[Koha] Proposal to form Koha Technical Committee

[MJ Ray]

Irma Birchall wrote:
> Below are notes that Bob and I compiled from a meeting at the KohaCon10 
> hackfest in Wellington last Sunday.

That was last Sunday, after myself and some others had left.  Even at
its peak, I think only 8 of 20+ development groups were present at the
hackfest.  Who was still present when this unannounced meeting
happened?  Did anyone comment on the inappropriate timing and minority
attendence?

Nevertheless, I sent some comments to Irma, Bob and others as soon as
I heard about the topics, but most don't seem to be reflected in the
notes, so I restate some of them here.  Basically, I feel we already
have the tools to solve the problems expressed; and not all of the
things suggested as problems are problems; so we don't need a Technical
Committee yet.

> [...] Paul is concerned that there is no forum for 
> decision making beyond the next release. [...]

Shortage of forums hardly seems a problem, as later in the notes:

> The current decision-making forum is the monthly irc meeting. Other 
> forums for discussion include the developers' list and the wiki 
> (especially RFCs).

[...]
> It is not clear how to get decisions made about major software issues. 
> There is also the problem of coordinating development of features.

What problem?  Sometimes features are implemented in multiple ways -
sometimes this is healthy competition and sometimes it's because
companies don't have the resources to share externally quickly,
preferring to risk more competition.

>     * how do we coordinate development?

By IRC, Email, Bugzilla, Git, ...

>     * who decides?

Depends on the decisions, but it's likely to be either the Release
Manager or the Koha Community.

>     * what is the structure for deciding?

You ask in a decision-making forum and get a decision.

> Issues discussed on irc and koha-devel sometimes don't get resolved. No 
> clear roadmap about what will get included in next official release.

There have been roadmaps:
 * http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Roadmap_to_3.0
 * http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Roadmap_to_3.2
 * http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Roadmap_to_3.4

So, maybe the problem is not lack of roadmap, but that recent RMs have
not kept roadmaps current?  I think Chris's
http://koha-releasemanagement.branchable.com/ and creative use of
branches could help to populate the 3.4 roadmap and keep it current,
but I'm not sure how.

[...]
> Suggestion to create a Technical Committee.

I really feel this isn't the right solution for our community.  While
Technical Committees are one way of settling disputes between
developers, is one necessary for our mostly-friendly community?

I feel it would be far better to empower and encourage the Release
Manager for short-term decisions and to try using the current general
community structures for long-term decisions.

> Current meetings deal with the immediate, not the long term. A 
> structural development meeting could be held regularly to discuss longer 
> term development.

When did anyone last add a longer-term item to a meeting agenda?

[...]
> RFCs are the usual way to elicit discussion of proposed features.
> 
> But because everyone is so busy, they usually don't attract much 
> discussion. For example, a number of RFCs were submitted in September by 
> Nucsoft OSS but don't seem to have received much comment.

Those RFCs were too late for 3.2 and we needed to see that before
being able to make good comments on those RFCs.

There's currently a bit of a problem with how the RFCs have been
added to the new wiki, which has been discussed on devel and may
be resolved soon.

> Suggestion for developers to make an on-line (skype or irc) presentation 
> of major proposed new features. Forum for input by others. Follow up 
> discussion would be on list.

Skype would be very inappropriate for a free software community.
I can set up a conference call accessible by SIP or telephone if
needed, but IRC (and its web chat interface) seem fine so far.

> Opportunity for Librarians Discussion Group as another regular meeting? 
> Ensure library standards are applied and kept up to date. Could link 
> project with academia.
> 
> Another potential forum is an Opac Advisory Committee.

Is this a plan to overload us with bureaucracy and more meetings to
attend?

[...]
> For further discussion and resolution at the Monthly IRC Meeting on 10 
> November.

Please don't.  That would be really unfair to those of us who were not
privy to the meeting and have just travelled back from KohaCon10.
Also, surely no changes should be made to 3.4's process, else we will
break Chris Cormack's brave release date statement, so why the tearing
hurry?

I note it's not on the agenda yet, so I suggest it would also be a
bit cruel to anyone not following the email list closely to add such
a major item with at most one day's notice.

Hope that helps,
-- 
MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op.
Past Koha Release Manager (2.0), LMS programmer, statistician, webmaster.
In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html
Available for hire for Koha work http://www.software.coop/products/koha