Steve Bennett wrote: > Hmm, maybe it's time big complicated intrusive features like this were > designed by BA*, rather than by committee. >
I think it's possible to get the best of both worlds. The community has a lot of expertise in what's going on, what they need, and what the risks are. But professional software designers have a much bigger library of potential solutions, plus a variety of skills and hard-won experience. Not just in designing the software, but planning the rollout, managing the risks, and working with developers. Most software is either internal business software, where users are obliged to put up with almost anything, or consumer-oriented, where users are mostly uninvolved and fickle. The product management methods in either of those spaces probably wouldn't work well here: Wikipedians, as volunteers, can't be ordered around. They also aren't just consumers; they're a community, one that wants to engage deeply. But I think we can take tools from both and figure out something that works here. Are there historical examples of WMF development projects that have gone particularly well? I'd love to look at them in detail. William _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
