diff --git a/_posts/2025-02-11-signing-off-community-manager.markdown b/_posts/2025-02-11-signing-off-community-manager.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbd6d82 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2025-02-11-signing-off-community-manager.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,158 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: "Signing off as Zarr's Community Manager" +description: Summary and departure of Zarr's community manager +date: 2025-02-11 +categories: blog +permalink: /community-manager-update/ +--- + +Hi everyone! šŸ‘‹ + +I hope all of you are doing great and have started using Zarr-Python 3! If not, +install it using `pip install -U zarr` and let us know your thoughts. + +I have some news to share with the Zarr communityā€”after three wonderful years +of managing the Zarr project and its community, Iā€™m officially stepping down as +the community manager. My position was funded through the CZI EOSS grant, which +finished towards the end of 2024! + +Itā€™s been quite a journey and an excellent opportunity to learn, grow and +connect with like-minded people in the scientific ecosystem. Iā€™m fortunate that +I was able to use my skills to contribute to the project. Iā€™d like to specially +thank my mentor and PI, Josh Moore. Josh has been very kind and understanding +and has always been just, responsible and careful towards me. I couldnā€™t be +more lucky to have him on my side. + +## Brief summary of my journey + +The ā€˜Community Managerā€™ role in technical projects involves wearing multiple +hats while fostering and growing the community. It was a great opportunity +which helped me learn a lot of new stuff. I want to highlight some of the +essential things Iā€™ve done in my role over the past few years. + + +- ZEPā€”Zarr is an amazing project with lovely contributors from diverse domains +across the globe. Itā€™s great to see people contributing to a project and +bringing fresh perspectives. But sometimes, this also poses a challenge. When I +joined, discussions on the Zarr V3 specification were ongoing. There was a lot +of good feedback on the design and what V3 specification should be, but it was +scattered all around GitHub issues and pull requests in multiple repositories. +We knew what we wanted to do, but there was a serious lack of a process that +would help us get from start to finish. So, I started working on a community +feedback process, later known as the Zarr Enhancement Proposal. If youā€™d like +to read more, I wrote a [blog post](https://zarr.dev/blog/zep-inception/) back +in 2022. The ZEP process worked great and helped us in finalising the V3 +specification (ZEP1) and Sharding specification (ZEP2). + +- Maintaining projects under Zarrā€”Looking after the community also +serendipitously led me to take care of several repositories under the Zarr +banner. At first, I launched the Zarr blog using Jekyll and GitHub page and +started writing about releases, contributor guides, roadmaps, etc. Then, I +revamped the Zarr website to add more content and launched another website to +maintain a record of Zarr community meeting notes and community calendar at +(). Over time, I also launched the ZEP +website, at (). While I was solidifying the Zarr online +presence, I was also fixing bugs, assisting in releases, and sending minor +patches to the Zarr-Python repository. I also ensured that all project licenses +and the Code of Conduct were current and compliant, reinforcing our commitment +to community standards and values. + +- Running meetingsā€”One of the important duties of a community manager is to run +community meetings and ensure that all the attendees feel welcome. We host +bi-weekly meetings for the community. We also used to run ZEP meetings +bi-weekly (which we recently stopped) to discuss ZEP proposals. Apart from both +these meetings, I also run office hours, which I started back in early 2023. +Office hours have been a great time for interaction with the community, where +new/experienced users join in, and I help them with their questions. Iā€™ve had +some great conversations over the years with the participants ā€” some even led +to open-source contributions to libraries like Xarray +(). + +- Public speakingā€”I started speaking on Zarr a couple of months after joining. I +remember my first presentation was with Ryan Abernathy at a [Cloud Native +Geospatial event](https://x.com/zarr_dev/status/1516722004858384386). I spoke +about Zarr specifications and their implementations in multiple languages. +Since then, Iā€™ve spoken at various conferences and meet-ups. Please see my +webpage for the full list. + +- Representing project interestsā€”Over the years, I have been engaged with +multiple steering committees to represent Zarr and its community. See the +complete list at . These +steering committees drive interesting projects in the open-source ecosystem. +For example, the Scientific Python ecosystem is a federation of +community-developed and community-owned Python projects widely used in +scientific research. I serve on the SPEC steering committee to represent the +interests of Zarr. + +- Mentor newcomersā€”Onboarding newcomers to the project was yet another important +duty of mine. Aside from mentoring users regularly, Zarr inaugurated their +participation in Google Summer of Code and Outreachy in 2022. Both these +programs are structured to provide a platform for motivated individuals to +contribute to open source. Josh and I mentored a couple of interns in both +programs. + +I also wanted to showcase other things on the list, but I should move on to the +next section for now. ;) + +## What's changed? + +Since my time as the community manager has come to an end, I think itā€™s one of +my responsibilities to start delegating the stuff I was responsible for to +ensure a smooth transition. We have combined the Zarr community and the ZEP +meetingsā€”as I was running these meetings, we needed to make sure that meetings +would continue to take place with minimal disruption. + +Weā€™ll be reducing the frequency of Zarr office hoursā€”currently, we hold them +every 2 weeks, and now we plan to have them once a month. Yes, you guessed it +right, Iā€™ll continue to interact and assist the community during office hours. + +The other meetings remain unaffected on our community calendar. Our community +calendar () lists all the meetings and is +open to join for everyone. Also, our ZulipChat () +continues flourishing and hosting great conversations; please drop by and say +ā€˜Hiā€™ to the community. + +## What's next? + +I love the project and the wonderful humans who contribute and use it. Over the +last few years, Iā€™ve become quite familiar with Zarrā€™s inner workings, both +technical and non-technical. Iā€™ve also acquired a lot of invaluable +institutional knowledge of the project. I plan to continue contributing to the +project and will participate in the meetings listed on the community calendar, +primarily in a reduced capacity for some time. Iā€™ve taken some time for myself +and have been learning new stuff. Keep an eye out for my +[blog](https://sanketverma.com/blog/). ;) + +I think the CZI EOSS grant was the most direct way to work and contribute to +the project, and Iā€™d like to wholeheartedly thank the CZI for funding us. I +also want to thank the Zarr steering council and the open-source community for +their collective support, feedback and encouragement throughout the years! + +As of today, Iā€™m actively searching for new positions to leverage my technical +and community leadership experience. Please ping me if you think Iā€™m a good fit +for your team or if you just want to have a nice chat. Iā€™d be happy to discuss +my experience or help you. You can find my info +[here](https://sanketverma.com/). + +See you around in the meetings or probably a conference near you! ;) + +Peace! āœŒšŸ» + +~Sanket Verma + +