[TYPO3-hci] Motivations, WAS: 4.1 = menubar/iconbar/dashboard; lets go!

[Kasper Skårhøj]

Thanks JoH  ( :-) )

Caught me a few months back, I would agree. In the meantime I  
realized what healthy Open Source is made of:

Lets assume we have a 90-10 balance (probably worse) between  
stakeholders and actual contributers to usability on this list (and  
TYPO3 in general). Here are two strategic scenarios:

1: "OK, lets hear everyones opinion, then decide on a solution and we  
will find someone to implement it".
This is such a nice and comforting thing to hear for the 90% that  
hopes to get their problems solved by someone else. But it seriously  
wears on the 10% contributers who will rightly ask, why they have to  
do all the work they have no self-interest in.

2: "I don't care - for me it works"
This is very disturbing for the 90% stakeholders who now realize that  
if they want it to work for them, they have to be _active_ with more  
than ideas to get their agendas through. For the 10% contributers  
their motivation will stay intact because they can improve the  
software for their own needs - and will do so next month again.

Scenario #1 will by time shift the balance from 90/10 towards 99/1  
while Scenario #2 will shift from 90/10 towards, say, 80/20 or better  
(or the project will get "cleaned up" to a 100/0 balance because the  
90% gets mad and leave).

"I don't care - for me it works" sounds quite negative, but the sum  
of such claims is very positive as long as everyone has a fair chance  
to make it work for himself; and that is where I want to go because  
it is the very rationale behind why Open Source works: The Personal  
Itch. Watch my keynote podcast next week where I discuss this in more  
detail.

I will therefore claim that your understanding of a "professional"  
and well working Open Source community is not on the mark and that my  
view is a more healthy way to lead our efforts.



The TYPO3 Association offers you these ways to contribute:
- Writing patches that are approved by members of the core team.
- Extensions for anything you cannot get acceptance for in the core  
team.

As a TYPO3 developer in general I offer you two things:
- Create a framework everyone can contribute into (obligation due to  
role)
- Solve my clients needs (personal itch)

As the HCI team leader I offer you:
- A mailing list to meet other people concerned about usability and  
through that the possibility of common ideas.


For me, its no more, no less. Since this is foundational theory for  
me, I would like to hear if you find major problems with it.


As for the HCI improvements to 4.1, I always said this was my  
_suggestion_, I have suggested my code as a _prototype_, invited  
people to _improve_ it, but if no one will contribute significantly  
on the _code_ side, you get what you see now.

- kasper






On Oct 12, 2006, at 13:11 , JoHasenau wrote:

> Let me extract the essence of this "discussion" since it's a good  
> example of
> the major problem of current TYPO3 development.
>
> <snip>...</snip>
>>> I think it's obvious that I will not invest my personal resources
>>> into something that seems like a detour to me. So don't expect my
>>> support in
>>> this field there are other things to work on.
>>
>> Thanks for your view Elmar, I don't expect you to invest your
>> resources into something you don't believe in. I feel exactly the
>> same way which is why I will continue to do what I think is right or
>> good enough to scratch my itch.
>
> It's funny to read statements like these, when on the other hand  
> people are
> called stubborn and told to show more _respect_ just by using a  
> real name
> (which IMHO is still something that doesn't exist in virtual  
> communities)
>
> I can't see professionalism or respect in both of your statements.
>
> Of course there is some truth in Elmars thoughts about accessibility,
> although I personally doubt that it will have that big influence on  
> the
> future success of TYPO3 as he mentioned in his statement. But I  
> don't think
> it will bring the project any further, if he simply refuses to  
> contribute
> instead of starting a constructive disccussion.
>
> On the other hand Kaspers statement shows the major lack of the  
> current
> TYPO3 project: Many things are done in a way that is "good enough  
> to scratch
> ones itch". As long as they are done this way just because the  
> developer
> didn't know better it is not that bad, because at least there is  
> something
> available that can be used even if it it's not always very useful.  
> But when
> it comes to situations where people try to discuss things, try to  
> show other
> ways to improve the solution in terms of accessibility, performance,
> security or whatever and they just get a simple "I don't care - for  
> me it
> works" IMHO this shows much more disrespect than using a nickname  
> in a NG.
>
> I would expect more professionalism from both the leader of the ECT  
> and the
> chairman of the TYPO3 project and I would really like to get the best
> menubar solution for TYPO3 since this would "scratch the itch" of  
> many more
> people ...
>
> Joey
>
> BTW: You might have noticed the change in my sender name? Respect. ;-)
>
> -- 
> Wenn man keine Ahnung hat: Einfach mal Fresse halten!
> (If you have no clues: simply shut your knob sometimes!)
> Dieter Nuhr, German comedian
> openBC: http://www.cybercraft.de
> T3 cookbook: http://www.typo3experts.com
>
>
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- kasper

"Necessity is the mother of invention"
-------------------------------
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gizmo: kasper_typo3