:) Well, the first question to answer is "why?" Why are we doing this? What do we believe in? What is our purpose?
(I think this is going to be a tough nut to crack. Simon actually runs a course you can go on to figure it out.) But once we have that, I think the rest will follow. On 24 July 2013 12:28, Benoit Chesneau <[email protected]> wrote: > Finally. Maybe we could start by listing the selling points of Apache > CouchDB? > > - benoit > > > On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 1:24 PM, Noah Slater <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi devs, > > > > I came across this video recently: > > > > Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action > > > http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html > > > > In it he sets out what he calls the Golden Circle: > > > > Why > > > > - What's your purpose? > > - What's your cause? > > - What's your belief? > > > > How > > > > - How do we do it? > > - How does our product differentiate? > > - How are we different? > > - How are we better? > > > > What > > > > - What do we do? > > - What do we make? > > > > He points out that the difference between companies like Apple and > > companies like Dell. > > > > Dell tells you what they do, and how. "We make great computers. They're > > well designed and work well. Wanna buy a computer?" Most companies do it > > like this. But they often miss out the "why". > > > > But then you look at Apple, and they do it the other way around. Apple > tell > > you what their purpose is. The rest is almost an afterthought. "We > believe > > in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking different. We do > that > > with great design and a focus on the user experience. We just happen to > > make computers." He then joking quips: "Ready to buy one yet?" > > > > (His talk gives several other examples, with his thesis being that > telling > > your story from the outside in is what separates all the great companies > > and leaders. One of his main examples is the Wright brothers.) > > > > He comments that if you talk about what you believe, you will attract > those > > that believe what you believe. That when you talk about what you believe, > > people will join you for their own reasons, for their own purpose. And > that > > what you do simply serves as proof of what you believe. Or as he quips: > > "Martin Luther King gave his 'I have a dream' speech, not his 'i have a > > plan' speech." > > > > Why am I bringing this to the dev list? > > > > Because our message stinks. "Apache CouchDB™ is a database that uses JSON > > for documents, JavaScript for MapReduce queries, and regular HTTP for an > > API" is a terrible way to introduce who we are, what we stand for, and > why > > we build this thing. (And I'm allowed to say all that, because I'm the > one > > who wrote it, with lots of help from Jan.) > > > > So what am I proposing? I'm proposing that we figure out our why. That we > > figure out what we stand for, what we believe in. And then we figure out > > how we're gonna do that (pro tip: replication is more important than the > > data format we use). Not only will this define a consistent internal > vision > > for the project (what *are* we working towards anyway?) but it will help > us > > to attract people who believe in what we believe. > > > > So, if you have any thoughts about this, speak up! > > > > Thanks, > > > > -- > > NS > > > -- NS
