Part of the issue w/ couchDB in the recent past is that it got good enough, and
that was, well, good enough for a lot of people (I offer myself up as candidate
A).
To put this in Marketing-Speak, in the Technology Adoption Lifecycle, we got to
the 'Early Adopter' stage, but never managed to quite make it across the chasm
to the 'Early Majority' stage.
To put this differently, we got to a place where the product was good enough to
satisfy the Visionaries - who 'got it', and worked around any pesky
inconveniences that popped up because they 'got it'. However, it was never
good enough to satisfy the Pragmatists (who, face it, don't want to have to
work around stuff)
(Where am I going with this? Hang on...)
So, to Mikeal's point about leadership - its not that there is any lack of
leadership - there is plenty of it. Its just that leadership comes in many
forms, and in the growth of any kind of disruptive product (which this was /
is), the type of leadership necessary changes as it moves along the Technology
Adoption Curve.
A quick perusal of users/dev shows that there tend to be many discussions about
point-features, and most of these tend to get resolved fairly easily. So
leadership in the technical/technological sense - Yes.
But thats pretty much where things tend to stop - i really don't see any person
(or group of people) blasting through town with a banner saying Excelsior! In
short, Vision Leadership does tend to be somewhat in short supply.
All that said, I don't think this is really any kind of major crisis. To
paraphrase Benoit, its all noise, and not very interesting noise at that.
There is clearly a group of people doing 'stuff', and quite happily doing it at
that. Get some releases out, talk about whats in the releases, and just as
importantly, what these features do and who is using them, and a lot of the
vision will pretty much make itself self-evident.
Cheers
Mahesh Paolini-Subramanya
That Tall Bald Indian Guy...
Google+ | Blog | Twitter
On Jan 7, 2012, at 2:55 AM, Mikeal Rogers wrote:
> Ok, we're on the same page on one thing, there is a problem. One release in a
> year with this many great people contributing is not acceptable.
>
> Sure, my experience makes me believe, and I guess Damien's frustrations echo,
> that part of this problem is Apache process. You may not agree with that, but
> if you don't, and you admit that there *is* a problem, then what is it?
>
> The first step in CouchDB's 12 step program to get get it's mojo back has to
> be admitting that it has a problem.
>
> As much as it's a problem, I don't think that lack of leadership is the real
> problem, I think it's a symptom. I'm glad to see you say that we should get
> up and do more.
>
> If you're stepping up to take on more leadership, say it, scream it! Own it!
>
> -Mikeal
>
> On Jan 6, 2012, at January 6, 20121:13 PM, Noah Slater wrote:
>
>> I have drafted a few responses to this.
>>
>> At the core of all of them is one central point. This has nothing to do
>> with our consensus based approach. I find it frustrating that Damien
>> mentioned the Apache consensus based model as a concern, when to the best
>> of my knowledge he has not had any problems getting any feature he wants in
>> to CouchDB. I find it even more frustrating that you've used this as an
>> excuse to trot out your favorite hobby horse. Most people are aware of your
>> problems with Apache, but I don't think it's very helpful to bring them up
>> now, when they are tangental at best.
>>
>> I do, however, agree that CouchDB could do with a bit more leadership. I
>> think we could do with being a bit more bold. Back in the old days, Jan
>> used to say it was easier to ask forgiveness than it was to ask permission.
>> I think that these days, we're too busy asking for permission most of the
>> time. I agree that there needs to be an attitude change within our ranks.
>> Be bold people! That's what I'll be doing with the website, shortly.
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 8:08 PM, Mikeal Rogers wrote:
>>
>>> The title of this reply is "Tough Love".
>>>
>>> On Jan 6, 2012, at January 6, 20129:08 AM, Noah Slater wrote:
>>>
Dear Community,
As some of you may have already read, Damien Katz, Apache CouchDB’s
original developer, has publicly announced that he intends to focus his
time exclusively on developing other products for his company. Damien has
had very little involvement in the CouchDB project for a year or more
>>> now,
so, for many people, this is confirmation of what they already knew.
>>> We’re
sorry to see him go, and wish him all the best in his new direction. We
>>> all
owe him a huge debt of thanks for all the hard work he has put in over
>>> the
years, and for his original vision of the project.
>>>
>>> Yes, Damien has been pretty inactive for over a year, and has that gone
>>> unnoticed? How many releases in that time? How much new adoption
