View source for User:RichardDarst/Ideas

This page lists my ideas for DebConf.  It is designed to bluntly collect ideas which people will probably abstractly agree with, but are always forgotten when it comes time to do things.

* New people always think DebConf is fairly simple, you just design a better plan and then do it.  But in reality, things are complicated and trying to make something that seems better technically will just make things harder overall.  My recommendation is to not try to change things until you have done it for a one-year cycle.
* Recommended plan: Join a team, and work under the previous system for one year.  Then, the next year, take over and make your changes.
* DebConf is designed to bring people together.  But over time it has gotten more complicated, to the point where people think more about how to make a hotel management system than if that is important.
* A long time ago, accommodation was simple: everyone was sponsored, and if you weren't on time for that, then you would arrange your own accom and just show up.  If you wanted something nicer, you did that, too.  Then, we booked the entire hotel and it means that we had to manage all accommodations, so there was "professional" added so people could pay (it wasn't exactly this, but close enough).  Then next year, that continued, even though there were other options for hosting.  Within a few years, it was standard to host *everyone* with us, and it greatly increased complexity of everything.  If we could go back to providing something minimal with no frills, it would be a great achievement.