This page is for information and comments on the proposed changes to the Sakai Development Process. A PDF of this content (which contains some additional information) is also available.
Executive Summary
In response to demand from the community for more formalized development processes and a roadmap for Sakai development, the Sakai Foundation will use its resources to encourage the creation of:
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Not all of the elements are fully developed and this document focuses mainly on the overall process and the product council, but work is ongoing to develop the full scheme. We want to publicize this 'manifesto' to gather comments and gauge support. Comments that help improve the plan are extremely important, but we are beginning to implement this approach as we seek suggestions for improvement.
Background - Sakai Product Definition
The recommendations here are best understood in the context of a common vision of what Sakai, as a product, aims to accomplish. We therefore offer the following draft Sakai product definition.
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Sakai, unlike some other open-source initiatives, has distinct user and developer groups. Rarely do you see a student, a professor, or a researcher write the lines of code necessary to make the product better. This particular challenge makes us wish to be more methodic structured and creative in the way we manage the development of the platform. At the same time, the notion of a centralized organization controlling most aspects of Sakai development is also not appropriate for the Sakai community at this time.
The degree of process formality differs with each stage. In Research & Development, for example, a distributed model is best--one that doesn't require approval or decision-making from a central authority. We call this way of working "organic". As ideas emerge from R&D that appear to have merit, it is crucial to increase communication about the project and begin to put together a more formal development team and plan. We call this "coordinated"--the idea is to bring together people who might want to work together to create a significant new capability in the Sakai release. And once such a group of people is identified and their objectives clarified, a more traditional and formal project structure is beneficial. We call this "managed".
We also know that different institutions and individuals in Sakai will respond differently to each of these ways of getting work done. So the proposed model uses a different organizational strategy at each phase of development and therefore allows for different ways to engage in Sakai. While it keeps the ownership of Sakai's capabilities in the community, we believe it brings more oversight into the officially released product.
Finally, the Sakai Foundation's role in each of these phases will be different. The following table provides a summary of the style of work, the role of the foundation and the entry criteria for each stage.
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- Is strongly influenced by functional experts
- Have a source of user experience, accessibility and internationalization expertise
- Have a project plan with scheduled milestones, opportunities for community input & contingency plans for major risks. This probably, but not necessarily, implies a project manager.
- Have a plan for maintenance & support
- Have a cross-institutional project team
Not every project will need the same resources, of course. But overall we are looking for projects to adopt more formal organizational structures (become "managed") as they move from R&D to the release.
The Role of the Product Council
The formation of the Product Council is a significant addition to the Sakai development process. Without some oversight of what goes into the Sakai CLE, we feel that the coherence of the release is at risk.
The ultimate role of the product council is to determine which projects are incorporated into the formal product release. That is their only formal authority. The product council will use a transparent process for decision-making. Where possible, decisions will be evaluated against defined and objective criteria. Certain decisions will require more subjective standards and, in these cases, the reasons for any decisions will be clearly and openly communicated. The product council will also seek expert review from persons not on the council.
We anticipate that projects will want some indication from the product council that their project is a good candidate for the release.
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Therefore, even though its only formal authority is to evaluate a projects readiness for release, we believe it will need to advise incubation projects about their readiness to enter the product development phase.
Note that while the Product Council may be consulted for advice during the project, the product council will not direct project resources or tell projects how to conduct their business. They will tell them if the work itself is ready for release.
The Membership of the Product Council
The council will be made-up of a group that brings the different areas of expertise required to effectively fill the product council function. We expect our understanding of the skills required to evolve over time, but the initial view is that the following areas of expertise are required:
- User experience, including accessibility and usability
- Teaching and learning
- Research
- Software design and architectures
- Software production management
The product council will also include the Executive Director of the Sakai Foundation and a Sakai Product Manager, who will facilitate the group.
In addition to these areas of expertise, all product council members should also have the following:
- A broad understanding of the Sakai product
- The ability to advocate for the needs within his/her area of expertise and maintain a broad view of community and product needs
- Demonstrated commitment to engage with and contribute to the community
- Deep expertise in more than one aspect of the product
To form the product council, the Sakai Board will communicate the role and desired contribution of the council. The Board will be open to suggestions and nominations from the community, but will seek to quickly identify the initial product council members. The product council and the Board will together identify a process to evolve council membership over time.