How to have a successful Open Source project

I recently saw this video:

[video.google.nl]

And since I think this is a wonderful community on the brink of doing something really amazing I wanted to ask you all to take the time to watch it. It is kind of long - but I think they have hit on the secrets of how to make an Open Source community work.

Two particular things of note. I think we need an issue tracker and a road-map. These may be a little premature (or I may have been too stupid to find them) but I think the project is about to reach critical mass and it is time to get ready.

In particular... it makes sense to move circuit printing to 1.x or 2.0 and focus on getting it out the door. I hope it isn't too forward of me to say so....

Would you like me to try to put the road-map together from what I've gleaned on the forums?

Sounds like a great idea. :-)

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Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Thomas A. Edison

Long is right (I watched it all)! But some good stuff in there.

hey, thanks for the heads up. i agree with you that RepRap is about to go critical. We dont exactly have a roadmap per-se but that would definitely not be a bad thing to have. I'll try and whip one up here at some point in time.

As for the circuit printing... that was mostly me being a bit misguided and not fully comprehending the situation. You'll find that happens somewhat often, but I also like to think that once I understand the situation better I revise my opinions accordingly. It should definitely be a 2.0 type of thing.

~Zach

okay, i tweaked the 'future plans' section of the website to reflect where the project is heading a bit better, check it out: [reprap.org]

Zach, I like the changes... but it immediately got me thinking of something else.

Do we have a parts list? Something along the lines of 1) Everything the current build needs to do what it does and 2) What parts we can make using RepRap and which we want to be able to do before we release.

Also, I know the support material is really important. But is it possible to design the first iteration of parts so that we don't need it? One head is quite a bit easier than two and we don't have to do as much materials research. That would be good information on the parts list e.g. this part requires support material.

Hey Corey,

good suggestions. the parts list is definitely something i've put alot of thought into. basically right now there is no master / global parts list. what we do have, however, are individual parts lists for each different section (each board, thermoplast extruder, darwin structure, etc.) which are spread out across the wiki. some are incomplete, but the ones such as electronics, and extruder are up to date. please check over those pages and come back with questions and we'll be able to answer them and then fix the wiki.

this is probably the best in the near future for a couple reasons: 1. its much simpler to maintain the parts lists in the wiki page for the part they are for. 2. building a machine isnt a one-sitting process. Most likely you'll build the boards, then another day build the extruder, then another day build the machine, etc.

we are definitely looking into offering kits which would simplify this process dramatically.

looking towards the future, one of the things i really want to do is to create a database driven, community parts / objects website. This site would serve a few important purposes:

1. give a place for users to showcase their created objects and also post documentation about how to actually create said object. it would have interactive features, yet still tie into a wiki system and also subversion. i have a very clear idea of how it would work, and some things are partially implemented.

2. get the parts documentation into a database. then we could have the parts information both on each individual object's page... but also be able to dynamically generate master parts lists, do things like have alternative parts, multiple suppliers, etc. i started working on this earlier, but realized that we need to get the machine out in the wild before we start building a community site for it.

given my background as a web developer, this wont be a hard task, just one that currently would distract me from bugging adrian and the team

(My first post here, hello all!)

I have been following this site since a couple of weeks, reading around and i have to agree that the number of post is rapidly growing and reaching a critical mass. I have been hoping for this kind of a community to become real, and you made it happen!

But now, actually the forum is becoming critically difficult to search, locate, follow and select the questions you may have interests in reading/participating.

I would suggest that it is time to cast a structure to these forums (pun intended )

Right now, in the main page there are 4 sections: General, Reprappers, Contributors, Developpers.
Maybe these sections subdivision made sense while the number of posts was overseeable. Now i believe we need to come up with some other subdivision.

Here is my go at it, please add, modify append, substract, and shuffle as you think would be the best structure for the forums (for the next months, this is never final i'm afraid):

1) General
General, informal discussion forum. Wild speculations, bogus or genius ideas yet to be fully formed, coffee break myths, wet dreams...

2)Reprappers
maybe a section for everybody to present himself/herself and describe in what way you want to help out, as what your skills are...
Also, i think this would be the best place for parts adquisition logistics or pool purchases, as well as offers to share materials, etc..

3) Contributors
hmmm, dunno if this sections should be merged with the former.
Maybe here we should dedicate the section to RepRap t-shirts shop/donations/non-developemental or documental help??

4) Developement
This section needs the biggest remodeling in my opinion.
We need to have it subdivided in these sections at least, feel free to suggest more.
4.1) Electronics
4.2) Software
4.3) Structural parts
4.4) Extruders, seringes, dispensers...
4.5) 3D printing material discussion forum (this would become my favourite section)
4.6) Documentation center


5) Printable Objects
Under this section we could create any number of subsections, depending on the types of objects, from RepRap parts to edible cake glasings.... imagination is the limit.

What do you think?
Also, who manages the forums? Is it only one person? Should we have a pool of people helping out here? Need a hand?

Cheers!!

hey spota,

first off, welcome to reprap! we certainly are growing and this is a very exciting time to join the project.

i sent a note to the developers list about your suggestions. i think they are great. the only problem i can forsee is that the developers section of the website is set to mirror our developers mailing list... and most people (myself included) use the mailing list rather than the forums.

other than that though, i'm all about improving the structure of the website and forums. we should reach consensus in a few days... so keep an eye out =)

Yes - the video is good (if long). But (as one of the audience says) they should have heard of Cecil Northcote Parkinson (see [en.wikipedia.org]). Most of what they say is in his most famous book - Parkinson's Law. This must be a generation thing - till now I assumed everyone in the English-speaking world had heard of that and used the phrase "Parkinson's Law".

I read the book when I was a child, and I could see it was hilariously accurate, even though I then had no knowledge or experience of running anything. The cartoons are good, too.

Thanks Adrian, I had not realized quite how developed Parkinson's law is. I'm not certain whether it is a generational thing (I'm 30) or just something not well known in the US (where I'm from) due to its European origin. Personally, I think it ought to be required reading in public schools - especially since online communities have become so prevalent now.

Great to hear you had allready though about all this!

I'll definitely be hanging around a lot and posting. I'm eager to see the evolution of this and i will try to bring in a little of my skills to the project!

Let's go and make this happen!

the consensus from the developers list is that we'll re-arrange the forums to coincide with the v1.0 release. until then, we should be fine with just one big forum... after all, we really only have 10-20 active people here so far.