[OOTB-hive] CE looking bad?

Richard Esplin richard.esplin at alfresco.com
Sat May 23 23:46:45 BST 2015


I think this is a really constructive reply, but I want to elaborate on one 
point Martin makes about docs:

On Friday, May 22, 2015 21:24:29 Martin Cosgrave wrote:
<snip>
> I really wish we could have a documentation project. To my mind there
> has never been any decent documentation for alfresco, and Jeff's noble
> efforts, which were amazing, were nonetheless stories about how to do
> certain tasks, and stories do not make decent documentation. I suppose
> this is a common conflict for open source companies trying to sell
> consultancy, or to build a partner ecosystem, if the documentation is
> too good then there will be no need for consultants.
<snip>

I just want to make very clear that there is no hidden motive to reduce the 
usefulness of the documentation in order to benefit our consulting business. 
Our paying customers are very clear that they think quality documentation is a 
high priority.

Documentation is a hard job. It takes a lot of time both to create, and to 
maintain as the product evolves. There are a lot of use cases for 
documentation that either results in duplicated material that needs to be kept 
consistent and current, or results in awkward organization. I agree with Tahir 
that we have improved a lot, but I also agree that we have a long way to go.

In February the documentation team agreed to participate in the next office 
hours. This conversation has reminded me to get a date picked and get that on 
the schedule.

Cheers,

Richard


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