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@calyx.net.au> and 3.12 <cid:part2.08030500.03020204@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
Salvete!
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.
I am very happy to see this hybridisation of a feature release model and our current time based model. I remember Paul's roadmaps quite favourably. Perhaps we didn't get everything done, but we could see what was planned and funded at a glance, so we knew what was most likely going to happen. :)
_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)
Could this be like the QA team and bug wranglers? That is, what are people's thoughts on having more than one person working on cleaning the wiki? I've tried to do quite a bit of shuffling about over the years, I just hope that it's been helpful. I'm also trying to add pictures, information about people, and my top priority of late has been to polish up navigation on the Koha users pages. They used to be quite long and not terribly helpful, now they are shorter. When the update need arose at the meeting, I thought "Caw, we need a template for that..." Anyhow, if it's more than one person (and I hope that it is) I will certainly continue to help. :) Cheers, Brooke
On 15/10/14 14:15, BWS Johnson wrote:
Could this be like the QA team and bug wranglers? That is, what are people's thoughts on having more than one person working on cleaning the wiki?
In my opinion, more people is more good. A designated leader is not a bad thing though, to help make sure things move along. Bob
Hello Brooke!!
Anyhow, if it's more than one person (and I hope that it is) I will certainly continue to help. :)
Count me in as your assistant. I'd be honored to help with this under your guidance. Arslan -- Electronic Resource Librarian SZABIST Islamabad www.szabist-isb.edu.pk arslan.farooq@szabist-isb.edu.pk +92 514 863 363-65
Everyone should be free to contribute, especially as it is a wiki. I added the names of both BWS Johnson to the Arsan Farooq as wiki curators in the plural for release 3.20, http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Roles_for_3.20 . However, nothing should stop everyone else from also contributing. Certainly, the task of curating the wiki may be unmanageable without everyone who contributes to the wiki at least thinking about the task of curation while adding a contribution. I hope that we can coordinate efforts somewhat to the extent which may be helpful. Please see my proposal for my candidacy as one multiple wiki curators, http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Proposal_for_Wiki_Curator_3.20_Thomas_Du... . Please give special attention to cautions about the risk of categories in templates breaking authority controlled consistency for navigation in conjunction with the SelectCategory extension. Please also avoid the surprise that upgrading MediaWiki without proper preparation may break many things including my own modifications to MediaWiki extensions as has happened in the past. Thomas Dukleth Agogme 109 E 9th Street, 3D New York, NY 10003 USA http://www.agogme.com +1 212-674-3783 On Wed, November 19, 2014 15:18, Arslan Farooq wrote:
Hello Brooke!!
Anyhow, if it's more than one person (and I hope that it is) I will certainly continue to help. :)
Count me in as your assistant. I'd be honored to help with this under your guidance.
Arslan
[...]
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.
If I don’t make it to the IRC meeting here are my thoughts: A roadmap sounds like something that could spark useful discussion on where we want to go. I have no problem with the current way of doing things, but I do occasionally get the feeling that I don’t see the big picture of what’s planned and down what path that development is taking Koha. Sometimes decisions get taken just by small stuff like adding a nifty little feature that makes our users expect even more features in the that area. I do see scenarios where a roadmap/central planning of development could become a problem, but from the description it sounds like a good idea.
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.
Both these two areas could use a boost so I approve.
I created a proposal for progressively returning to filling the role of Wiki Curator, http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Proposal_for_Wiki_Curator_3.20_Thomas_Du... . Please see the detail of that proposal for my suggestion of creating / updating a project roadmap in the wiki which I would not have time to work on until at least March myself. However, I encourage others to use the wiki for creating and updating a roadmap. The great advantage of the wiki is that by linking pages or linking to the documentation one could have a view of development at arbitrary depth. Thomas Dukleth Agogme 109 E 9th Street, 3D New York, NY 10003 USA http://www.agogme.com +1 212-674-3783
participants (5)
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Arslan Farooq -
Bob Birchall -
BWS Johnson -
Thomas Dukleth -
Viktor.Sarge＠regionhalland.se