Andrew (Ballantine), That sounds great, perhaps you should create an outline in Confluence somewhere for those who wish to help with this.
Remember to tell everyone where it is and keep telling the list as you update it, hopefully this in turn will elicit interest from others who can contribute and thus get a bit of momentum behind the idea... Anyone who can contribute documentation will receive great kudos! - Andrew (Sykes) On Tue, 2007-01-23 at 11:53 +0000, Andrew Ballantine wrote: > We seem to be making heavy weather of this. > > A road map is a list of recommended action in a suggested order of > implementation. It can have notes that say "if you are and experienced > programmer, go to section x". > > What Ian and I are suggesting is a roadmap for the un-initiated starter who > may know very little about Linux or programming, but has heard so much about > OFBiz that they want to try this baby out (well more of a teenager really > ;-) ). > > I would also suggest that we have some simple documents which suggest things > to try after OFBiz is installed that show off its talents. > > Just simple stuff like creating a product with variants, ordering it, > processing the order, making sure it's in stock, picking it, shipping it and > telling the customer what you have done. > > Use of day-to-day language is important too. Using terms like entity, tuple > and other DBMS terms are too confusing for the beginner. Likewise > assumptions that the reader knows what an environmental variable is and how > to set on permanently, should be avoided. > > It's always the little things that get forgotten that cause confusion and > frustration. > > I would even go so far as to suggest that there should be a section that > instructs the reader on HOW to download the file, which of course the > experienced reader can skip past unless there is a label in red saying read > this because it is non-standard. > > Hope this clarifies. > > Kind regards, > > Andrew Ballantine. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ian McNulty [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 18 January 2007 21:00 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: OFBiz/opentaps as a small business accounting package? > > > > Andrew Sykes wrote: > > As with everything OfBiz, progress is dictated by demand. With adoptees > > coming from such varied backgrounds and with such disparate > > requirements. It would be hard to create such a roadmap that would be > > relevant to all. > > > > Absolutely true. But imo current adoptees mostly seem to fit into a > similar mould. Rocket scientists with high-end clients and very > idiosyncratic niches to fulfil. I'm not knocking that. I count myself as > one of that breed. But there is a lowest common denominator which > everybody seems determined to ignore. Some maps you have to be a rocket > scientist to read. But road maps are accessible to everyone. I don't see > a problem in creating such a thing, providing we start off with an > attitude which - as I think Leo Szilard once said - "Assumes infinite > ignorance and unlimited intelligence." > > That's why I'm determined to play the ignoramus around here. Assuming I > do have the intelligence to crack the code if I wanted to, why should I? > There are plenty of others who are better suited than I. I just want to > climb in, turn the key and get out on the road. Why should the only way > forward be for me to have to learn how to reinvent the wheel? > > > Given that problem the obvious solution is to create free-standing > > documents that allow people the entry point of their choice. > > > > Absolutely true for all free-thinking souls who like to think outside > the box. But, unfortunately, this is a very small minority. There's a > body of psychological research that shows that most people can only cope > with 7 choices in one go. That's why, for a long time, telephone numbers > were limited to just 7 digits. Faced with more choices than that, most > people just roll-over and give-up. Supermarkets apparently work on this > principle. Offer more than 7 choices and punters don't know what to do. > Stick a big sign in the middle saying this is the way to go and most > will follow that. > > > The key to success isn't where you enter, or how you progress, but > > rather that you do it in a thorough manner. > > That's crucial for any engineer. But exactly not what most everybody > else can deal with. Why else are they prepared to pay us so well? My > mother would take a dozen balls of wool and work thoroughly night after > night to produce the most beautiful sweaters. Now, the supermarket shelf > is as far as most are prepared to go. And only then, if they can see > less than 7 in one go :-\ > > > So take a part of the code > > that is of interest to you (you'll need relevance to stay motivated) and > > then work through artifact by artifact making sure you read all the > > free-standing documents you can lay your hands on as you go of course! > > > > That's absolutely crucial. You do need relevance to stay motivated. If I > have to spend 3 months studying textbooks before I can fill in my VAT > returns how relevant is that? Especially when I can install entry-level > Intuit, Sage or Microsoft to do it for me OOB in just a few clicks for > less than the cost of a decent restaurant meal for 2! > > > I hope that helps... > > > > I think it does. Socratic dialogue... Arguing things through and > balancing the ratio of points for and against is the only way to > discover the rational way forward and what might be able to fly. > > Hope that's OK with you too :) > > Ian > > > > > > - Andrew (Sykes) > > > > > > On Thu, 2007-01-18 at 16:34 +0000, Andrew Ballantine wrote: > > > >> Chris Howe wrote: > >> > >> > >>> There's a funny point in learning OFBiz. You start > >>> out looking at it as this huge monstrosity that's just > >>> too much to figure out and you get frustrated with the > >>> lack of documentation available (even given the sites > >>> linked off of ofbiz.apache.org and the tens of > >>> thousands of mailing list posts available and the > >>> number of video tutorials available). But you start > >>> playing with it a bit, and you pass an "aha" moment. > >>> You don't realize the moment that you pass it but when > >>> you look back and think "how can I make the learning > >>> curve easier for the next guy", you realize everything > >>> was there, and it's difficult to figure out what you > >>> can add to those websites that could make it any > >>> clearer. > >>> > >> A clear roadmap would be most useful so that the essential stuff gets > read > >> first. And yes, there are already How to documents, architecture > documents, > >> but there is too much to read plus every document starts with a brief > resume > >> of OFBiz rather than getting down to the business at hand. Basically it > >> appears that every document has been written to stand alone and therefore > >> feels the need to fill in the back ground on OFBiz. I haven't yet read a > >> great deal of the available documentation, but there is a trend there. > >> > >> Please don't take offence at these comments, they are only intended to > help. > >> I also find that there is a lack of structure in the documents in that > there > >> tends to be paragraph after paragraph of text which is neither reference > nor > >> tutorial. And as I progress along the road to OFBiz heaven I will try to > >> document my path. In the mean time it might be useful to thrash out a > style > >> and structure to the whole documentation suite. Heck I know this can be > >> difficult in the open source environment. > >> > >> I would favour a wiki approach to doing documents provided the wiki is > >> restricted to named members to stop spammers wrecking it. In the wiki, > users > >> should use a colour, perhaps blue to indicate a question or need for > further > >> detail in the flow of the document and the remainder of the contents in > >> black. I am quite willing to start up a tutorial document if you are all > >> willing to contribute to it with David acting as umpire. > >> > >> Kind regards, > >> > >> Andrew Ballantine. > >> > >> -- > >> No virus found in this outgoing message. > >> Checked by AVG Free Edition. > >> Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.16.14/636 - Release Date: > 18/01/2007 > >> 04:00 > >> > >> > >> > >> ***************************************************************** > >> This email has been checked by the altohiway Mailcontroller Service > >> ***************************************************************** > >> > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.17.6/646 - Release Date: 23/01/2007 > 03:36 > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.17.6/646 - Release Date: 23/01/2007 > 03:36 > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.17.6/646 - Release Date: 23/01/2007 > 03:36 > -- Kind Regards Andrew Sykes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sykes Development Ltd http://www.sykesdevelopment.com
