# average sprint speed: 1 sprint/month
I've proposed
[a DebConf11 BoF](http://penta.debconf.org/dc11_schedule/events/766.en.html) on
Debian sprints and, more generally, on how we have been using Debian money in
the past 1.3 years.
As part of the BoF preparation, I've taken the time to review the last 16
months of sprints and check how the
[Debian Sprint Program](http://wiki.debian.org/Sprints) — which we've recently
[[streamlined|2010/10/mini_debconf_paris_-_success]] and
["marketed"](http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2010/10/msg00014.html)
quite a bit — is going. In particular, I've finally done the homework of
preparing *the big table™* of sprints and their costs, in order to evaluate how
sustainable the sprint program is. Without further ado, here is the table:
To better understand the table, several comments are in order:
* **numbers are approximate** in various ways. In particular, 2010 costs
predate a protocol I've agreed upon with the Debian auditors to do proper
accounting, hence it is possible that some costs are slightly overestimated
* costs are *Debian's* costs and do not include reimbursements for non-Debian
people that might have attended the sprint. This also explains why some
sprints have been at 0 cost: they have been entirely sponsored by other
entities interested in supporting Debian, such as companies or institutions.
* where needed, costs have been normalized to Euro
* we have streamlined the [sprint process](http://wiki.debian.org/Sprints)
around October 2010 (you can find the underlying rationales in
[[an old RFC|2010/06/debian_meeting_guidelines_RFC]]). Sprints happened
before that data had a different way of being announced and of reporting back
to the project.
* the above data are not detailed enough to properly estimate per-person costs,
as we lack a breakdown of Debian vs non-Debian attendees
* no costs for DebConf-s are included, as they have their own budgets which
aims to be amortized 0 cost in the long run
Please note that the purpose of the table is not to be precise and transparent
about Debian finances and how we use them. That *is* a (very!) worthwhile goal
and I do think Debian should do much better in informing its community about
how [donated money](http://www.debian.org/donations) are used to further Debian
goals. But that is a broader topic on which the
[auditors](http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Auditor) are working; it is not up to
me to discuss it here. If you are interested in that topic though, you might
want to follow
[tbm's BoF at DebConf11](http://penta.debconf.org/dc11_schedule/events/769.en.html).
The purpose of the table is rather to find out some **general figures** about
Debian sprints held in the recent past:
* we have had a total of 15 sprints in 16 months (about 1 sprint/month)
* we have spent about 10'000 EUR for sprints, for an average per-sprint cost of
about 650 EUR
* all sprints have been held in Europe
(given
[DD geographical distribution](http://www.debian.org/devel/developers.loc), I
find quite surprising that *no* group of US-based Debian hackers have asked
for sprint sponsoring)
* about half of the sprints have been held in Germany
(probably thanks to
DD-density there and also to the welcoming attitude of friendly venues such
as the Linux Hotel)
* the variance of per-person costs is high: there are very cheap sprints
(e.g. when people travel within Europe by train and stay at friends') and
quite expensive sprints (e.g. when one or more of the participant needs to be
flown oversea — which has happened only once, up to now)
I'm personally quite happy about those figures. Enabling volunteer developers
to meet and hack together in person is possibly *the* most valuable way of
using donated money. Having 1 sprint/month is not bad, but in a project the
size of Debian is quite possibly a minimum. Doing more than that is highly
desirable. It is also financially sustainable, especially if we will be able to
show — by actually *having more sprints* and being transparent about them —
that we can put into good use donated money.
Another, more subtle, aspect of sustainability is that related to sprint
management. Processing sprint requests and ensuring that transparency
guidelines are actually followed by the organizers is still quite some work.
I've been mostly doing that myself up to now, which is all fine and well, but
does not necessarily scale. Other organizations (such as KDE e.V.) have
realized that to the point of having hired people specifically to manage
sprints in an otherwise volunteer community. In Debian we are quite keen of
maintaining the project running on a volunteer basis. At the same time I feel
we should have more room for scalability in the number of sprints we could
run. So if you are looking for a management task to help Debian with, think
about becoming, err, "sprint master", and contact me.
If otherwise you want to focus on Debian hacking, what are you waiting for?
Check the [guidelines](http://wiki.debian.org/Sprints) and propose your sprint!
To know more about sprints, Debian money, and how you could help with all that,
be sure not to miss the
[Sprint and money BoF](https://penta.debconf.org/penta/submission/dc11/events).
[[!tag lang/english planet-debian sprint debian bof debconf11 dpl]]