[Twisted-Python] (Summary) The problem with Twisted...

[Peter Hansen]

Andrew Bennetts wrote:
> 
> On Wed, Jun 04, 2003 at 10:15:01PM -0400, Peter Hansen wrote:
> > I have only one thing to say in this area, which is please don't anyone
> > think about developing this just because you think you need to in order to
> > help convince someone to use Twisted.  If you don't need it enough to do it
> > for yourself or for someone who has specific documented needs (a.k.a. "user
> > stories") you will not produce something useful to anyone and you'll waste
> > your time to boot.
> 
> I've seen the old coil, and heard discussion on what the new coil will do,
> and I'm sufficiently excited to believe it's *very* worthwhile...
> 
> Anyway, back to Peter's advice -- you have a point.  But couldn't the same
> argument apply to making a manager-friendly web site?  I'm somewhat inclined
> to simply keeping good code, and rely on the quality to eventually speak for
> itself, rather than expending effort on a perceived need to market Twisted
> to non-technical people.  (Of course, if marketing Twisted is someone's itch,
> they should be welcome to scratch it!)

Very true on all points!  Of course, marketing XP style should not involve
a whole lot of upfront packaging and cosmetics, but should be driven by
actual need.  After all, real marketing, the heart of what the very word
is supposed to mean as opposed to how its misused and abused by all the
glossy brochure types in the word, is _understanding customer needs and
developing products which fulfill them_.  So if marketing Twisted is someone's
itch, and they want to be most effective, they should, IMHO, go step by
step XP style and try to understand what the world needs in one particular 
area of Twisted (say, coil) based on real-world information: ask around,
write proposals and respond to feedback, and most important of all: develop
prototypes (quick and somewhat dirty) to elicit direct feedback on what
will actually work.

Basically, in my mind, there is no reason to distinguish between marketing
and "traditional" XP development, as both should look the same if one is
doing them most effectively.

Of course, if by "marketing Twisted" you meant someone actually wants to
do the glossy brochure thing on the product, like souping up the web site
and writing intros for managers, I'm not sure I have much advice except
I don't think it's such a good idea. :-)

> On the other hand, I think more and better docs for developers (i.e. the
> APIs and "HOWTO"s, which are misnamed I think) is definitely worthwhile.
> The more developers we can attract, the better tested our designs and
> implementation will be, and the better quality our project will become.  

Yes.  Yes, yes, yes.  YES!  That goes back to my original "what kind of
manager are you targeting" question.  The best kind to attract is the 
kind who will already be attracted by your approach, and by the quality 
of the product you are delivering.  Those things speak for themselves and
don't need the glossy brochure kind of "marketing", which is really about
selling inferior products to unsophisticated customers.  (Again, though,
if that's what you want to spend your time doing, I guess nobody should
be trying to stop you. ;-)

(Somewhat rambling, but it's very early in the morning and I didn't get
enough sleep... forgive me.)

-Peter