Human beings have to talk. Never fight!
I would say that human beings need a clear, clean and precise
goal so that they understand what needs to be achieved.
They also need clear, clean and precise
objectives so that they know what needs to be done to achieve the goal.
They also need to understand the
means that they can use.
All these must be anchored in a
vision and
mission statement. These help create
engagement.
The above is the responsibility of the
management team, but to facilitate engagement, employees ( and or
volunteers) need to feel that they played a small role in the process.
Once this is done, then management and employees (and or volunteers) must work not only to achieve the goal and objectives they were set, but also to
create an environment, or culture, that is conducive to get the work done. Unfortunately, it takes only a
few persons not working with the others to make the car skid off the road. If this happens it is the responsibility of management to get these people back online. If they don’t get back online, they unfortunately need to be
dismissed.
If this is done, then the level of engagement of management, employees, volunteers, clients, the clients of their clients, suppliers, in SMF case, those who develop themes, mods, offer hosting or services, etc.
will increase. Which means it will be easier to
attract new developers, new support specialists, more translators, more users, etc.
SMF is on
solid grounds. It has a
long history and it developed a
great software. Hence, if the above directions are followed, it will stop the ranting and increase the level of engagement.
I think the
next release can be used as an
opportunity to recreate an environment that
will make SMF great again ;-) .
Good luck to all.
