I apologize in advance for talking like a corporation. But I think there is some good things we can borrow from corporate thinking, and one is to discuss and adopt long-term strategic plans. The danger of not doing this is that continually focus on what is immediately in front of our eyes, working on short-term, urgent activities, but never accomplish the grand things that can only be done with a big effort over time.
To me a strategic plan means we look at where things are today, what works, what doesn't. Then we step back and ask ourselves what our goals should be over the next few years. Maybe even the next year. But generally, thinking long-term, beyond the next release, beyond the activities that we already have on our plates. Developing a shared vision for where we want to go is critical to long-term success. As an example, I drafted some ideas on our websites and the challenges and opportunities there: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/Website+Strategic+Plan I'd love to hear your thoughts, and see your improvements or corrections. I'd also encourage anyone who has an interest to draft a similar strategic plan for other areas, such as the AOO product itself, Documentation, Development process/Build, Marketing, etc. Note: part of this is being honest about what is not working well, as what is working well. So please be critical, but constructive. Regards, -Rob
