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Sender: Mahesh Paolini-Subramanya <mahesh.aptela@dieswaytoofast.com>
Subject: Re: The Future
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From: Mahesh Paolini-Subramanya <mahesh@aptela.com>
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Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2012 21:55:51 +0530
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Part of the issue w/ couchDB in the recent past is that it got good =
enough, and that was, well, good enough for a lot of people (I offer =
myself up as candidate A). =20
To put this in Marketing-Speak, in the Technology Adoption Lifecycle, we =
got to the 'Early Adopter' stage, but never managed to quite make it =
across the chasm to the 'Early Majority' stage. =20
To put this differently, we got to a place where the product was good =
enough to satisfy the Visionaries - who 'got it', and worked around any =
pesky inconveniences that popped up because they 'got it'.  However, it =
was never good enough to satisfy the Pragmatists (who, face it, don't  =
want to have to work around stuff)

(Where am I going with this?  Hang on...)
So, to Mikeal's point about leadership - its not that there is any lack =
of leadership - there is plenty of it. Its just that leadership comes in =
many forms, and in the growth of any kind of disruptive product (which =
this was / is), the type of leadership necessary changes as it moves =
along the Technology Adoption Curve. =20

A quick perusal of users/dev shows that there tend to be many =
discussions about point-features, and most of these tend to get resolved =
fairly easily.  So leadership in the technical/technological sense - =
Yes.
But thats pretty much where things tend to stop - i really don't see any =
person (or group of people) blasting through town with a banner saying =
Excelsior!  In short, Vision Leadership does tend to be somewhat in =
short supply.

All that said, I don't think this is really any kind of major crisis.  =
To paraphrase Benoit, its all noise, and not very interesting noise at =
that.  There is clearly a group of people doing 'stuff', and quite =
happily doing it at that.  Get some releases out, talk about whats in =
the releases, and just as importantly, what these features do and who is =
using them, and a lot of the vision will pretty much make itself =
self-evident.

 Cheers


Mahesh Paolini-Subramanya
That Tall Bald Indian Guy...
Google+  | Blog   | Twitter


On Jan 7, 2012, at 2:55 AM, Mikeal Rogers wrote:

> Ok, we're on the same page on one thing, there is a problem. One =
release in a year with this many great people contributing is not =
acceptable.
>=20
> Sure, my experience makes me believe, and I guess Damien's =
frustrations echo, that part of this problem is Apache process. You may =
not agree with that, but if you don't, and you admit that there *is* a =
problem, then what is it?
>=20
> The first step in CouchDB's 12 step program to get get it's mojo back =
has to be admitting that it has a problem.
>=20
> As much as it's a problem, I don't think that lack of leadership is =
the real problem, I think it's a symptom. I'm glad to see you say that =
we should get up and do more.
>=20
> If you're stepping up to take on more leadership, say it, scream it! =
Own it!
>=20
> -Mikeal
>=20
> On Jan 6, 2012, at January 6, 20121:13 PM, Noah Slater wrote:
>=20
>> I have drafted a few responses to this.
>>=20
>> At the core of all of them is one central point. This has nothing to =
do
>> with our consensus based approach. I find it frustrating that Damien
>> mentioned the Apache consensus based model as a concern, when to the =
best
>> of my knowledge he has not had any problems getting any feature he =
wants in
>> to CouchDB. I find it even more frustrating that you've used this as =
an
>> excuse to trot out your favorite hobby horse. Most people are aware =
of your
>> problems with Apache, but I don't think it's very helpful to bring =
them up
>> now, when they are tangental at best.
>>=20
>> I do, however, agree that CouchDB could do with a bit more =
leadership. I
>> think we could do with being a bit more bold. Back in the old days, =
Jan
>> used to say it was easier to ask forgiveness than it was to ask =
permission.
>> I think that these days, we're too busy asking for permission most of =
the
>> time. I agree that there needs to be an attitude change within our =
ranks.
>> Be bold people! That's what I'll be doing with the website, shortly.
>>=20
>> On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 8:08 PM, Mikeal Rogers =
<mikeal.rogers@gmail.com>wrote:
>>=20
>>> The title of this reply is "Tough Love".
>>>=20
>>> On Jan 6, 2012, at January 6, 20129:08 AM, Noah Slater wrote:
>>>=20
>>>> Dear Community,
>>>>=20
>>>> As some of you may have already read, Damien Katz, Apache CouchDB=92s=

