On Jul 19, 2005, at 7:06 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Maybe after M4 is out we should look at creating some further
milestone versions in JIRA and start assigning some of the tasks
that were in the Roadmap that Geir discussed to them, so we can get
a good visual on the project's plans.
At the moment it isn't obvious (from JIRA) what needs to be done to
get to a 1.0 release, and how we are going to achieve that (steps
along the way). The JIRA roadmap view is useful to see what is
planned for future releases and would probably assist prioritizing
work. There are also a lot of unscheduled issues that would be
nice to place on a roadmap. Maybe a review of tasks for future
milestones should be done at the end of each milestone? Comments?
We are still hammering on M4, so I don't want to distract people to
much. Just want to get people thinking.
I have a couple things in my mind still in the abstract. Will try to
get them out in some sensible way. Bare with me.
<rambling>
RELEASE OFTEN, PERFECT OR NOT
Ok, so it's been a year since M3 (ouch) and we have threatened to do
an M4 several times. Why did we keep putting off M4 even though we
knew very well M3 was no good? I think the reason is something along
the lines of 1) being optimistic in many forms, 2) wanting the next
release to be some form of perfect, 3) being focused on a couple (or
one) very large goal.
More important than 1, 2 or 3 is time.
Let's ask ourselves:
- How much usablility feedback could we have gotten in an entire
year's time?
- How many releases could we have done in the last year?
- How many would-be committers and users did we miss out on by not
releasing?
Let's be more humble and admit that every release is going to "suck"
to some degree (i.e. not be perfect) and it's better to work on
getting them out faster, not slower.
We need to stop making such a bid deal about the next release, which
only slows it down, and start thinking two or three releases out.
Normally some form of competition would drive us to push releases out
the door quickly and keep our goals in check with what people really
do need now and what they would be fine having later. There is
competition out there, but it's us not competing with them, not the
other way around. Sorry, just calling it like I see it.
MILESTONES AND USABILITY
Alright, IMHO, we've outgrown milestones. Better said we've attained
our goal of passing the CTS, the major technical milestone. Now we
all are focusing on usability. From my experience, obtaining
usability is all about iterations, as many as you can get and as
often as you can get them. I think milestones will actually slow us
down on achieving our goal of usability.
We are going to have to crank out a half dozen releases minimum over
the next couple months in order to achieve the kind of growth we
want. At this point in the game it's all about momentum. We need to
be an unstoppable freight-train leaving a trail of release numbers
behind us and picking up as much community we can carry as we go
forward.
Pushing a milestone every three months is not going to cut it, nor is
Geronimo 1.0 M12 such good idea either.
1.0, THE UNATTAINABLE GOAL (CROSSING THE LINE)
The 1.0 release is not about the cool things we want to add to make
Geronimo great. It's about reaching a point where you and the users
agree on what will be supported in a year's time, which won't be much
as it's a 1.0, not a 2.0 or 3.0 or 4.0. That's it, no more, no
less. All sorts of cool things can be added later!
Here is the point where I have particular experience, ... you will
cross that magical "1.0" line at some point, wether you choose to
call it 1.0 or not!
At some point, people will start using the software and become
dependent on whatever you are at the time. Their expectations will
naturally settle on what you have and not where you say you are
going. 1.0 or not, you now have to maintain stability, only you
weren't so clear on what was going to change and what was to remain
supported (be at least backwards compatible), so now you are in the
position to have to support much more than you wanted.
</rambling>
Anyway, those are my rambling thoughts and experiences. Just
throwing them out there for now.
-David
