[wtp-proposal] Kick-off meeting issues

["Bjorn Freeman-Benson" <bjorn@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There has been quite a bit of discussion on this mailing list about the
potential first meeting: its location, its dates, and its agenda. From the
Board's perspective, there are a number of problems with this discussion:

(1) We (the Board) believe that it is a bit premature to settle on the
details of this meeting because the project has not yet been approved. We
(the project proposers and shepherds) are making progress towards that
approval, but we are still in the proposal phase. Please do not take board
approval as a given: the board will only approve the Web Tools Project if it
is a solid proposal that provides real benefit to the Eclipse community. We
need to be focusing our efforts on enhancing the proposal and the
participation to ensure that the proposal is the best it can be.

(2) We agreed that the first meeting would be the "kick-off meeting" not a
"code camp" because the term "code camp" could be subject to
misinterpretation. 

(3) The first meeting needs to be about defining the vision, the
architecture, the design, and getting a buy-in from all the participants in
those things. Once the group has a common goal, a defined architecture, an
initial set of milestone plans, and an agreed leadership structure, then it
can begin to digest the code contributions and make forward progress.

(4) Consequently, it is important that the first meeting not be too large or
for too long. The goal is to get the key architects and decision makers
together rather than to get all the developers together. There can easily be
a future meeting for a developers "code camp".

I realize that it is difficult to schedule a meeting especially across
continents, companies, and vacation schedules. Considering possible times
and venues is fine, but it is not yet the time to finalize other things.

WTP Proposal Shepherd,
Bjorn Freeman-Benson