Well it's that time again, for all you eager individuals waiting all week for the Saelos Sunday post. Here it is. Although I must admit I am anxious to see how many of you will truly appreciate the context of today's update. But perhaps that's presumptuous let's get right into a Saelos update and see where it takes us! Perhaps you can bolster my optimistic spirit in regards to our young community.
I'd like to share a story with you this week; it's one that many are familiar with and probably the awareness of this short allegory rises disproportionately in the world of open source communities.
By the way, this post is particularly meaningful as I'm currently attending the Community Leadership Summit before OSCON (Open Source Conference) where the idea of community involvement is a constant topic and focus of many sessions.
The following is the story of the Little Red Hen. If you're familiar with it already then I would imagine you can skim quickly down through the content, if it's a new story for you then please read it carefully and consider it's application in the context of open source communities.
One day the Little Red Hen found a grain of wheat. And she had an idea for something to be made.
“Who will plant this?” she asked.
“Not I,” said the cat.
“Not I,” said the goose.
“Not I,” said the rat.
“Then I will,” said Little Red Hen.
So she buried the wheat in the ground. After a while it grew up yellow and ripe. “The wheat is ripe now,” said Little Red Hen. “Who will cut and thresh it?”
“Not I,” said the cat.
“Not I,” said the goose.
“Not I,” said the rat.
“Then I will,” said Little Red Hen.
So she cut it with her bill and threshed it with her wings.
Then she asked, “Who will take this wheat to the mill?”
“Not I,” said the cat.
“Not I,” said the goose.
“Not I,” said the rat.
“Then I will,” said Little Red Hen.
So she took the wheat to the mill, where it was ground. Then she carried the flour home. “Who will make me some bread with this flour?” she asked.
“Not I,” said the cat.
“Not I,” said the goose.
“Not I,” said the rat.
“Then I will,” said Little Red Hen.
So she made and baked the bread. Then at the end of the day, she said, “Now we shall see who will eat this bread.”
“We will,” said cat, goose, and rat.
Now, the story of the Little Red Hen doesn't end there...but I'm going to leave the ending out because I believe in our community the story could end differently. Because I believe we should never get to this point in a community. I know, many of you are sitting here wondering, how could this possibly relate to Customer Relationship Management and the world's best open source CRM software. Here comes the application.
Saelos is an open source project. It holds the potential to be a major shift in the existing CRM landscape and provide a powerful, robust software tool for thousands (if not more) of businesses around the globe. There is tremendous opportunity in the software. But there's also tremendous opportunity in the community as well. An opportunity to be more involved, to contribute to something you believe in. Did you notice in the short children's story above there were different animals saying "Not I"? They aren't all the same, they are each different and I can't help but imagine they would each have different abilities and skills they could offer in the making of the bread.
In just the same way as the fairy tale, each of us have different talents, skills, and abilities. When we bring our unique talents together in a community we have the potential to create something amazing. The product we create reflects the uniqueness and specialness of the people who formed it. In a way, our product is a reflection of our community, and we can tell the world who we are by the work we do together.
In the story, when no one else helped the Little Red Hen completed the project on her own (and kept the rewards for herself). In our community the project doesn't get completed without the help of others. We need everyone helping, we need everyone contributing.
Many have asked when the next release of Saelos will be available. I've shared in recent weeks the next release is the last release (hopefully) before a stable version 1.0. I also have shared the items needing to be done before the next release can occur. Here's that list again, copied and pasted for your convenience:
- Languages and accessibility
- Phone extensions
- Inbound message handling
- View exporting (Reporting)
- Integration support
- Documentation
These are critical items. And before you write yourself off as non-technical there are several items on the preceding list which have nothing to do with the code and everything to do with Saelos. Language translations are a massive part of our community and the thing which will help our CRM to truly scale globally.
Secondly, documentation writing is needed. This truly is a unique opportunity because I have met those wonderful individuals in the past who truly enjoy writing documentation and they are of vital importance to a project's success. This is a perfect example that communities require all types of people.
Saelos needs you; whatever your special abilities might be. Would you consider joining with us in our community as we work to build a world-class CRM capable of empowering businesses around the globe and creating an ecosystem where individuals can support themselves and more? You'll be glad you did and I guarantee your life will be changed forever.
