3.1 Ideation

The first step in any project is the formation of the idea.

When I first get an idea for a project it is either specific (these tend to be smaller projects that are easily conceived as a single highly focussed idea) or nebulous (these tend to be more aspirational, general, and poorly conceived at the start). This project is the latter type.

The process of fleshing out these more general project ideas tends to be cyclic.

  1. Have idea
  2. Use existing knowledge to formulate plan
  3. Experiment
  4. Evaluate
  5. Refine
  6. Discover new tools and techniques
  7. Repeat steps 1–6

It is seldom as linear as this and rarely a smooth process, particularly for larger projects where we are dealing with many people (and often many teams) all with different perspectives on the project. In my professional life I have rarely worked on a large project that has been delivered as it was originally conceived.

3.1.1 Intitial Ideas for ‘The DevOps Guild’

The guild will be run as a cooperative, administered and developed by the membership.

Here are some initial ideas for site features.

  • Static site. There will be a framework of static site content binding the various components together.
  • Wiki. Registered members can edit. Possibly more than one (publicly readable and internal guild business)
  • Resume. Members can maintain there resume on site. This resume can be made public and site provides ‘pretty printing’.
    • Resume syncing? Possibly offering updating of resume on other sites (assuming API availability).
  • Portfolio. Can be made public or privately linked to support resume, job applications, or when seeking Guild progression.
    • Linking to certifications held.
    • Linking to members GitHub etc.
    • Guild repository.
    • Guild certification.
  • Forums
  • Micro blogging
  • Chat
  • Training. Members can develop training and deliver through Guild site. Training can be free or monetised.
  • Mentoring. Members provide mentoring and can earn Gilt (on site tokens) and Reputation (on site measure of members participation).
  • Membership. Anyone can register as a member.
  • Fees. Members will be required to pay an annual fee to access site features (Minimum fee to be set by membership). These fees will support provisioning, development, and administration costs allowing the site (and Guild) to remain ad and sponsor independent.
    • Pay-what-you-want. Fees will be at the discretion of member (subject to minimum fee).
    • Fee incentives. Top payment in a month gets lifetime membership (tie breaker; earliest wins). Next five highest get two years membership instead of one.
    • Member can choose whether to make their fee visible to public, members only, or keep it private. (Fee will always be private during month it is paid to avoid compromising incentives.)
    • Members can choose to display their ‘fee rank’ (position in the month they subscribed, overall position).
  • Gilt. On site tokens. Can be earned and exchanged with other members. Can be purchased. Can be used to vote on new features etc. Can be used to pay for training (when provider allows) of membership fees.
  • Guild ‘ranking’. Members can gain ranking (promotion by peer review).
    • Apprentice. Any member can become an Apprentice.
    • Journeyman. An Apprentice meeting Guild’s minimum standards can apply to have their portfolio peer reviewed, if accepted they progress to Journeyman.
    • Craftsman. A Journeyman meeting Guild’s standards can apply to have their portfolio peer reviewed, if accepted they progress to Craftsman.
    • Master Craftsman. A Craftsman meeting Guild’s standards can apply to have their portfolio peer reviewed, if accepted they progress to Master Craftsman.
    • All standards are set by Guild members.
    • All peer reviews are performed by randomly assigned reviewers selected from higher ranks. As far as practicable all participants (applicant and reviewers) are anonymous.
  • Request For Comment (RFC). These will be used to solicit input from members on all aspects of the site development and Guild operation.

Author Note

Turn general notes into something more constructive.