Hi, This analysis uses data from podlings.xml snapshots, board reports, and signoff records from the Incubator. Sorry in advance if the table formatting doesn’t display perfectly. This is 10 years (2016-2025) of data consisting of 122 podlings, with 68 having graduated and 24 having retired.
Average Number of Mentors Compared to Outcomes Average mentors by outcome: - Graduated: 4.25 - Retired: 3.56 - Current: 3.99 This summary uses monthly data. It may not be the most helpful measure by itself. Graduation Rate and Median Duration by Number of Mentors No Mentors No Podlings Retired Graduation Median (months) 1 3 3 0% 0 2 9 5 44% 44 3 27 7 74% 24 4 21 4 81% 21 5+ 32 5 84% 20 This breakdown gives a clearer picture. Here’s what it shows: - Podlings with only one or two mentors have significantly lower graduation rates. - With up to three mentors, the graduation rate improves sharply, with only slight gains beyond that. - Duration is also affected, podlings with two mentors take considerably longer to graduate than those with 3. - This supports our approach of assigning three or four mentors to each podling. (Note: some of this effect may be due to the mentor leaving projects that have been incubating for a long time.) Signoffs Compared to Outcomes Outcome No signoff 1 signoff 2 signoffs 3+ signoffs Current 7% 24% 34% 35% Graduated 5% 13% 38% 44% Retired 6% 53% 21% 20% Some observations: - Graduation is strongly correlated with multiple signoffs. - Having only one signoff is a warning sign, as more than half of retired podlings are in this group. - More engaged mentors (multiple signoffs) lead to healthier outcomes. Kind regards, Justin
