John Botscharow wrote:
On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:36:50 -0400
"Cory K." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I snipped most of this because I want to focus on the last part of what
Cory said. I think most of us are familiar enough with the ongoing
discussion on this subject for me to spare you all the repition :-)
The core must be made up of people who can get things done. People of
action.
Cory, please define what you mean by action. I think not all of us
define action the same way.
People who can come up with ideas and follow through on them. Not just
endlessly debate or talk. :)
So who thinks they fit that bill? Who can dedicate the time to getting
things done? Do you have the skills needed?
I can certainly dedicate the time to this team. Matter of fact, from my
perspective, I already do devote a great deal of my day to this
team. :-)
>From my P.O.V. you would be fine with some guidance since your weak
point seems to be the Ubuntu culture. I would be fine to help offer
advise here. Email me separately if you want to chat.
What skills do you think the core team should have? Marketing skills
and experience? ? These are the two
most important, IMHO. Developer skills? Not important at all, not for a
marketing team. Familiarity with all things Ubunu? Useful but not
necessary except perhaps for the ED.
Yes. "Organizational skills and experience" are very important. As well
as understanding your audience.
To me, once we have the people to actually "do" something, then they
can decide on what to do. They will draft the plans, then the people
watching can decide if they want to get involved.
I think we already do.
Well... kinda. :) Lots of talk with nothing concrete yet. IMO there
really can't be much done until clear power is established. Some may
think that sounds bad. Lots of people in our community think "power" has
a negative connotation but without clear leadership, and recognized
power within that leadership, nothing will get done. You'll just get
questioned and resistance with everything you do.
I know of at least 5, myself included, who have
stepped up and expressed an interest in being part of the leadership of
this team. And each of the five, from what little I know about them,
have different strengths that would compensate for others weaknesses
and complement each other very well.
Not to ruffle any feathers, but it seems to me, to put it plainly, a
lot of the members of this team seem to have a resistance to the idea
of any kind of leadership or organized direction for this team. They
want to be able to do what ever moves them, whenever it moves them. But
real marketing does not work that way. Real marketing requires
integration of efforts. A project like organizing a letter writing
campaign can be done by one person, if it were a self-contained
isolated project. but if it is a part of a greater marketing strategy
to shift the balance in the OS market, as it should be, then that
greater strategy requires that that project be coordinated with the
release party guide, the spreadubuntu web site, the FCM magazine,
Ubuntu News, and everything else going on here at the marketing team,
as well as Ubuntu as a whole. and it all needs to be geared toward
fixing Bug #1.
Marketing cannot be viewed as a collection of isolated battles. It is a
WAR. And a war is not won by single individuals working in isolation.
They are won by organized armies where each soldier has and knows their
own role. but everyone's efforts are coordinated by a high command.
Yes. the military analogy might be extreme, allow me some poetic
license to indulge in a little hyperbole here, but it is appropriate to
the point I am trying to make. Marketing cannot be done by a bunch of
loose canons running helter skelter. It has to be organized and
integrated. That requires some sort of leadership that is accepted and
acknowledged by the team.
One more point. Marketing is, to a large part. a matter of timing -
doing the right thing at the right time. The way I see it, and I'm sure
there will be disagreement on this, but I am going to say it anyway. we
missed a very good marketing opportunity with the Becta thing because
we were in position, structurally, to respond in the time frame given.
How many more opportunities are we going to have to miss out on?
Not much opinion on this. :)
Yes, this issue is on the agenda for next month's meeting. but can we
afford to wait that long? I don't think so, but I'm probably in the
minority here.
I think we should seriously consider resolving this issue long before
the meeting. The sooner the better.
Yes. From the looks of posts lately, another meeting is in order. I'll
be sure to make that one.
