduling option or specific individual(s). The Community Manager and any Product Owner as appropriate will reach out ahead of the scheduled cycle to help work out the details.

  4. Fill out this form to register your contributions.

  5. If you have any questions please reach out to Heather Greer Klein, Samvera Community Manager, on Slack or heather@samvera.org.