[Osmf-talk] seeking feedback on needs summary

[Mikel Maron]

Richard,

> Most people I know believe that OSM needs to develop to become more 
> user-friendly, more capable, harder, better, faster, stronger. We're 
> agreed on that.
> 
> But there are two viewpoints on how we get there.
> 
> One viewpoint is that you need usability reviews, consultants, funding 
> plans and Needs Summaries to work out what to do.
> 
> The other viewpoint is that OSM is full of talented people who already 
> want to build cool user-friendly stuff, and the priority should be to 
> encourage a welcoming, friendly community where these talented people 
> can thrive.
 
There's no need to make this so black and white. I think the characterization
of the first viewpoint is unfair, and is trying to paint this exercise as bureaucratic
and corporate. 

User experience is important to consider. Consultants ... who said anything about that?
Funding plans ... um, that's exactly what the OSMF has done since its inception.
The needs summary is just a concise statement of where OSM currently stands.

> I'm strongly of the latter view and I think that's what Frederik is 
> saying too. OSM has already developed from a fascinating, but unusable, 
> unholy mess used by 20 geeks in 2005, into a massive, fast-moving 
> worldwide project with 200,000+ registered users. That's entirely our 
> doing. Are we capable, on our own, of taking that to 1m users? Evidence 
> to date suggests: hell yes.

"Our doing"? Why this us and them? OSM has never existed in a vacuum.
And while we've never asked for permission, when offers of help have come,
and our community has grown, we've always been very open to that.

-Mikel
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