Hi all, A while ago we did a survey asking you all for your opinions around a bunch of ownCloud development things. I have good news!
First, we have three winners of the Banana Pi devices: * brantje (Sander Brand) * Rullzer (Roeland Douma) * Yetanfou (Frank de Lange) Congrats! The devices will soon be on their way to you. Now for the results of the survey. Here's a summary: * Most respondents have been 1-2 years involved in ownCloud, 2/3rd is technical contributor. 20% paid by Inc. * Main motivations to contribution are changing the world, improving software they use themselves & out of technical interest * contributing to ownCloud gets a 7 out of 10 and the technical processes are very highly regarded. * many say that apps are important and most note that there should be more focus on the app ecosystem, and related, ownCloud architecture & API's * people are happy with technical decision making, on social side they feel Inc. is too dominant and decisions are made behind closed doors. A more public vision and direction would be helpful. * Many feel there is an issue with getting architectural improvements in and PR's from volunteers don't get the needed attention. Mentoring and special community time was proposed, as were more hackathons. As you can imagine, we want to do something with the input. There are some concrete proposals we will soon turn into PR's or changes. Other things tack on to what we're already working on. For example, many said they are happy that we focus more on stability, well - meet the upcoming ownCloud 8.1! We certainly plan to keep you all updated. If you're interested, here follows a more extensive analysis. # General * Most respondents have been 1-2 years involved in ownCloud. * almost all help with testing, half does coding and reviewing PR's. 45% also does advocacy. * main motivations to contribute are changing the world, scratch own itch & interest in technology. Of average importance are the community and the technical challenge ownCloud faces, least important are money and job perspective. * 20% is paid by ownCloud Inc., 13% paid by other companies, 80% contributes in their free time. * over 90% would visit the conference if they could (about a third thinks they can make it) # Development ownCloud is fun to contribute to (average score of 7 out of 10) and most consider it easy to get code in ownCloud (still 23% thinks it is hard). Most interesting developments are in architectural and feature work. The review process and release cycle get very high marks and this is reflected in the comments: our development process is healthy. A few gave practical suggestions. It is noted that pull requests related to architectural changes/refactoring could do with a clearer vision/goals (documented! and perhaps more thinking. # specifically about apps (mentioned a lot) Several people mention apps are very important, extensively talking about 'ownCloud as a platform' and such. Many then go on noting that the API isn't great, documentation worse & it can be hard to get answers to questions. Some note that parts of ownCloud like the sharing need work before they would build on it... The need for architectural improvements comes up many times and several people note that there is resistance against cleaning up the code. One person notes that he understands where it comes from but this should not "impair competent developers". More trust would be welcome for developers who want/need to improve the architecture of ownCloud core. Not all attempts to do so are 'refactoritis'. # Decision making & communication Most people are positive about the tech direction of ownCloud - test-driven, stability, architectural work, they like it. The technical decision making process is considered OK but a bit non-transparent. It would benefit from documenting decisions, including the 'why' behind them. Also because some note that decisions sometimes feel 'based on gut feelings' and could be explained (and thus discussed and often MADE) better. People are less positive about the project-wide decision making process and consider it more vague and less open. People feel decisions are often done behind closed (Inc.) doors. Inc is considered too dominant by more than a few. More coordination with, at least, some high profile contributors would benefit ownCloud. Two concrete ideas that several people note are: include community PR's in milestones; and have a public vision that's more concrete than "world domination" to help direct efforts. # promo/marketing To promote ownCloud, some point out we should 'hug' people doing good stuff more; and that we should perhaps make videos of core ownCloud functionality to promote it. More local groups doing promo! Many thoughts on getting people involved. Reviewing PR's of volunteers is high on the agenda. Perhaps a monthly 'community day' where questions about development can be asked (mentoring comes up a few times) and PR's are reviewed by core members is a good idea - multiple people come up with related thoughts. Doing more local meetups or hackathons at conferences comes up a few times as well. Last but not least, the (ir)regular development reports are greatly appreciated. # other * Best reason to contribute: To enable my daughter to access our data from her school-owned tablet (on which she is only allowed a limited number of applications) * Several people point out the translation process isn't great. Cheers, Jos -- Disclaimer: Everything I do and say is based on my view of the world today. I am not responsible for changes in the world, nor my view on it. Everything I say is meant in a positive and friendly way, unless explicitly stated otherwise. find me on blog.jospoortvliet.com
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