[Osmf-talk] Board plan to hire iD developer(s)

[Tobias Knerr]

Hi all,

As we have announced a few days ago¹, Quincy is leaving his role as iD 
developer. The OSMF board intends to continue supporting the iD project 
by hiring one or more people for iD development. But before we advertise 
any position, we'd like to share our plans so far and welcome your feedback.

With Quincy's help, we've put together a list of what we're looking for. 
I'm including it below. Our plan is to base our job posting around that 
list. Of course, the usual considerations outlined in the OSMF Hiring 
Framework² also apply: We would prefer people with an OSM volunteer 
background who have proven that they can produce results without close 
supervision.

Note that, depending on the applications we receive (and whether the 
applicants would be interested in such an arrangement), we see it as an 
option to set up contracts with more than one person – which would of 
course mean dividing the available budget. This would allow us to put 
together a team of developers with complimentary skills and offer better 
continuity during changes in the team.

Here's our list of what's involved (with an understanding that a 
candidate will be unlikely to check every single box):

## Address and balance the needs of a diverse range of stakeholders, 
including:

* iD mappers and OpenStreetMap community members from around the world
* Corporate and non-profit players in the OpenStreetMap space
* Downstream forks and instances of iD
* Peer projects that rely on components of iD, or that iD relies on

## Open source project management:

* Foster a welcoming, professional, online public space
* Maintain and communicate a project roadmap based on input from 
stakeholders
* Gather feedback, build consensus, and defuse controversy around major 
changes
* Host regular online audio/video meetings to give updates, receive 
feedback, and hold discussion
* Leverage the community to reach out and mobilize beyond the 
development team's immediate circle
* Provide support for existing functionality
* Design solutions to enable new functionality
* Review and assist with pull requests from contributors of all skill levels
* Publish periodic app updates with detailed release notes

## Domain-specific knowledge:

* Some familiarity with the modern field of geospatial technology
* An understanding of the OpenStreetMap data model, including tags
* The culture of OpenStreetMap, and the free software and volunteered 
open data world in general

## Web application design:

* Usability: ensure that tasks are intuitive to accomplish
* Accessibility: accommodate a wide range of users’ abilities
* Localization: adapt the app across language, region, and culture
* Cross-platform: support all major systems and browsers, including IE11
* Tablet support: handle touch and stylus interactions as well as mouse 
and keyboard
* Privacy: limit web tracking to the minimum required for operation and 
keep the Privacy Policy up-to-date
* Performance: optimize operations for compatibility with the older 
hardware available to the economically disadvantaged

## Development technologies:

* HTML / CSS
* JavaScript
* Node.js
* Node Package Manager (npm)
* Data-Driven Documents (D3.js)
* Git
* GitHub

## Quality control:

* Code readability
* Unit testing
* Continuous integration
* Debugging
* Clear documentation, both for users and other developers

We intend to offer remuneration at market rates according to skills and 
commitments.

Let us know what you think!

Tobias
for the OSMF board

¹ 
https://blog.openstreetmap.org/2021/04/26/joint-statement-from-quincy-morgan-and-the-osmf-board/
² https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Hiring_Framework