On Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 04:17:53AM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] was heard to remark:
> > I guess you don't like http://gnucash/en/roadmap.phtml > > (which hasn't changed in 2-3 years, and no one seems to comment on?) > > It's a fine document that asks a lot of worthy questions about the road > ahead. It might be stronger if it answered some of those questions, or > assigned priorities to them, or established mechanisms for answering them > (e.g., a "roadmap review"). And how,exactly, does one assign a priority? That roadmap tries to point out that there are many possible different paths that can be taken. I find that the ones that are the most intersting to me, personally, as a way-cool technology thing, are those that have the smallest audience (in the short term). In ten years, some of these way-cool accounting technologies could pay off big time. But I think it would be very wrong hijack the down-to-earth, we-just-need-a-basic-acccounting-package core of gnucash users to pursue some moon-landing technology that I happen ot think is neat. > A perfectly acceptable answer to some of these hypotheticals, by the way, > is "no. gnucash scratches the core developers' itch, and this is as it > should be." Well, but this is true. Any/all volunteer communities, are, in the end, all driven by the 'itches' of the volunteers. This is a basic law of gravity that won't be repealed. Growing volunteer groups have discovered a way of announcing a message "hey all you itchy developers out there, if you come here, you get a better scratch!". Doctors Without Borders or the Peace Corps work on drawing on the nobility of the causes, which you can't get with just any 'brand-x' volunteer organization. The Salvation Army has a different message: you can help without having to move to a different country. What's the core message that GnuCash emanates to the world? Why would a potential developer want to become a part of gnucash, as opposed to becomeing a part of some other project? Sexier technology? More recognition? A worthier cause? I don't think that we've ever really dealt with that question. That's also my chance to take a pot-shot at Benoit's call for help.: I think he put the cart before the horse. He asked for help, without explaining why the f. anyone should give a s. about helping. I don't think that "help us, we are a large but under-rated project" is a message that is effective. I dunno, maybe it is, but I don't think it forges an identity, a brand, an image. "who are we, really?" and "what do we want to accomplish?" are questions that should have been asked, and asnwered, *before* getting slashdotted. --------------------------------- We now have built a scalable, more-or-less, core technology. We have not built a scalable volunteer organization. -- We don't have a set of tasks waiting for eager volunteers. -- We don't have an effective way of announcing and conveying the tehcnical features in GnuCash. Note the confusion about "client server" and "the gnome2 port" in earlier notes. -- We don't have a system whereby we could follow mutiple, intertwined technology paths. The differnt things in http://gnucash/en/roadmap.phtml don't need to be either/or decisions. With effective organization, they could be "and" items. -- We have trouble building relationships to related projects. We don't know how to scale those. We should be striving for commanality with the various stock-chart graphers, not to mention GnuE or even some of my babies, like gnotime or qof. Why can't we get the digital-cash types to hang out around here, and help share thier vision? -- we don't speak in a unified, coherent voice. We don't radiate confidence. We don't have a message for the world. I don't think statement like "gnucash would die if derek was hit by a bus" are either accurate, nor do they achieve any sort of positive advancement. And if it was true (which its not), its morally inappropriate to put that on slashdot. I really think we need toask "who are we, and what do we want to accomplish?" and communicate that, effectively, on the website, and the developers will come on thier own accord, wihtout the begging and the wringing of hands. --linas -- pub 1024D/01045933 2001-02-01 Linas Vepstas (Labas!) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> PGP Key fingerprint = 8305 2521 6000 0B5E 8984 3F54 64A9 9A82 0104 5933 _______________________________________________ gnucash-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.gnucash.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
