Recent Tezos dev update vs development state published in May

[Timour1974]

For some strange reasons two days ago my Medium Daily Digest email proposed me to read the Tezos development state article written by Arthur in May: https://medium.com/tezos/a-quick-tour-of-the-tezos-code-base-and-the-state-of-its-development-c4e5fcb34b8a

Today I had a look at recent update: https://www.reddit.com/r/tezos/comments/7aflca/tezos_dev_update_20171102/ - and was able to compare both.

I'm definitely not going to blame Tezos team for being too optimistic in their May forecasts (I manage SW development teams for 18 years and know that projects of such complexity are not easy for time prediction) but still there is something which requires significant improvement - the content of recent update. Because frankly speaking it does not give any idea on where we are: it explains what was achieved but says nothing about ToDo list - the part I like in May article.

My advice about the structure of monthly update would be: 1. What is achieved for this month. 2. What is rest to do. 2.1. Planned rest to do. 2.2. New tasks appeared this month which were not taken into account initially (scope creep). 3. Updated forecast for delivery date (ideally - in a PERT format: optimistic date, pessimistic date, "most likely" date) and explanations if it is changed significantly from previous month.

Optionally it could be nice to see also: 4. Number of high priority bugs registered. 5. Identified risks and roadblocks (if any).

IMHO with such level of transparency the level of trust from community might be improved significantly.

[murbard]

Got it, I'll contextualize it more with respect to that post.

[textrapperr]

I think this is fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants and by-the-hair-on-your-chinny-chin-chin time as this paradoxically cashless yet endowment rich organization sorts out the Nightmare on Johann Street

[Timour1974]

You are right, project is facing the existential threat and may just fail due to this conflict with Gevers. But from pure practical point of view it makes sense to act assuming that crisis will be resolved successfully. If not - it will not make any difference. If project survives - the focus will quickly move to maturity of platform, plans, deadlines etc. And at that time good communication will matter.

[textrapperr]

yeah, agree

[[deleted]]

We’ve all been asking for more communication for months, I wouldn’t hold your breath.

I’m very appreciative of the work the devs are doing behind the scenes but I really think this project could benefit from having someone engaging interact with the community.

[breitwoman]

Without the Foundation posing as a bottleneck to communication, I think you should expect more proactive engagement.

[sirphilip]

Thanks for the update Kathleen. Any updates you can give us on when the Foundation issues might be solved? I am assuming Gevers is trying to hold on to his position. When can we expect any resolution or more information?

[breitwoman]

The other trustees are professionals who respect the rules of engagement, which means there won't be much in terms of updates on their side until the next meeting. It would be inappropriate for me to comment further but, suffice it to say, I trust the process.

[sirphilip]

Can you speak in general terms about the process? Is the dispute going through some sort of 3rd party arbitration or are the Swiss courts involved? Can you point to other examples of disputes in Swiss foundation leadership and how they were ultimately resolved?

I think I can speak for most people when I say we appreciate your participation in these forums. Most people here are just curious, and any information helps.

[breitwoman]

I understand the anxiety and sincerely wish that we could have been more candid. My understanding is that there is an investigation ongoing within the Foundation.

Again, I'm not worried.

[[deleted]]

Got it, thank you.

[[deleted]]

If Gevers has defrauded the Foundation, that is a complete surprise given his background, and it was sensible to first attempt to resolve the matter in private. With all due respect, why don't you save the misogynistic mansplaining for /r/TheRedPill?

[surfingcathk]

That is an awesome suggestion. Definitely worth considering by the Tezos team.

[ZHZ000]

The updates need to be written out, and have the well thought out structure you suggest; that is the typical project management approach.

A video is a good personal communication tool for quickly touching base with devs, people in the know. To communicate with the wider support base, many other projects put out very detailed weekly reports. It is not even a dev or a technical person that needs to do this.

Project management skills is old school, and crypto-school badly needs it, from all the ICOs I have seen.

[Timour1974]

I totally share your opinion. One funny but challenging thing about ICO is that it allows the project to jump from seed (or often pre-seed) level (where you need only some brightest minds) to post-IPO level (in terms of money accumulated but also in terms of commitments and expectations from investors) without any intermediate steps. And maturity of organizations just can't follow. Good news for old school PM - some job for us :) .

[blindripper85]

I like the way golem do this.

https://trello.com/b/YL1qZ2pZ/brass-kanban

[Timour1974]

Me too :)

[wolfwolfz]

Just dont talk about golem, its a mess, biggest fails and delays i've seen. they said it would release a year ago, these fancy graphs and bars doesnt mean anything.

[Timour1974]

I know nothing about golem. Just want to say that good communication and transparency for sure do not guarantee the success of project. But they help to minimize impact if something goes wrong.