[documentation] [Documentation task] Rewrite of Mission Statement to be more clear and well-defined

Sat Sep 9 22:33:50 UTC 2006

Issue status update for 
http://drupal.org/node/83301
Post a follow up: 
http://drupal.org/project/comments/add/83301

 Project:      Documentation
 Version:      <none>
 Component:    Marketing
 Category:     tasks
 Priority:     normal
 Assigned to:  Anonymous
 Reported by:  webchick
 Updated by:   cel4145
 Status:       active

+1 to all :-)

With a document like this, I tend to think it is easiest to first come
up with the content, then worry about rhetorical strategies for writing
it.  Let the form follow the function, which is dependent on the
content. Most likely the short, succinct statement--one paragraph--is
best. But it all depends.

A good mission statement has two purposes. Secondarily is its ability
to communicate to others outside an organization what the group is
about. It's primary purpose is as a policy document which guides actions
of people within the organization and long term planning. I think 90% of
us who have been with Drupal for at least a year and active in some way
could agree 90% of the time on the general philosophy behind the "Drupal
way." If we codify that, it will really help others.

I've probably repeated myself a little. But I think to make this an
acceptable mission statement that works as a policy document, the best
strategy is definitely to come up with a list of clearly written,
concise bullet points. Then go to the development list and ask them to
refine that list into whatever is most acceptable 90% of the time to the
90% mentioned above. Then finally, we can figure out the best way to
write it up, which will be the easiest part. LOL

cel4145

Previous comments:
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Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:21:28 +0000 : webchick

Charlie Lowe raised a great idea to clarify the existing mission
statement [1] to help people better understand the "Drupal philosophy."

I've created an issue for this here because issues tend to be where we
do most of our "back and forth," and also so it will hopefully get some
attention from developers, too.
[1]
http://lists.drupal.org/archives/documentation/2006-09/msg00048.html

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Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:22:26 +0000 : webchick

For reference, the existing mission statement:

"
By building on relevant standards and open source technologies, Drupal
supports and enhances the potential of the Internet as a medium where
diverse and geographically-separated individuals and groups can
collectively produce, discuss, and share information and ideas. With a
central interest in and focus on communities and collaboration, Drupal's
flexibility allows the collaborative production of online information
systems and communities.

"

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Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:38:20 +0000 : cel4145

I'd suggest that the best way to start would be to collect lists of
points that people believe should be in the mission statement.  Then
once we sort of agree on a list, start writing the mission statement.

I'll get some things started. In a recent comment [2], I wrote thing
such as

* emphasis on software for building communities with roots in social
software experimentation
* clean, effecient code in Drupal core
* Drupal as a flexible development platform as opposed to do it all CMS
* minimal core download (e.g., many modules are contrib instead of in
core)
* database abstraction layer based on node and taxonomy system

I'd also add

* GPL philosophy of open source

[2] http://drupal.org/node/81053#comment-152614

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Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:39:00 +0000 : webchick

Here's a stab at a rewrite. I imagine it needs lots of work. ;)

--

Drupal is a content-management framework built to enable website
architects to rapidly develop full-featured, community-based sites.  It
supports many powerful features including a database abstraction layer,
a taxonomy categorization system, search-engine optimization, and more.

Some of the things the Drupal community has come to value through the
process of developing this application are:

* *No hacking required.* Drupal strives to be extensible in every
possible way, from plugging in additional functionality to changing the
look and feel of the site.
* *Drupal can do it.* Whether it's a small brochure-ware site or
personal blog, or a full-blown e-commerce site with thousands of users
and interactive features, Drupal is built to be able to handle any task
placed before it.
* *Standards support.* Drupal prides itself on generating clean,
standards-compliant output.
* *A small, powerful core.* While contributed modules allow the
addition of almost limitless functionality, our focus is to keep Drupal
core as light-weight and flexible as possible, while delivering critical
features of use to site builders.
* *No roadmap.* Drupal is an organic, individual-driven project where
people are free to drive its development direction.
* *Anyone can help.* Whether you're a hard-core hacker, someone with an
eye for design, or a new user capable of providing feedback on
usability, literally anyone can help move the project forward.

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Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:39:04 +0000 : cel4145

sepeck also has some previously posted thoughts [3]
[3] http://www.blkmtn.org/node/371

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Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:43:23 +0000 : webchick

Oops, I missed your reply. But looks like we're both basically on the
same page.

The one about open source is a great one. Maybe something like:

*Free as in freedom, and as in beer.* Drupal's GPL-licensed code
ensures that you'll never be stuck waiting for a company to get around
to implementing your feature. You can either implement it yourself, or
pay someone to do it.

(ok, needs a lot of work :P)

I also thought of another one:

* *Promote a healthy developer community.* At the fore-front of
Drupal's development is a informal policy of mentorship; "veteran"
contributors provide guidance and reviews to people who are starting
out, and eventually these people start doing the same. The result is an
extremely vibrant, active developer community around the project.

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Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:46:09 +0000 : webchick

And also maybe something like...

* *Big-picture thinking.* While other projects can tend to focus on
discrete pieces of functionality, Drupal developers tend to think
"big-picture" -- developing APIs and abstracting out common bits of
functionality that can be used in a variety of ways (for example, the
node and taxonomy systems).

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Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:51:31 +0000 : cel4145

I like almost of all of these in terms of the points being made.
However, I'd avoid the use of imperitive and 2nd person.  Typically
mission statements are exactly that--statements. "This is what the thing
is," not a "how it applies to you" kind of style. Definition, not
instruction.

But I'm getting ahead of my own advice. Once we know what we want to
say, then we can determine the style  :-)

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Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:51:58 +0000 : webchick

Another thing that should probably be in here somewhere too is that in
general, the weight of your opinions increase as your contributions to
the project increase. Maybe under the "No roadmap" point?

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Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:57:14 +0000 : webchick

Charlie: Yeah, good points regarding writing style. Though I do like the
idea of it being scannable (I'm one of those people with a 2.5 second
attention span when it comes to reading things like this, and I think
there's a lot we need to get across on this page). Maybe what we
actually want is a succinct, 1-paragraph actual "statement" and then the
more detailed points below it. Hm...

But yeah, maybe this would be a better-titled issue as "what messages
should we try and convey in an updated mission statement?" and we can
have a second issue for, "what should the mission statement actually
/be/?" ;)