Greg and I were discussing offlist the role of the project management committee and ways that interested people can become part of it.
Right now, we have technical people in the PPMC, which is valuable because the PPMC needs to deal with technical matters. But! We are lacking in people (who may or may not be technical) who have management / marketing / entrepreneurial / administrative skills, who are interested in the "M" (Management) of PPMC. But since this project is a meritocracy where people are invited to that role based on contributions, how could someone who isn't necessarily making source code patches, but who wants to help manage the project, ever become part of the PPMC? The answer is that "contributing" to the project doesn't mean source code only. Obviously, source code (and documentation) patches qualify as important "contributions" to the project. But so do these things: * Discussions, right here on dev@, whether they're technical, or about the future direction of this project. Where do you see NuttX going in the next few years? What "next big thing" do you believe will happen and how can we meet that as a project? * Marketing, PR, NuttX evangelism, outreach, etc., are very important because a growing user and developer base are the key things that will ensure the longevity and future of this project. This includes building bridges between Apache NuttX and other projects of the ASF. * Graphic design, whether it's marketing type materials like logos, a mascot, fan art, or whether it's technical illustrations. * Translations of our documentation and website to other languages. * Videos. Whether they're instructional videos (showing how to do things with NuttX), showcase videos (showing cool stuff in the real world that runs on NuttX), or even discussions about the business case for NuttX. * What about Music? Huh?! NuttX Music? Well, I'm not being entirely sarcastic here. The OpenBSD project releases a song with every new OS version. Heck, why not? My point is that although quality source code is very important, Apache NuttX is in need of a great many other skill sets, including both "hard" and "soft" skills. I hope that this message isn't going to /dev/null. I hope we'll hear from other community members, both users and developers alike, whether it's praise, criticism, or anything you'd like to share. If you've been wanting to get involved, hit reply and tell us your thoughts! Cheers, Nathan
