One of the more exciting aspects of FOSS.IN is the WorkOuts, unfortunately, most participants are confused about the exact nature and purpose of the works, this post should demystify the WorkOuts:

WorkOuts are NOT:

- WorkOuts are NOT talks
- WorkOuts are NOT workshops
- WorkOuts are NOT tutorials
- WorkOuts are NOT BoFs
- WorkOuts do NOT happen on stage

What are WorkOuts?

WorkOuts are actual hands-on sessions by people who are familiar with the project and its code. Participants identify a set of issues or features that need addressing (the WorkOut Goals), and then get down to meeting those goals during (and after) FOSS.IN.

WorkOut Registration – On-the-Spot

Unlike previous years, where you needed to get your WorkOut approved before the event, and had limited time to do so, this year you can come to FOSS.IN, register a WorkOut on-the-spot, settle down and get to work for all five days of the event.

WorkOut Lead

The WorkOut Lead defines the initial goals, and  is also responsible for reporting on the activities of the WorkOut at the end of the day. All WorkOut reports will happen just before the daily keynote in the main hall. The WorkOut Lead is also the person to whom any equipment (typically a small network switch, a power distribution box, whiteboard markers/erasers, etc.) are issued (which need to be returned at the end of the day).

WorkOut Participants

WorkOut participants are one or more FOSS.IN participants who work with the WorkOut lead to achieve the goals of the WorkOut. These can initially be decided before the event, but typically grow in numbers as others at the event join in.

WorkOut Area

WorkOuts happen in the dedicated WorkOut hackcentre on the first floor of the venue, but participation is not limited to that area – we have seen people participate from anywhere in the venue over WiFi, or from anywhere on the Internet, using IRC, wikis and other communication tools used by the FOSS community.

WorkOut Resources

A common WorkOut git/svn repository will be available at the venue for checking-in code during the event, as will be the WorkOut wiki at http://workouts.foss.in.

WorkOut participants will use their own equipment (typically notebooks) – we provide network, power, chairs and tables for you to use. If you need to have a group discussion, you can use one of several discussion rooms for upto an hour (they are shared resources), where you will also have access to whiteboards. We shall not be providing any Desktops/Laptops. Please bring your own Notebooks. Avoid Desktops.

Each WorkOut area (the set of tables where people work) will have a large number displayed which will be associated with the WorkOut listing that will be continuously updated on large displays at the venue. This will allow other participants to quickly find and join a WorkOut if they are interested.

It is important that everyone understands what a WorkOut is. It is not a talk (and no, WorkOut leads cannot convert a WorkOut into a talk session), nor is it a tutorial. The objective of a WorkOut is to fix problems, add features, refactorize code or just improve the overall quality of the code of a project. It is result-oriented, and WorkOut leads are expected to report on their progress at the end of the WorkOut.

Instructions to WorkOut Attendees

The algorithm to remember for joining a WorkOut is:

If you can contribute, and are familiar with the code of that project, join the WorkOut. If you cannot, or are not, then head for a talk, or join any of the conversations and discussions happening all around the event.

Instructions to WorkOut Leads

To help make your workout succeed we need to have a fairly well defined set of pre-requisites. If you haven’t filled them out yet please do so at http://workouts.foss.in.

We cannot ensure that people joining the workout have some skills which will help the WorkOut succeed. It is entirely possible that some people might start asking questions and meander which tend to be counter productive. In this case you can bring this to one of the organizers notice and we will make sure that the problem is solved.

Typically we assume you spend some time discussing the problem statement – ideally even before you come to the event. Once that is defined (keep it sane – “rewrite the Linux kernel from scratch” sounds ambitious but is impractical for a 5 day event, while “optimize and speed up the Linux boot process” sounds far more doable, as does “streamline the process of installing Nehru Cap Linux on a SevKitab notebook”

To ensure that everyone who is interested knows what the goals and progress of the WorkOuts are, each workout will be provided with a wiki page, which will be world readable. One person from the WorkOut will make entries onto the wiki which will help people who walk in at various times (or watch from the net) get up to speed quickly without asking questions. The quality of this documentation of goals and progress is obviously important – so much so that we are actually planning to hand out a prize for the best maintained and complete WorkOut wiki!

Note that each day will have a 30 minute workout wrap-up where all workout leads will be expected to present a five-minute progress report about the workout.  This will help us iterate and make things better. It would also help others to understand more about what you are doing and possibly join the effort.

Come WorkOut at FOSS.IN/2009.

Enjoy!