I just posted to the Fedora announce list to let the community know about the next Fedora Project Leader, Jared Smith, and about his upcoming appearances at FUDCon Santiago and FISL 11.
I don’t have much to add here on my blog, since I said everything I wanted to in those posts — especially the first — regarding Jared’s qualifications, experience, trustworthiness, and general awesomeness. In short, I believe deeply that I am putting the project leadership in incredibly good hands.
For the next couple of months, I’ll spend the lion’s share of my time ensuring Jared has a smooth runway, as he starts what I hope will be a fulfilling career at Red Hat. After that I will be taking more of an operational management role at Red Hat, in the Linux department. It’s part administrative, part technical, part troubleshooting in the organizational sense, and heck, probably part whatever it is that I can best do to contribute to Red Hat’s success and continuing leadership in open source.
I’ll still maintain a presence in Fedora and probably be involved as an individual contributor wherever I can help best with fewer hours. I don’t think departing FPLs ever truly leave Fedora — it’s just part of who we are, so to depart completely would be like cutting off a limb.
As I said elsewhere, my heartfelt thanks goes out to the community and everyone who’s given me their confidence, help, and support over the last two and a half years. I’m truly humbled by your trust and hope I’ve managed to earn it wherever I could.
Paul,
Great job over the last 2+ years. It was great meeting you, on occasion, and you’ve brought a lot of maturity and direction to Fedora. Good luck at the ‘Hat, and as a former ‘Hatter myself, I know you’ll do great as a part of the “regulars.”
Cheers!