On very own example of Prairie Initiative we can see that there is no convenient place/way on d.o to plan and manage big initiatives/activities.
This thread is created to collect all the pain points we encounter while working on big initiatives/projects like this. And to propose possible solutions for them.
Currently first idea which comes to mind when one is managing initiative like Prairie is building separate website for it. Ideally this should not be the case as d.o must provide environment for this kind of work and not force people going elsewhere.
There are 2 possible ways to manage big initiatives right now: via issue queue and via g.d.o. Both are not working very well, probably because both of them were designed for other purposes.
If we take g.d.o example:
- group is just a blog-like stream of posts, all of a same "value". Among them there are more important ones and less important ones, posts with different purpose and they all are just thrown together.
- cross-posting stuff from various groups might be good "for general reference" but it clogs the content of the group itself, sticking in between more relevant posts.
- for mock-up discussions we use different 3rd party sites, which results in information being spread around various places, making it even harder to find it and follow changes.
- 3rd party sites we use are not very convenient either - often one has to register there, they do not notify about new changes and comments etc.
Please post your own troubles and thoughts here.
My vague ideas are next:
- Create space/new content type specifically for this purpose on d.o
- Highlight most popular/active initiatives on the front page or elsewhere to attract more participants and to generally let more people know what is going on around drupal
- Implement sort of "incubatory" period for initiatives to avoid people registering every little thing as initiative. Lets say something similar to stack exchange way - first an idea of initiative. Then when it gets certain amount of interested people/participants - it goes into active phase and initiative page gets created.
- Initiative page should clearly tell:
- what this initiative is about, what is the end-goal
- who are people leading the movement - initiative leader, people responsible for certain parts of it/certain kinds of work.
- how can person participate, what can he/she do right now
- at what stage initiative is right now, and what needs to be done next in order to achieve goal. (i think its common problem for big initiatives, while watching long long walls of posts one might get a feeling that nothing actually is moving anywhere, and that initiative is not going close to the final result at all - which is of course highly demotivating)
- Different types of work happening should be distinguished e.g. creating place for initial brainstorming/discussion, place for proposed solutions/mock-ups, place for general discussions/chit-chat.