Re: [boost] Idea: Boost Software Foundation?

Subject: Re: [boost] Idea: Boost Software Foundation?
From: Dean Michael Berris (mikhailberis_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-11-25 10:34:37

On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:14 PM, Edouard A. <edouard_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> You can do 1. without creating a formal organization,
>

Yes, but it would be really hard to do -- like what's happening now.
Having that one organization that will *full-time*, not on a pure
volunteer basis (i.e. with staff whose job it is is to manage,
provide/maintain resources, etc.) you would have a better chance of
"scaling" the Boost project.

> 2. I agree fully,

Cool. :)

>
> 3. That's where I disagree, although I think the idea is good, I think it's
> a bit naive to believe that the day you create a foundation it's going to
> be better organized "because it's a formal structure". It's just going to
> take immense amounts of efforts, blood and energy. But I think it's worth
> it.
>

It's not "the day you create a foundation", but more like "the day you
have full-time paid well-oiled organizational support for the project
as a whole". Imagine if you had on staff:

 * Technical Writers -- tasked to churn out "professional quality"
documentation on all technical matters in the community with regard to
discussions on the mailing lists, updates on libraries, documentation
on a per-project basis, etc.

 * Release Managers -- whose full-time job is to track down the people
associated with the resolution of issues slated for the release being
developed, to make sure that the quality of the projects are up to
Boost spec, that testing results are gathered, and that releases are
done in an orderly and managed fashion.

 * Evangelists -- whose full-time job it is to promote the use of
modern C++ practices, adopt Boost in C++ projects, and basically get
the word out that Boost is here and that it's now a "serious project"
because we're really serious in delivering the quality libraries that
C++ developers seem to want very much.

 * Project Managers -- whose full-time job it is to manage the
delivery of "promised" features and releases from individual
sub-projects under the Boost Software Foundation umbrella.

 * Test/QA Managers -- whose full-time job it is to set up, maintain,
and monitor dedicated testing/development resources owned by the Boost
Software Foundation. No more "volunteer" testers, just official test
machines/configurations and officially supported platforms.

Think of the level of organizational support Boost projects can enjoy,
and the kind of quality that Boost Library and Tool developers can
deliver because of the above. I don't think a pure volunteer, mostly
part-time, organization/effort can possibly dream of delivering
without at least a handful of dedicated resources.

I personally think it's worth it too, and I think in that point we
don't disagree. ;)

-- 
Dean Michael Berris
blog.cplusplus-soup.com | twitter.com/mikhailberis
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