Hi Praj,
I'm not sure I totally buy your analysis about Chandler being different
from other applications in this dimension. Excel (and other spreadsheets
like it), for example, is actually a pretty expressive tool used in an
amazing variety of ways. That said, I agree with your conclusion that
user stories would be helpful to the project, and am intrigued by your
proposal of creating a culture around 'creative uses of Chandler'. In
particular, I think the idea of a "use case gallery" and/or "demo
gallery" that users contribute to is an interesting idea.
On a separate note, you've mentioned wanting to help OSAF from the
product planning and marketing perspective. We're certainly open to new
contributors joining "the core team" -- I wanted to talk a little bit
about that process. For either development contributions (code) or
product and marketing contributions, our process is that people should
earn their way into key decision making roles on the project.
For developers that process is more clear -- it involves submitting
patches over a period of time and developing some trust by working out
problems on the list. The developer can be voted into the role of
"committer" by the current set of committers -- this means the developer
can make code changes without submitting them through an existing
committer. The developer can also be granted "ownership" of decisions or
decision areas. (We've been more informal about ownership with a small
set of active committers, but would need to become more formal about it
if the team grew).
We don't have a well worked out process (yet) for non-developers to earn
their way into decision making roles, but we want to follow the same
principles. Of course, one doesn't need to be a "core team" member to
offer suggestions like the one you are offering here -- this is exactly
the kind of contribution that builds trust in working together.
Anyhow, I just wanted to give you (and others reading) that context.
More info on the governance principles here:
http://chandlerproject.org/Projects/OsafProjectGovernance
Cheers,
Katie
Prajwal Kaflê wrote:
My interest in sharing uses was more from a marketing perspective of
Chandler. How could users from the Users-list put their ideas with
screenshots and such and put it in a "Chandler Use-case gallery" where
others can vote on "usability", "innovation of idea", "originality", etc?
Let me explain:
I have been reading through many different blogs in about Chandler and
one difficulty I am seeing that we have is a recurring theme about the
difficulty in marketing and appealing to target users about Chandler.
The question everyone seems to be asking is: "How do we get more people
interested in Chandler?"
I was thinking about why we were having this problem. I was thinking
about the target user for Chandler.
Traditionally, when we talk about a target user for a software that
helps with organization, we are talking about someone with analytical
skills that is good at "figuring out the software and then is able to
adapt him/her self to how it works." That's how Excel, MS Project, etc
work. You figure out the rules of the system and then adapt what you
want to do to how the software system does the entire time you use the
software.
But that is not the target user for Chandler (from what I've understood).
Chandler asks the user to initially make a little investment into
understanding the product, but after that, the tool is supposed to be
flexible enough to be whatever it is the user wants it to be.
Traditional Software Compared to Math:
In other words, to draw an analogy, if traditional software used for
organizing was more like math. In math there are rigid rules that you
have to master before you can do anything. And anything you do is
limited by those rules, and you never break it. You have to be very
innovative, analytical (and a lot of education) and have that kind of
aptitude to translate your day to day requirements as a user into a
mathematical model. (I'm exaggerating a little bit of course).
Chandler Compared to Art
Chandler is more like art class (or cooking class) than math class. In
art, sure you have to take the time to learn a few of the tools
(ingredients) and colors and crafts but just mastering these things is
not enough. To really make use of Chandler, you need creativity a lot
more than analytical skills. Chandler has an amazing ability to be able
to represent your way of thinking in a very customized (personal) way.
I think a lot of people are so used to the traditional way of thinking
about software that this concept of innovation & being able to choose
how you think of organizing is almost intimidating. I wonder if a lot of
people think "Just tell me what it does and I'll just thing that way."
Flexibility gives the user the option to "make mistakes." There are
people who don't want that responsibility (even in relation with
themselves).
Art Products:
So what I'm saying is that if you want people to buy your art products
so that they will want to be artists, you first have to inspire them
with art. I think we need to see lots and lots of examples of art work
on Chandlers marketing website. It's when you see these type of personal
use case examples that people's own thinking will start to make
connections.
"Oh, I can do that. Hey I could use that." "Oh that's a cool way to use
it." "You mean to say I can do that?"
Chandler becomes whatever in the hands of the person using it. It
becomes whatever it needs to be in the hands of a innovative and
creative person
So what I feel we need is stories. Lots of stories of how people like
you and me are making Chandler work for them in working and collaborating.
There needs to be a culture around 'creative uses of Chandler.' And from
there you almost start a competition to come up with the most original
and useful ways to use Chandler.
You get other people voting on what's the most innovative use of
Chandler...and so on and so forth.
Your thoughts on this? And please don't hesitate to be direct on this. I
don't mind criticism when I have confidence the other person knows where
I'm coming from :-). The sooner I understand the constraints and
strengths we have as a team, the faster I will be able to be more
effective as a team member.
Praj
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