Debates about Community Process

In the past month the Product Council has, for the first time, turned its attention to Sakai 3. It wasn't too long ago, in fact, that Sakai 3 first entered incubation from R&D. The Sakai 2 tools that the Product Council reviewed back in November and December emphasized the release gatekeeping role of the Council, which may have been a necessary start, but also perhaps a misleading one. In my mind the really novel thing about the Product Council is not its formal authority for a final release decision, but rather the work it's meant to do in advising projects in their formative stages, and shining a light on the earlier stages of the development process. If it's done right, development projects should have a better sense (from the beginning) of what they need in order to succeed, the community should have a clearer sense of what's coming down the 'pike, while the weight placed on that final, release gatekeeping decision should fade as we get better at all of this.

Sakai 3 is the first project we're putting through the full process, so it would be dishonest to say we really have it worked out. The incubation phase is essentially about shaping a credible plan: attracting collaborators and the necessary resource, working up a roadmap, and in general planning ahead in such a way that the end result will be ready on time, and ready for a Sakai release.

But again our first practical example risks a misunderstanding - that the full process is only really about Sakai 3. There are even some knowledgeable community leaders that are coming to this conclusion and holding it forth as an insight. I think I understand the underlying point, but I can't agree. As well as Sakai 2 has done, I can't agree that it is fine the way it is; in fact I think the new development process speaks to some of the shortcomings Sakai has always had. Nor can I agree that a lucid appraisal wouldn't mix the chocolate of Sakai 2 with the peanut butter of Sakai 3. It's not the codebase where the right distinction is drawn, it's the community. And a sound community process will recognize the inflection point and transition so many of us are in the midst of.

There will be much more to say on all of this, I'm sure, and my own view will be refined. I don't mean to make a case just now so much as I mean to draw your eyes to the conversation as it unfolds. Among the goals the Product Council has set itself is a clarification of the stages of the process, and conversation will be bubbling up on the public (join!) management list and spilling over elsewhere.