>>>> original developer, has publicly announced that he intends to focus =
his
>>>> time exclusively on developing other products for his company. =
Damien has
>>>> had very little involvement in the CouchDB project for a year or =
more
>>> now,
>>>> so, for many people, this is confirmation of what they already =
knew.
>>> We=92re
>>>> sorry to see him go, and wish him all the best in his new =
direction. We
>>> all
>>>> owe him a huge debt of thanks for all the hard work he has put in =
over
>>> the
>>>> years, and for his original vision of the project.
>>>=20
>>> Yes, Damien has been pretty inactive for over a year, and has that =
gone
>>> unnoticed? How many releases in that time? How much new adoption?
>>>=20
>>> For the last year CouchDB has suffered a vacuum of leadership. This =
is a
>>> thriving community, it can survive a loss like this, but only if =
people(s)
>>> step up and take responsibility. Having a lot of discussions and =
process
>>> around decisions leaves the flavor of meritocracy in everyones mouth =
but
>>> the viewable result of this has been a gigantic loss in momentum as =
the
>>> projects publicly viewable changes and advances have been close to =
zero.
>>>=20
>>>>=20
>>>> Our biggest strength has always been the breadth and depth of our
>>> community
>>>> of developers and users. In the very near future, we=92ll be voting =
in a
>>> new
>>>> committer, appointing a new PMC member, sprucing up the website,
>>>=20
>>> Sprucing up the website. *sigh* This is a great example, I've been =
hearing
>>> this for over a year with no noticeable change.
>>>=20
>>> There have been countless false starts and arguments about direction
>>> ending in a stalemate. Maybe we all think this kind of discussion is =
just a
>>> healthy bi-product of a consensus based process but to the public it =
looks
>>> like it's output: nothing. Nothing piled upon nothing, and we've =
gotten
>>> comfortable with that.
>>>=20
>>>> and making
>>>> a major new release. We=92re happy to confirm that Cloudant has =
also
>>> publicly
>>>> made a commitment to help contribute BigCouch to the CouchDB =
project.
>>>> BigCouch, for those of you who have not had the pleasure of using =
it
>>>> already, is a fault-tolerant, horizontally scalable clustering =
framework
>>>> purpose-built for CouchDB.
>>>=20
>>> I challenge the idea that this is a positive development. Not =
because
>>> BigCouch isn't awesome, it definitely is, but the Couch community is =
much
>>> larger and more diverse than Apache CouchDB and many of the fringe =
projects
>>> have thrived without the Apache process to hold them back while =
CouchDB
>>> struggles to move forward in spite of it.
>>>=20
>>>>=20
>>>> Here=92s to our future!
>>>=20
>>> I'm sure I'll get lots of upset emails and some of those people are =
still
>>> clinging to the idea that this process is more important that being
>>> productive while at the same time in their other projects see =
frequent
>>> releases and contributions because they take responsibility for =
them.
>>>=20
>>> I rely on Apache CouchDB tremendously and the reason I picked it a =
long
>>> time ago over alternatives was because the community was so great. =
Other
>>> projects, and even some of my own, have thrived after the loss of =
their
>>> creator because people were clamoring to step up and take =
responsibility.
>>> But what's happened here is that the leader has become fed up with =
the
>>> process, publicly pronounced it and moved on, and not only is =
everyone
>>> sticking with business as usual and not challenging the process, =
nobody is
>>> wiling to take responsibility for the projects future either.
>>>=20
>>>>=20
>>>> Relax,
>>>=20
>>> I'm trying, I really am.
>>>=20
>>>>=20
>>>> Noah Slater
>>>=20
>>>=20
>=20


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