Hi, we are starting the inspiring posts about LoCo teams Re Blog, and to start this here’s the blog post of Airurando about his experience with the reapproval process.
Enjoy!
My second experience of the Ubuntu LoCo Team re- approval process. Not as straight forward as the first!
Back in the Summer of 2011 my first experience of the Ubuntu LoCo Team re- approval process was very positive and exciting. I happily helped in the preparation and delivery of the Ubuntu Ireland 2011 re-approval application. I even wrote a very enthusiastic blog post about the whole experience.
This time though, things were much different…..
Activity in the Ubuntu Ireland Team has decreased significantly since our initial re-approval in 2011. By the summer of 2012 I was becoming concerned that our low activity levels would reduce our chances of retaining our approved status at the next time of asking. I aired my concerns regarding the poor state of the Irish LoCo on the Team mailing list in August 2012 (my initial post can be found here). The positive feedback received led to a team reboot discussion developing which started in November 2012 (my initial post regarding the team reboot can be found here). This team reboot is ongoing but there is no denying that our team activity remains weak. However, despite this low activity it was clear that there were still a few warm cinders in the Ubuntu Ireland Team fire and there certainly was a lot of good will being expressed towards remaining approved. Based on this I felt it was worthwhile for our LoCo to seek re-approval. I prepared our 2013 re-approval application, basing it on the standard template and our 2011 application. Active Team member Keith Drummond provided some very useful suggestions that were incorporated into our application.
Our Team was up for re-approval at the 16th of July, 2013 LoCo Council meeting. I was quite nervous and by no means confident about our chances. Despite this I was relieved that the time had come to honestly state the current condition on our LoCo and see how that would be received. We were the third and last team up for re-approval. Two very impressive teams preceded us (The Japanese Team and the Tunisian Team).
When the time came we gave a frank account of our slow demise over the last two years. We also maintained that some activity still existed and that the reboot efforts were ongoing. The LoCo council recognised this lull in activity as a somewhat common occurrence. Given due consideration to the remaining activity in our LoCo and the fact that four team members had turned up to offer support for our application the LoCo Council approved our re-approval application. I was truly delighted that we had achieved this and I am very thankful that the LoCo Council saw fit to keep faith in our little LoCo and maintain our approved status.
So now to the point of this post…… If you are part of an approved LoCo which has experienced difficulties since your last approval I would strongly encourage you to still seek re-approval for you Team when the time comes again (of course, only if the ‘approved status’ is still in effect).
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Thanks Airurando