Hi all,
Le 28/11/2016 à 22:43, Taher Alkhateeb a écrit :
Hi Sharan,
Thank you for starting this important topic. OFBiz definitely needs
strategic objectives and a sense of direction. To try to formulate a
strategy, I would suggest perhaps we highlight where I think OFBiz delivers
value and where it does not, and based on that provide a few suggestions on
moving forward.
OFBiz main value proposition
-------------------------------------------
- A very robust domain model based on the data model resource book.
- A library of services to control and manipulate the data model.
- A DSL that hides and abstracts away the complexity of everything
(services, entities, widgets, routing, etc...) and makes it easy for
adopters to provide value quickly.
- A business automation suite.
Agree nothing to add
What OFBiz is not (yet?)
------------------------------------
Currently OFBiz may provide some of the below, but it is not the main value
proposition.
- A web framework
- A general purpose programming environment
- An ERP system ready for immediate use by business owners (not geared for
end-users)
Yes the best hunting area for OFBiz is create a business application
quickly but permanently. So we don't need to focus on your different
point because too many project work as well on each of them
Our strong is on the business automation suite : coherence on each
element to realize business application not to create a business
application.
Where should we focus?
-----------------------------------
If you agree with the above assessment on OFBiz's value proposition, then I
think we need to focus our limited resources and efforts and utilize the
help of the community where it provides the highest value for effort. To
start this discussion I suggest the list of below strategic objectives to
try and move forward over the next 1-2 years at which time we can review
and amend the strategy:
- UI redesign: I think the user interface is one of the weakest points in
our project and is probably the most critical item for adoption because at
the end this is what people _see_. Having non-technical people download
OFBiz, fire it up and start using it immediately without the intervention
of a consultant or a developer is key to bigger adoption. Bigger adoption
in turn leads to a more thriving community and business built around OFBiz.
Hence we need a fully redesigned user interface that is not a reference for
developers but rather a usable interface immediately to someone who needs
an ERP platform for their business.
Capitain ! The work is in progress, the earth is far but the sea is
quite and the sun shine :)
First refactoring the screen engine base
Second define new best practice for screen development
Third create a tiny demo application for end user
Oh you give me an idea for the adoption. When a user download ofbiz he
need to run a gradle target present on the documentation.
So we can add two new targets :
* ./gradle simpleUse that enable the tiny demonstration application
and disable all application component (for the webapp)
* ./gradle advancedUse that enable all application component.
We just need change the documentation to :
for run ofbiz just : ./gradle simpleUse loadDefault ofbiz
If you are a developer you can do : ./gradle advancedUse loadDefault ofbiz
- Documentation: We have a lot of documentation resources, but they are
unorganized, scattered and outdated. Documentation is another key driver of
adoption and I think a significant amount of work needs to go into
organizing and cleaning up our documentation. We need a unified resource
for getting information. I really like for example the documentation of
Gradle found in docs.gradle.org which breaks things down beautifully into a
user guide, a DSL reference and JavaDocs with very good sub-categorization
and hyperlinks between everything.
dream, but it's not my strong ^^
- Branding: A new website, activities on social media, success stories
(updating), references, etc ...
The reason I recommend the above strategic initiatives is that they are
relatively easy and most community members can contribute to which would
provide great value by leveraging the help of as many people as we can.
Thoughts?
I wil try to follow you Taher :)
Cheers,
Nicolas
Cheers,
Taher Alkhateeb
On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 1:35 PM, Sharan Foga <sha...@apache.org> wrote:
There was a bit that I missed - and this is a common thing that keeps
coming back up when we get together and talk:
OFBiz could deliver more than one product. We could have more than one
product active at the same time e.g
- Framework with applications
- Advanced UI but without all features
- Advanced features but with the poor UI
This is also something that we could think about for the high level
strategy.
Thanks
Sharan
On 2016-11-28 11:08 (+0100), "Sharan Foga"<sha...@apache.org> wrote:
Hi Everyone
One of the topics that came up during the brainstorming in Seville was
that the project desperately needs a clear strategy and roadmap.
Benefits:
- A strategy will provide a clear path for people to follow
- A strategy will allow us to set goals / milestones and metrics about
progress
In past maybe we have tried to do too much (tried to do it all at once -
which is why we find it h ard to focus).
- One suggestion was to set a maximum of 3 goals and then work only on
these. To define these goals we need to look at what is the most important
thing that we want to achieve - and base them on that.
- Another suggestion was that the most important thing for the project
is driving adoption. If this is true then what are the key blockers that
stop user adoption of OFBiz? (the UI!)
- Suggestion to organise / setup teams from the community that focus on
specific areas (e.g. workgroups) - this could really help progress
So to get the discussion started:
1. Do people agree that the project needs to focus on driving adoption?
2. Do people think that the UI is one of the key things that stops this
? (If, not then please include what do you think is)
3. What goals could we set?
4. Are people interested in working in workgroups, to focus on specific
areas (or goals)?
(I know there are some ideas/work around the UI going on, but I will
post the Seville details and notes about that in separate discussion
thread.)
Thanks
Sharan
