Along these lines, it's important for a project to have a set of
deliverables that are specific, well-defined, achievable and timelined and
measurable in terms of progress. Otherwise, projects will have trouble
progressing, and it will be difficult to identify projects that need a
little "encouragement".

So for example for the writeVcf project, perhaps by working with the
student/apprentice, a list of specific milestones would be laid out:

1) Implement, test and document writeVcf,GRanges [1 month]
2) Implement, test and document writeVcf,DataFrame [2 weeks]

Something like that.

Michael

On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 9:04 AM, Nicolas Delhomme <delhomme@embl.de> wrote:

> Dear Paul,
>
> This is a great idea. I've got a number of ideas for package that I've not
> got the time to implement yet and I suppose some of those could be eligible
> for that page.
>
> The web page is nice. I think that there should be some guidelines on what
> is expected from a) the person taking up the project, b) the mentor
> (duties, required competencies, etc.) listed on that page. If it is
> successful - which I hope - there might  be a large number of projects on
> that page and it might become difficult to track them. Maybe, instead, a
> series of pages listing the different kind of projects, e.g. "accepted
> undergoing projects", "new projects",... would be good. I really think that
> accepted projects should not be hidden from the webpage until they are
> completed to make sure that we avoid re-inventing the wheel too much.
> Another point that should figure in the project description is the mentor
> geo-localization. Being located in Europe, it might be difficult to monitor
> someone on the west cost.
>
> I really like this idea, although one concern I have is that it will
> de-facto create a binding between the mentor and the applicant(s). Is there
> a need for that to be formalized; some kind of mutual agreement or so?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Nico
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Nicolas Delhomme
>
> Genome Biology Computational Support
>
> European Molecular Biology Laboratory
>
> Tel: +49 6221 387 8310
> Email: nicolas.delhomme@embl.de
> Meyerhofstrasse 1 - Postfach 10.2209
> 69102 Heidelberg, Germany
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
> On Aug 31, 2012, at 3:20 PM, Paul Shannon wrote:
>
> > Dear Bioc-devel,
> >
> > We announce a new feature of the Bioconductor web site, "Mentored
> Projects".  The web page is
> >
> >  http://www.bioconductor.org/developers/mentored-projects
> >
> > with this overview:
> >
> >  Developers new to Bioconductor may find mentored projects a useful way
> to apply,
> >  refine and extend their skills. Projects are identified by experienced
> >  Bioconductor developers. The projects involve important but manageable
> programming
> >  tasks. Experienced developers act as mentors, providing guidance and
> oversight.
> >  Successful mentored projects will be incorporated into relevant
> packages to benefit
> >  contributors users, and the Bioconductor project as a whole.
> >
> > We welcome your comments on this plan, and on the web page, before we
> announce to the full Bioconductor list.  We especially welcome additional
> project proposals, and suggestions on how to make these projects successful
> for all concerned.
> >
> > - Paul
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Bioc-devel@r-project.org mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bioc-devel@r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel
>

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