[Koha] A Road Map for Koha

[Bob Birchall]

Until the release of Koha 3.2, the project maintained a Road Map which 
listed the features planned for the release.  After 3.2 we switched from 
feature based releases to time based releases and the Road Map became 
less critical.  Nonetheless road maps were produced for (at least) Koha 
3.8 <cid:part1.06080905.05050701 at calyx.net.au> and 3.12 
<cid:part2.08030500.03020204 at calyx.net.au>.

On the sidelines of the KohaCon14 Hackfest, we had a discussion about 
the future of Koha and decided to propose to reintroduce the Road Map.  
This time an important difference will be that it is not time (release) 
based.  The idea is to present a list of features that are planned for 
future releases, with just a couple of lines of description of each.  
Each heading can link to another page to provide a full RFC.  Present in 
the discussion were Chris C, Paul P, Arnaud, Jonathan, Katrin, Brendan, 
Joy, Tomas, Bernardo and BobB. We agreed on the following proposal:

1.  To maintain a road map for Koha - that is not time based.
2.  The road map is to address both features and architecture.
3.  The monthly general meeting following each major release will 
consider updates to the road map.
4.  However maintenance of the road map can be a continuous process.

This led to discussion of the state of the wiki and also to ways of 
promoting the project more broadly.  (We noted some recent press 
releases from the major closed source companies, announcing features 
that have been in Koha since, in one example, 2000!  So we felt its a 
problem that we don't promote more what Koha already does.)

Therefore we propose two new roles in the community release team. These 
are roles that could be effectively filled by librarians (one for each 
role, or a team), allowing developers to keep developing.

_Wiki Curator_
- a lot of work needs to be done to clean up the wiki;
- could also participate (with some developers) in updating the wiki 
technology;
- the role is not seen as a controller of wiki content or as being 
required to approve content, rather it is a curation task:  moving stuff 
around, keeping it tidy, collaborating with the wiki contributors (So, 
looking at stuff and asking:  Is this correct? Does it need to be 
updated?  Should it be moved?  Renamed? etc)

_Communication Manager_
- promote the project and its achievements;
- gather press releases and stories;
- liaise closely with the newsletter editors (Chad and JD);
- update the koha-community.org website;
- send items to Marshall Breeding or other distribution sites;
- write articles or twist the arms of others who might write articles.

We'll seek endorsement of these ideas at an upcoming IRC General Meeting.

Bob Birchall
Calyx