[IAEP] Funding

[Wade Brainerd]

On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 3:25 PM, Walter Bender <walter.bender at gmail.com> wrote:
> Good question to which there is not a definitive answer yet. The model
> I have been kicking around in my head is to have a small team that
> keeps its focus on top the various infrastructure needs of the
> community and raises money to support community gatherings and such
> incidentals as the filing of trademarks (expensive), etc.

I believe this is one way in which non-profits often falter, compared
with their for-profit competitors.  I have worked with non-profits who
have high caliber "idea" people and a regular supply of volunteer
labor, but no core technical staff.  When each volunteer engineer
burns out and leaves, their work is discarded and begun anew by the
next volunteer, because nobody is there to carry it forward, or
explain it to the next person.

The same issue applies to companies who employ a lot of contractors.

You need at least one senior representative of each discipline
required by the project, full time and on staff.  For Sugar, I think
this includes project management, user interface design, artwork,
shell interface programming, system programming, packaging (and
release management), documentation, infrastructure, and activity
development.

Also, I think that activity development must be a core part of the
team.  Someone needs to be responsible to develop the "killer apps"
that sell the platform (where would the Wii be without Wii Sports?),
and someone needs to be able to take over important projects when
volunteers leave.

Regards,

Wade