-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 For those who do not wish to read and/or participate in strategy/structure discussions, feel free to ignore this message.
I have heard a lot of discussion here about how things work in a FOSS community and want to offer some insights on that and how it relates to what marketing is. This is a lengthy post, but I would very much appreciate you all reading it in its entirety before commenting. When you talk about FOSS communities and how they do things, that seems to be referring to communities of developers - operative word here. That model works well with things like software packages, documentation projects, translation projects. even artwork projects - where you are producing a discrete tangible product. But marketing, although it uses discrete tangible products, and one might even consider a specific marketing campaign like the one I am working out, as a tangible, discrete product, the real purpose of marketing, especially marketing something like Ubuntu is much more intangible. We are trying to change the way people think and feel and act - their buying habits. Every marketing project is or should be focused on that goal, and that goal alone. Yes, a specific marketing project can have a more specific tangible goal, like giving away 1000 LiveCDs at a convention, but that goal does not exist outside of or separate from, the overall goal of changing peoples minds and behavior. Any of these tangible discrete marketing projects that is not done within the context of the greater marketing goal is not really serious marketing. And because of this need for integration into the greater marketing goal, there has to be some kind of "power" structure - a lead marketer is the term used in a lot of marketing agencies - to ensure that individual projects are integrated and coordinated with each other. That is not something that can be done by consensus or anarchy. Someone - either an individual or a committee - has to take responsibility for that. This individual/committee has to take responsibility for achieving the marketing needs and goals of the customer - in this case, the Ubuntu community. Someone has to be held accountable for meeting those needs. There is, IMHO, no one, not ever Cody, the team administrator, who is held accountable for or takes responsibility for whether the marketing team is meeting the marketing needs of the Ubuntu community. That is what I am working on in discussions with some other people on this team who have expressed interest in team leadership - a proposal for a group of marketers who will be responsible for and held accountable for achieving the marketing goal - Fixing Bug #1 - of the Ubuntu community. And, IMHO, that is what the entire Ubuntu community is waiting for us to do - why they are so interested in this discussion. Given that no one, as far as I can tell, has much of a marketing success track record, operative word being marketing, selecting this committee by meritocracy is not possible. An election is an option but that takes time. and at this point in the history of this team, I am not sure that the results of such an election would be the best for meeting the needs of the Ubuntu community. My opinion on this, and these are the people, with one exception, I have tried to get together are the people on this list who have publicly expressed a desire and willingness to be responsible, and hopefully - although we have not yet discussed this - be held accountable for meeting the marketing goal of the Ubuntu community. And who either have prior MARKETING experience or have exhibited that they understand what marketing is all about. Sorry, people, but, IMHO, most of you have a very limited understanding of marketing and how it works. That's not a criticism but a statement of fact based on my observations of what is being said and done here. I am not familiar with all the in and outs, both technical and political, of how things get done on the Ubuntu community. But I do know marketing, having done it in one form or another since I was a kid with a paper route. And, honestly, knowing marketing should be the ONLY real criteria for leadership on this team. Anything else can be delegated to people with the appropriate technical skills or political savvy. Finally, if the FOSS model that seems to be invoking as something sacrosanct does not work for this team, then let's find one that does work. But, IMO. the REAL FOSS model does work with some modification, perhaps, because of the particular place this team is at at this particular time. Reserve judgment until you actually have something to judge and stop nitpicking because we are perhaps going against what everyone else is supposedly doing. - -- Peace! John -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFIUlhVsTN+hz1Fu7URAlBYAJ0Sv3vAGsT0Xa/C1Ou9fEo1EYbUQgCeOKjL nCkpJIVDgEvpJNXaXST8c98= =EiSk -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- ubuntu-marketing mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing
