[IAEP] SoaS as a Sugar Labs project.

David Farning dfarning at sugarlabs.org
Wed Aug 26 11:42:57 EDT 2009


On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 10:18 AM, Michael Stone<michael at laptop.org> wrote:
> Tomeu,
>> Frankly Michael, the only way I can read these posts from you is that
>> you are frustrated because we aren't churning more work, regardless of
>> how much we have achieved that is relevant to OLPC deployments.
>
> Correct.
>
> I do not accept that work I have managed to do in the past is sufficient simply
> because it was the work that I was able to do. Instead, I form or disintegrate
> this acceptance with reference to three external measures:
>
>   * absolute standards of quality, e.g. as formed by acceptance testing against
>     written design goals or user experiences,
>
>   * relative standards of quality as evidenced by the respect and participation
>     of specific individuals whose judgment I trust and whose biases seem to me
>     to control for some of my obvious biases, and
>
>   * freeform standards of quality as evidenced by what other people have
>     made from the work.
>
> I am therefore frustrated, for the reason you mention, because I believe that
> our work is achieves none of these standards of "good enough".
>
> (Unsurprisingly, I'm frustrated for some other reasons too, but that's neither
> here nor there.)
>
>> Do you have any actionable ideas about how to work better for our users?
>
> I perceive a double bind: I have lots of ideas, but ideas are cheap and seem
> most unwelcome here -- they're just "talk" instead of "do", aren't they?
>
> Michael
>
> P.S - Maybe a reasonable compromise on the double bind would be for me to share
> a small number of ideas, or to share as many ideas fit into a fixed duration
> conversation in a different medium?

An effective way to become a respected member of on open source
community is to start with small ideas and implement them.  If the
deliverable works, is useful, and meets coding standards it will be
accepted. A couple of iterations through this:
a: Produce improvements to the product.
b. Help the contributor earn the respect of the current community so
they will be encourage to participate  and take on larger projects.

That tends to open doors.

Drive by ventings tend to shut them.

david


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