[Freedombox-discuss] Why is this list so quiet?

[Jonathan Roberts]

On 16 February 2011 17:53, Luka Marčetić <paxcoder at gmail.com> wrote:

> Jonas talked about this project being "different things to different people", but without any consensus (or perhaps even leadership - the humanity!), we're likely to be nothing to noone. And we can remain admins of an empty project.
>
> I've suggested teams before (scroll back). That's the one thing that came to my mind. But if you think this shouldn't be done that way, tell me how you'd do it! You "organizational skills" people, show me how you create an organization. Speak. If we fail to organize in foreseeable future, then we're simply not the right (hundred) people for the job. Though the question then is - who is?

Surely a project of this scope requires organisation and consensus. It
requires an understanding of how the project fits within Eben's wider
vision, of what *this* project's particular goals are and how we can
best reach them. Without this, whether done formally or informally, I
think you probably either get a duplication of effort (which isn't
always bad, but when you've got limited resources and a shared goal,
it perhaps makes more sense to work together in the first place) or a
dead project with no one knowing what the next step is, where their
contribution will make the greatest impact or where their skills are
needed right now.

It seems like we've got the latter of these two, though I haven't been
around for long enough to know for sure. If this is the case, then
maybe it wouldn't hurt to try a little co-ordination and see how that
goes. If that isn't the case, then speak up and let those of us who
want to help know how we can get involved.

----------------------

What follows are my recommendations about what co-ordination would
require, simply as a discussion starter. We can fork this to a new
thread if anyone thinks it would be sensible to do so.

1. Decide what the scope of the project is, what are ultimate goals
are, and write it down. While it's pretty likely that this would be
revised as the project progresses, as new ideas or new information
becomes available, at least it would give us something to build
everything around.
2.1 Figure out what steps would be necessary to reach this goal, what
order these steps need to be achieved in (and where possible, which
steps can be done in parallel) and how long each of these will take.
Write it all down.
2.2 Find people who want to take ownership of the different tasks.
2.3 Create a schedule, so we can chart our progress and organise
hack-days to get stuff done in time (and have fun :-))
3. Review and revise all of this lots, but most importantly, get stuff
done and check off items.

I think 1 could be done reasonably quickly, so if people are behind
this, I would say let's set the end of Saturday as the time by which
to have figured out what the scope and goals of the project are and
written them down.

The next step could take longer, I suppose, and is more technical in
nature so I'm less able to guess at a time-frame. I would hope it
wouldn't take longer than a week, so the following Saturday, so that
we can get started on the actual business of things. It's important
not to get too bogged down at this point, just to have a general idea
of where we're going. Details can come as we're working.

Once these two tasks are completed, I think some kind of regular
feedback from task owners would be helpful. We can adjust our schedule
as necessary. People can chip in if help is needed, offering advice,
skills and time. When a task is done, we'll know when to celebrate and
move on to the next one :)

Finally, everything should be recorded on this list. Everyone can then
see everything that's happening, know what's coming up, and it makes
the project very approachable to newcomers! Whether we have one person
who co-ordinates everything, reminding people what's next, arranging
feedback posts/meeting times etc... or everyone does this
collaboratively doesn't really matter. What's important is that we
have a goal, tasks to get there, we have a rough schedule, and we know
how everyone is progressing.

So, those are my suggestions. Feedback? I'll probably kick off a
thread about the scope and goals first thing tomorrow, depending on
feedback, and incorporate everything that's already in the archives
and on the wiki. We could take the discussion from there. Sorry it was
so long!

Best wishes,

Jon