Re: [Gnu-arch-users] brain picking (web presense stuff)

[Tom Lord]

    > From: Robert Collins <address@hidden>

    > Yeah, I had the same reaction. Colin's reword however smells better to
    > me. Whilst there is a perception that managers are idiots, they aren't
    > by and large - clear well-written english is the best way to get someone
    > interested when your product is as fantastic as Arch is.

Right.   The objective here isn't to fool anyone with glossiness.

Rather, it's three-fold:

1) Assume that the reader isn't expert in revision control systems
   but needs to make a fairly rapid evaluation and pick one.
   Perhaps someone on the team has recommended arch and pointed to
   this web site.

   The reader should get a little crash refresher course in what
   revision control is and just enough high level detail of arch
   of that she comes away thinking "Ok, I have something of a feel
   for what arch does and how it works."


2) Assume that the reader is a manager either in the early stages of a
   new project or at a point in an ongoing project where new
   development processes are going to be set up.  Perhaps this will be
   the initial partition of a team into subteams and the initial plot
   of the development / release cycle.  Or perhaps a team is going to
   double in size by joining with another team at another site.  Or
   perhaps the team is just being reorganized (or shrunk).  This
   reader is somewhere on a spectrum from "feeling slightly lost about
   how to organize development" through "having a lot of specific
   ideas but not sure how to gel them into an action plan" through
   "having a clear idea about what needs to be done -- just looking
   for the right tools for the job".

   The reader at the "clear idea" end of that spectrum is pretty easy,
   I think:  a few bullet points; list of what platforms we support
   and which ones aren't there yet;  some evidence that the tool is
   being used successfully by others;  the support link;  ideally some
   degree of on-line demo.

   Readers elsewhere on the spectrum are trickier.   They should come
   away from the web site with a few sharper pictures than they go in
   with about how project management might look if arch is used.
   These pictures should make sense on their own -- but also be
   relatable to the crash refresher course in what arch _is_.   One
   big win with these other readers is that they read a page or two
   and think "Aha!  Yes, _that_ is how I want to run this project."
   Another big win is if they say that and also say "Oh, and, of
   course -- I understand at least roughly how arch implements that."

   I'm hoping that we can start to get The Game and the tools
   assuffield has hacked up on-line along with this web site so that 
   for all of these readers -- there's a demonstration of "manager's
   eye perspective" of at least one project.


3) Assume that the reader isn't managing a team in any formal sense
   but just wants to try arch for personal use or for a small team
   of cooperating volunteers.

   Frankly, I think we're doing pretty well with this kind of reader
   already.  Between the list, the wiki, irc, even the much maligned
   tutorial this group may not be perfectly served -- but they're
   doing pretty well.

   Readers in this group should come away from the web site without
   feeling alienated and with some idea of where to go to find
   answers.   The big win for this group is if the materials prepared
   for the other two kinds of reader _also_ get these readers up to
   speed quickly and, perhaps, broaden their understanding of what
   revision control is and what it's for.

The complaint that my little straw-man front page sounds too much like
it's aimed for the Big Point-Haired Boss is, I'm sure, valid.   That's
not going to help readers in any three of the groups.   It'll get
better.

-t