My proposal for Joomla’s structure
Disclaimer: JulyOmola might or might not be a fictional person who operates a parody account.
So, in my job of “Community Overlord”… I mean, Community Coordinator I noticed that quite a few Joomla! members have ideas about what the new Joomla structure should look like.
While we generally pretend to encourage community feedback and “ideas”, this is unsettling as it gives us the feeling that people think we’re not doing a good job at controlling them. I mean, the project. Leading it? Either way…
Sure, we’ve made the Joomla! structure more and more complex with each Working Group we added. And of course, coders leave because they’re fed up with all the politics and the pointless debates. Maybe we’re not the greatest at communicating (me being the exception and @mbabker being a good 2nd. Seriously, Michael, you were the most open, down to earth “Leader” in Joomla I’ve met.). Of course, we don’t know what Joomla 3.4 and Joomla 4.x have in store for us (we haven’t written it yet, duh) and we’re guestimating what the future holds in store.
But does that mean we should take things “more open”? That we should decentralize power, and remove unneeded layers of management? Should we give more power to the community? Do things the “Open Source” way? Why would you want that?
I’ve already shared my view on Twitter, and I’m only repeating it again because @phproberto suggested it, but… We’d all be better of if we implement the following structure.
July (that’s me) > The community minions. Or members. Whatever you want to call them.
This structure offers a few benefits. First of all, it’s a pretty flat structure. Everyone reports to me, and I’ll reply “Yes” to every question. I don’t see how that could go wrong. It’ll drastically reduce the number of e-mail chains you’ll need to follow.
Second of all, I’ve pretty much been in charge of Joomla since 2011 anyway. You just weren’t informed by OSM or forgot to read the documents. What? Those reports weren’t shared publicly? Doesn’t matter, you know it now.
So, yeah. July Omola for Joomla Presditent 2014 — the big merger with Drupal. Never forget.
So, if you could please stop sharing your opinions with the world, that would be great. Open Source might be many things, but that doesn’t mean you can have personal opinions about it…
On a serious note
Whatever the structure might be, no matter who’s in charge (hint: vote July), Joomla needs to focus on it’s core: the code. Joomla is a good tool, but we must all focus on making it better. Instead, we’ve been fighting battles on the side for years. You guys. Stop it. Seriously.
I’m not a structure expert, but a good structure would have the following elements:
- Being profession is good. Being “semi-corporate” like in the main proposal? Nah.
- OSM isn’t, and shouldn’t be Joomla’s management. Joomla Leadership should be fluid, and merit-based. Not vote-based. The idea with coordinators? Great, if you’re going to employ six people who, to avoid a huge backlash, have zero to do with Joomla.
- Simpler is better. (I still vote for my suggestion)
- The structure should be 100% build around the code: the CMS and the Framework. (Is that still a thing?)
But enough talking. Let’s have a cup of coffee and wait until the #jpositive fest after JWC14 dies out. I’m sure we’ll have to disown a few more members with “valued opinions” about structure proposals in the next week or so.
Vote July.
