[OOTB-hive] Perception of Order of the Bee

Thu Oct 16 23:01:08 BST 2014

Hi Richard,

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts and what you have observed as the
perception of the Order of the Bee within Alfresco. You are doing a great
job a Beekeeper and we are taking your comments into account.

I'm rewriting the email I sent to the list as a blog post for the Order,
and I put a sentence to emphasize that we are targeting collaboration.

And the Honeycomb will be a distro from the Order of the Bee and the
community, that enhances Alfresco Community Edition, which is a product of
Alfresco Software Inc. I think that sets thing as we want them to be...
actually, as we want them to bee.

cheers
Bee Mejias

On 16 October 2014 22:15, Ole Hejlskov <ole at phpfreak.dk> wrote:

> Hi Richard
>
> I really appreciate your honesty and this is *exactly* the kind of
> communication
> we need between the Order and Alfresco.
>
> The statement about the fork is going away, like Oksana said, as we have
> been
> over it a few times, but you also have to acknowledge that when we founded
> the
> Order there was a great deal of FUD in the community. Everyone was scared
> of
> Alfresco’s next move, and the gap between community and enterprise only
> seems to grow, without any clearly defined statements about the future of
> community.
>
> Our main concern, at the time, was that Alfresco was closing the source
> down,
> and if that were to happen someone would have to take charge.
> Do we want to do this? No, of course not.
> No one can phantom the amount of work there’s involved in maintaining a
> fork of a
> project like that.  If we’re forced to do so, we might just do it, but we
> should *not*
> focus on that.
>
> We are all about collaboration, coordinating efforts and helping Alfresco
> be even
> more open in every meaning of the word. That is where our focus is, and the
> mission statement should reflect that.
>
> From the time we launched the Order everything went SO fast. We grew to 30+
> members in the first week, and we’re at 80+ members now. We quickly got
> recognised by Alfresco, and there has been great commitment from
> Alfresco’s side,
> but we are still a very young organisation and we are still figuring
> everything out.
>
> That being said, there are still some people in the community (and the
> Order) who
> only sees problems, and does not really (or simply refuses to) believe
> that Alfresco
> is serious about their open source commitment.
>
> To all of those who still have doubts please remember that trust is a two
> way street.
>
> Alfresco has embraced us, given round applause at summit and overall
> received
> us with their arms wide open. We should repay the favour by trusting them,
> and
> continue to build a strong and communicative relationship.
>
> I really feel that the future will be much more transparent and open.
> There will be
> a few mistakes along the way - on both parts. We just have to continue to
> be
> open and honest with each other.
>
> I hope this addresses your concerns. Feel free to forward the email to
> anyone who
> has doubts about the true nature of the Order.
>
> /Ole
>
> On 16 Oct 2014, at 19:37, Richard Esplin <richard.esplin at alfresco.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Boriss' email about Summit prompted me to share a concern. I completely
> agree
> > with Boriss' upbeat view of Summit and the role played by Order of the
> Bee. It
> > was very positive.
> >
> > I want to caution that we need to be careful to emphasize the cooperative
> > relationship the Order of the Bee has with Alfresco Software.
> >
> > Those who have read the list archives know that the goals of the Order
> of the
> > Bee are very complimentary to the goals of Alfresco Software. The
> founding of
> > the Order was motivated by concerns that Alfresco Software was moving
> away
> > from its open source roots, and the organization of the Order prompted
> > Alfresco management to examine that perception and to formalize the role
> open
> > source plays in our current strategy. Alfresco leadership did not feel
> that
> > they were moving away from open source, but they recognized that they had
> > stopped emphasizing it as they focused on increasing the go-to-market
> > capability of the company. Alfresco Software now intends to renew its
> > investment in our open source and developer communities. This is an
> important
> > result.
> >
> > However, I have heard a few Alfresco employees (not management) refer to
> the
> > Order of the Bee as "a gun to the head of Alfresco threatening to fork if
> > Alfresco doesn't meet their demands". This perception is not
> constructive as
> > it undermines our cooperative relationship.
> >
> > Alfresco management recognizes that the governance of Order of the Bee
> > provides a useful assurance to our customers that Alfresco is truly an
> open
> > source alternative for content management. We also recognize that no
> product
> > will meet everyone's needs, and one of the strengths of open source is
> that
> > people can fork at any time to meet their own objectives.
> >
> > We also recognize that many of the goals of the Order of the Bee are
> around
> > filling gaps where Alfresco should do a better job in nurturing our open
> source
> > community. We are humbled to admit our deficiencies, but we are grateful
> for
> > the help.
> >
> > Likewise, Order of the Bee has previously discussed forking Community
> Edition
> > and decided that is not part of the current mission. So long as Community
> > Edition continues to be an innovative product, it seems like a waste of
> effort
> > to divide the larger Alfresco community.
> >
> > The perception that Order of the Bee is a group who is hostile to the
> business
> > interests of Alfresco Software is rooted in misunderstandings and a lack
> of
> > trust. That will take time to over come.
> >
> > Likewise, I sense that there are many members of the Order of the Bee
> who do
> > not trust Alfresco management. Though I might not always agree with the
> > company's course, I feel that they have been transparent in setting a
> course,
> > following it, and explaining when it changes. I am optimistic that open
> source
> > is again an explicit part of our strategy. It will take time for the
> community
> > to see the results of these efforts, and those who only want to see the
> > problems will probably never be convinced. Our execution has always had
> gaps,
> > but members of the Order of the Bee can help recognize the good things
> > Alfresco Software is doing.
> >
> > Having personally spoken with the leaders of both Alfresco Software and
> Order
> > of the Bee, I see trust consistently growing. I recommend we be cautious
> to
> > create an atmosphere that nurtures trust and collaboration. We need to be
> > aware that some of our jokes undermine that trust, some of our efforts
> might be
> > misunderstood, and we often need to overcome a negative preconception.
> We need
> > to go to lengths to engage not just with Alfresco senior management, but
> with
> > employees throughout the organization, as well as partners and customers.
> >
> > Thank you for all of your efforts and enthusiasm.
> >
> > Richard
> >
> > --
> > Richard Esplin
> > Head of Community Relations
> > Tel: +1 801 855 0866
> > Mobile: +1 801 735 4220
> > Skype: esplinr
> >
> > Alfresco
> > Simple + Smart
> >
> > alfresco.com | twitter.com/alfresco | facebook.com/alfrescosoftware |
> > blogs.alfresco.com | linkedin.com/company/alfresco |
> youtube.com/alfresco101
> >
> > Join us at Alfresco Summit | San Francisco, Sep 23-25 | London, Oct 7-9 |
> > http://summit.alfresco.com
> >
> >
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