On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 3:12 PM, Chip Childers <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I'm writing this email with my PPMC member hat on, but not speaking > *for* the PPMC. > > This is a bit long, but needs to be shared. Please do take time the time > to read it. > > Recently, some of us have been struggling with how to help guide the > community toward better collaboration on this list. We are > specifically concerned about how feature decisions and development is > occurring, and that in some cases it's not happening within the > community. We're seeing the problem in varying levels of severity, > ranging from slightly less than great collaboration, to near silence > until a feature is submitted. The other pattern that's visible is the > approach of providing updates to the list periodically, but not active > collaboration on list and with the community. Of particular concern > is when this is being done by committers on the project, although all > contributors need to remember that we are working to build a > sustainable and open community here. > > You are all part of the Apache CloudStack community as individuals. > Certainly, many of us are working for a $dayjob that may pay for all > or some of our time on this project. However, on the list and in the > community, your $dayjob does not dictate your work here. > Organizations have no standing at Apache, only you as individuals. > Features that may be an organizational priority for your $dayjob > should still be completely handled on the list. This includes > everything from the initial concept discussion, collaboration on the > design, coordination between developers, test engineering, and finally > getting into a CloudStack release. > > This also extends to aspects of our project that are not directly tied > to building new features. When we kick off a testing process of a > release, I'd like to see someone offer their time to act as a QA lead > for a release cycle, and for the community members that want to be > part of that testing process to individually volunteer for the work. > When we do marketing for the community, the same rule should apply. > Individuals that act as product managers within their $dayjob role, > and who's product may rely on this community in some way or another, > need to understand that their collaborative contributions are just as > important (and very much wanted!). > > It really boils down to a simple rule, and one that's consistent > across Apache projects: Things that are not done in the project > community are not actually community actions. For example, this means > that feature development that isn't fully executed in the open and > through the community process are subject to the IP clearance and / or > the Software Grant Agreement contractual process, assuming that the > *community* agrees to include the work in the project's codebase. > These are fairly onerous processes, so I hope that we don't have to > use them frequently. > > Now that's the policy perspective, but there's a community development > perspective as well (which I personally feel is even more important). > Each time something is done by organization X, and not done by > individuals working within the community, the value of the community > is lessened. > > As of right now, I'm personally going to be watching for areas where a > veto must be thrown on any action that isn't done with the community > in mind. I know that there are others that are going to be looking at > doing the same. This isn't something that we want to do, but it's > necessary to our long term health as a project. > > FWIW, here are two good pages on *why* this is such a community > development concern: > > http://producingoss.com/en/setting-tone.html#avoid-private-discussions > > http://www.theopensourceway.org/book/The_Open_Source_Way-Stuff_everyone_knows_and_forgets_anyway-Take_extra_extra_extra_care_to_have_all_discussions_in_the_open.html > > Trying to end this email on a positive note, let me say that I > personally want nothing but the best for Apache CloudStack, both as a > software project and as a growing community of like minded > individuals. Our young Apache community has done some great things > together so far. Please do your part to help us continue to grow and > evolve in the spirit of an Apache project. > > -chip
Chip: I share your concerns about these issues. I am going to strive to be vigilant with my own actions, and help watch what is going on. I'll add that in many ways I feel this is an education matter. And I hope that the discussion that follows helps us properly set the course going forward. --David
