Greetings. I am hereby announcing my candidacy for Nova PTL for Train.

I am passionate about OpenStack, to the point where I (like many of you)
changed companies so I wouldn't have to change jobs. My employer backs
me as a 100% upstream developer and core in Nova and Placement, and
fully supports my commitment to the role of Nova PTL if you'll have me.

Nova is huge, in code as well as in history. I don't pretend to
understand all (or even most) of it. It takes the cumulative skill of
the whole team to make the project tick. I see the PTL as a facilitator
and coordinator of that "group brain", making the whole greater than the
sum of the parts. That takes organization, diplomacy, and patience:
qualities I have demonstrated by running the nova-scheduler meetings,
helping with the politics of extracting Placement, and engaging in tough
and contentious design discussions in specs, PTGs, IRC, etc. As PTL, one
of my main goals will be to keep those conversations moving and focused,
avoiding unproductive tangents.

We continue to face challenges in contributor (which includes reviewer!)
participation. Partly this is due to the overall change in the character
of the community; but I hope to break down barriers for new or part-time
contributors who are willing and able to participate. In day-to-day
operations this means being responsive and encouraging on IRC and
gerrit. In forum and PTG sessions it means working to avoid the "echo
chamber effect" and ceding the floor to these less-involved participants
so they can be heard. I would also like to continue blueprint tracking
including runways, which has been an effective way to ensure attention
for efforts outside of our deemed main themes and priorities.

Nova is on the cusp of being able to take advantage of advanced
Placement features such as nested and sharing providers to solve some of
the problems for which Placement was originally conceived. Nova will
need to continue to work closely with Placement in its new position as
an independent project. I intend to continue being an active Placement
core regardless of the outcome of these elections to assist in that
transition.

We need to continue to foster our relationships with other teams,
ensuring proper care and feeding of cross-project initiatives. This
applies to the old guard (Cinder, Glance, Ironic, Keystone, Neutron, and
Placement as noted) but also to nascent efforts such as Cyborg. This
starts with forum and PTG logistics for Denver, and continues with
constant communication during the cycle.

I am aware that I am standing on the shoulders of giants. I'm not trying
to do anything brilliantly new here. I want to follow the lead of my
predecessors and continue to tap them for their expertise and experience
to help Nova succeed in Train.

Thank you for your consideration.
Eric Fried (efried)
(rhymes with 'deed', not with 'side')