From 650b6a226a5c780d738aba4f844850cb180d4456 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: EdLeafe Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2016 16:24:17 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Adding Ed Leafe candidacy for TC Change-Id: Icfca8e70a765e49d8cad27b7b164baa7d76289ab --- candidates/ocata/TC/edleafe.txt | 69 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 69 insertions(+) create mode 100644 candidates/ocata/TC/edleafe.txt diff --git a/candidates/ocata/TC/edleafe.txt b/candidates/ocata/TC/edleafe.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..81425988 --- /dev/null +++ b/candidates/ocata/TC/edleafe.txt @@ -0,0 +1,69 @@ +Hello! I am announcing my candidacy for a position on the OpenStack Technical +Committee. + +For those who do not know me, I have been involved with OpenStack since the +very beginning, working for Rackspace as a core member of the Nova team. An +internal job change took me away from active development after Essex, but since +being hired by IBM, I've been back working on Nova since Kilo. As a result of +this long involvement, I have always had a strong interest in helping to shape +the direction of OpenStack, and if there is one thing people will agree about +me, is that I'm never shy about voicing my opinion, whether the majority agree +with me or not. Many of the earliest design decisions were very contentious, +and while I didn't always prevail in those discussions, I felt that I helped +move the conversation forward. More recently, I have participated in nearly all +TC meetings for the last two years, and now would like to join the TC as a +member. + +There seems to be a lot of concern about the impact of the Big Tent, and how +all these new projects are diluting OpenStack, or somehow leading us astray +from what we should be doing. In my opinion, this is all a distraction. +Determining whether a project is "official" is simply a matter of controlling +the branding of OpenStack, and not changing what OpenStack is. If there is room +for improvement, it is in communicating what this means so that we eliminate +the confusion for those who are coming to OpenStack without this historical +knowledge. + +One thing I feel strongly about is that since the Mission Statement for +OpenStack is "to produce the ubiquitous Open Source Cloud Computing +platform...", that what we do should always advance cloud *computing*. So while +I applaud the work being done by many of the telecommunication companies to +push the limits of network virtualization, unless it is useful to making +virtual machines communicate better, it really should be outside of OpenStack. +I do recognize that this is not a clear distinction, since someone can always +come up with a remote edge case where it could possibly be used, but we cannot +be all things to all people (or all companies). Having a clear focus is +important to success. + +OpenStack is now over 6 years old, and that is forever in technology terms. And +while it has been continuously updated, these updates are restricted by the +requirement that they remain compatible with previous versions, and, +increasingly, that the updates are made with zero downtime. These are important +goals, and some very amazing work has been done to make them a reality. But one +of the consequences of this focus is that there is little serious discussion +about potential architectural changes that would greatly improve OpenStack, if +it requires downtime or breaking backwards compatibility. Suggestions for +experiments along these lines are usually met with the (very valid, in my +opinion) statement that we already have more development work than we can +handle, so diverting some of our resources to explore other possibilities would +set us further back. Unfortunately, this is the same argument that is used to +justify the build-up of technical debt. I would like to see us begin to think +about this, and have the TC direct this conversation, with input from +operators, the recently-formed Architecture Working Group, developers from the +various OpenStack projects, and any other interested parties. Yes, this is a +"moonshot" idea [0], but I believe that it is essential for the long-term +technical viability of OpenStack that we never stop looking ahead. + +I have a great deal of respect for the other candidates who are seeking a +position on the TC, and thus understand that you, as a voter, have a difficult +job in selecting only six. I would indeed be honored if you would support me. + +Thank you, +Ed + +Email: ed@leafe.com +Foundation Profile: http://www.openstack.org/community/members/profile/280 +Freenode: edleafe +Website: https://blog.leafe.com +Twitter: @edleafe + +[0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moon_shot (definition 3)