John Norman

State of community product management functions
- What do you think of the product development lifecycle (have you looked at it)?
  - It is a useful framework within which to set expectations
- What are the critical functions that the community needs in the context of managing the product?
  - Strong project management that can cope with unstructured projects and product management to maintain a roadmap and overall vision
- For which of those critical functions, if any, do you think a product council is needed?
  - The product council could help with both - but it probably won't do either.
- How does the product council relate to other groups working on these critical functions?
  - Not well defined, but then we don't have a single organisational structure. None of the groups has clearly delineated responsibility and rigid boundaries could cause their own problems (e.g. if one key group was not working effectively). We need groups to be clear on their purpose and open to sharing and collaborating to get the job done.
- Self-description of groups }

#* Which of those functions are missing from current activity or processes?
- - good coordination
The mission and charter of the Product Council
- When you heard about the product council, what did you hope the product council might achieve?
  - clear roadmap
- How close to your hopes did the product council charter come (have you read it)?
  - haven't read it recently and can't remember what it says
- What would you change about the charter?
- What impression, if any, do you think the product council has on people looking at Sakai from outside the community?
  - I don't particularly care compared to whether it is fulfilling its purpose for the community
Membership
- Have we got the membership right? What constitutes the right mix of people on the Council? How should members be selected?
  - experience in roadmaps would be good, and generally compositions representing all stakeholders
- Should Board members be on the Council?
  - why would that matter if they do the job?
- What expectations should there be on council members?
  - they do their best to do the job and if they can't contribute they step aside
What the Product Council has done
- What do you think the product has focussed its attention and energy on?
  - quite a bit around defining the 2.7 release and what should be in or out
  - a little bit around getting 3 into incubation and worrying about how to get it to the project stage
- What do you see as the successes of the product council so far? What are the disappointments?
  - slow to get traction
- What has been the net pay-off of the product council thus far. Is the Sakai 2 product better off? Sakai 3?
  - I think Sakai 2.7 has a clearer scope
  - Less impact on Sakai 3 so far