Thu 04 Dec 2008 |
Credit
Written by Amy Stephen
From time to time, I pick up my copy of Producing Open Source Software by Karl Fogel and I read. Every time I do, I enjoy Karl's thoughtful insights into how best to motivate people. I am always reassured that maybe we are doing few things right in the Joomla! project. This book also prompts ideas that we might want to consider trying.
Case in point, here is a quote is from Chapter 8. Managing Volunteers that is simply entitled Credit.
Credit is the primary currency of the free software world. Whatever people may say about their motivations for participating in a project, I don't know any developers who would be happy doing all their work anonymously, or under someone else's name. There are tangible reasons for this: one's reputation in a project roughly governs how much influence one has, and participation in an open source project can also indirectly have monetary value, because some employers now look for it on resumés. There are also intangible reasons, perhaps even more powerful: people simply want to be appreciated, and instinctively look for signs that their work was recognized by others. The promise of credit is therefore one of best motivators the project has. When small contributions are acknowledged, people come back to do more.
Today, I am calling out for volunteers who would like to work as a team to create an extension for Joomla! that would help us list tasks that must be done to keep the project moving forward. Of key importance would be the ability for this extension to also make visible contributions by individuals who make these things happen.
A credit machine, if you will.
If you are interested in working with a small adhoc team of volunteers to design, build, test, and implement such a tool, please volunteer! Karl's reminder of the importance of credit for motivating contributors to contribute, again, is spot on in a free software community. I would love to see a great team of contributors step forward and make this happen.
2008-12-04 07:14:59
I am ready to join in this project
Please let me know the details
Regards
kannan
2008-12-04 15:14:08
2008-12-04 18:06:24
2008-12-04 20:35:25
The book of Karl is also my favorite open source book. It's a valuable piece, and once in a while when I forget the bigger picture, i'll flip open the book.
I 100% support your call for getting people write interesting stuff, there is bascially nothing holding you back to show what you can build
Wilco
2008-12-05 02:22:25
Omar - I love the idea about using the tracker since we use it for bugs and, to a certain extent, development tasks. A concern might be that the tracker can be a bit "geeky" for some.
Overall, what I would love to see happen is that every contributor could have a "home page" where they could share a personal profile - links to their blog and maybe some social networking links - and also this list of work they accomplished. If we can figure out how to keep the list of work accessible to everyone - so that new tasks can be easily added - people can see what work must be done - and it's easy to "sign up for" a task - making visible what people have done - I don't care where we keep the data. Maybe an Web Services interface between these environments? Anyway, good idea to use something already available.
Karl - what an honor. Thanks so much for your visit and for your many contributions to free software. As our Development Working Group Coordinator, Wilco frequently talks about concepts from your book and how we can improve our processes and lower barriers. So, this is a *big* thrill. We'll have to tap you to see if you can do a keynote for a Joomla! Day sometime. That would really rock!
2008-12-07 23:52:08
This is done through their web sites of course.
So the question here is, why these projects that already exists and were proven in the time (for good or bad) never had such tribune to call for help?
2008-12-08 04:32:13
I think I understand your concern. You feel it was unfair of me to blog about this project and call for help. (If that is not your concern, then try again, because I might have misunderstood.)
At Joomla.org, there is a lot of work that has to be accomplished - and is done for the benefit of all. Case in point, the Joomla core code - the bug fixes - the translations - the documentation - the frontpage articles - the infrastructure - the forum support. All of that work is provided by volunteers and ends up creating benefit for all of us.
I also happen to believe that many people would like to give something back - but they aren't looking for another job or a significant investment in time. But, if there were a list of tasks we needed done - and one of them sounded interesting and utilized their skills - they might like to do that.
I'm calling out for people who think it would be fun to contribute towards building such a system that makes it easier for people to post tasks and easier for community members to see this work - take a job - and give something back.
Now, that's for all of us. That's not my personal project. I hope that clarifies the intent.
Having said that Ivo, let us find ways to help developers find others to work on GPL projects. That's a good conversation to have. If you have ideas on how best to amplify people's voice - dude - I'm interested.
Thanks for always speaking up.
Amy
2008-12-08 20:11:56
I just think it will be more fair, if others could do that in the community blog as well
I am not pointing myself here or projects I am involved. It is a matter that I have seen often such requests for great extensions, so just giving them a back would be nice
2008-12-08 21:28:51
I like your idea - and we are all trying to find ways to help people connect. Which is a good segway into -> if you have a blog about Joomla! - get signed up for JoomlaConnect http://community.joomla.org/connect/get-connected.html - be patient because it can sometimes take time for the volunteers to process those requests.
If there are developers who want to start innovative projects - or need assistance - or want to share what they have accomplished for GPL projects on JoomlaCode - send me an email - it could make a very neat Guest Blog.
Thanks Ivo!
2008-12-15 20:29:21
Thanks for sharing from chapter 8 of Producing Open Source Software by Karl Fogel!
2009-02-15 15:42:37