DITA TC in Agile??

["Dr. Stanley Doherty" <stan@modularwriting.com>]

Hi --

Wanted to offer a couple of thoughts in response to Kris' very practical proposal.

1. Does it feel to anyone else that we are dealing
   with many of the pitfalls of 90's-style waterfall
   development?
   > LONG development cycles 
   > Unequal distribution of workloads across teams
     and/or individuals
   > Large-ish sets of complex, all-or-nothing goals
     (versus smaller, incrementally-achievable goals) 
   > Competition between long-term (fun) and short-
     term (less fun) priorities.

2. Should we entertain moving the TC to Agile?
   > Chair(s) as product owner(s)
   > Self-organizing work groups focused on many
     trhe areas thatKris outlines below
   > Common, prioritized backlog of short-term and
     long-term goals (stories)
   > Time-boxed development cycles (sprints)
   > More frequent cadence for delivery (every
     six months? year?)

We can't expect Kris, Robert, and a few others to figure it all out and spoon-feed us. I am totally guilty of that -- baby bird mode. Agile seems to be effective in addressing these sorts of challenges. Should we entertain it as our methodology for DITA 2.0??

Just a friendly thought in support of Kris' appeal for participation/ownership. 

Stan 

== KRIS =================================== 
Since no one has stepped forward to volunteer to be a project manager for the DITA 1.3 errata, I'm trying to think of alternate ways to distribute the workload more evenly.

There are some distinct pieces that go into each DITA release:

Editorial work, information architecture, and management of DITA source 
Style sheet development and maintenance

Builds 

DITAweb reviews 
Project management 
For the 1.3 errata, Robert and I will continue as editors. 


If no one else volunteers, I'd be willing to handle the project management, if we have named volunteers for the other areas highlighted above.


-- 
Best,
Kris

Kristen James Eberlein
Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting
www.eberleinconsulting.com
+1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)