I did talk to the publisher group of TXP Mag and mentioned/told them I like to shift TXP Mag towards other CMS too. They agreed - Matthew (artiswork.org) thinks it is a good idea. Now I’d like to report more on ModX. In a first step what I’d like to do is do this interview with you about marketing an OS project. Before we publish it, I will post an article on "Firefox and marketing an OS". The idea is to slowly introduce the new topic (OS community, marketing, success) to the readers. Apart from that I would like to write an article: "Sneakpreview ModX 1.0"
later too - if you think this is possible.
The initial QA is not carved in stone, Alex sends me the initial Qs and we start from here, refining things in the process. Of course it will be harder for Alex to write all the Qs, since she is no developper. But I have no doubt Jason will be able to help with that Q. David, you are member of the ModX team and have been around TXP too, translating, building the french board and part of the official online documentation called Textbook back in 2004. How important is it for you to belong to a well working OS community?
My first involvement with open source communities dates back to 2001, when I first started to use the french CMS SPIP. But it’s when I joined the Textpattern community in 2004 that I really experienced the power of a "well working open source community".
To me open source communities are about sharing. It all starts with the core team, which shares a vision of what they want to achieve with an open source software. Then with the early adopters, which share the belief that the application is either filling a gap, or doing better than existing solutions. When there are enough people gathering around an application, there’s dynamics (contributions are regular and significant) and continuity (long term comittment from enough people) : you can talk about a community.
I believe I was an early adopter when I joined Textpattern, it was still gamma 1.16 at the time. I had been looking for a solution better than SPIP for my website and I had tested dozens of OS CMS, but Textpattern stood out immediately : not only did I like the vision behind it (simplicity and elegance) and the app’s flexibility, but a look at the forums really finished convincing me. There was talent and passion there : smart dedicated people, and a fun leader. Even if Textpattern was not nearly as known as it is now, it was obvious to me that it was a very promising application supported by a great community. I have met great people there, and learned half of what I know in various boards of open source communities, and even went freelance into webdesign thanks to my txp experience so Yes, I’d say it has become quite essential to me to belong to a well working OS community. Today I keep on learning every day : that is, not only by getting answers but also providing them, it’s a very educating process.
Q. Since Firefox´s overwhelming success 2004/2005 it became more than obvious that the succes of an OS projects relies strongly on a highly motivated community. Is a well driven community something that just happens or is it `work`?
Actually, I do believe it’s a little of both
What you can do, as a leader or a core member of an OS community, is help set the right conditions to make it emerge :
- Write an application with people in mind : Of course, OS communities exist only because there is an application to begin with. Obviously, there is little chance that you’ll raise enough interrest from users, designers or coders if you build an application with neither in mind. Communities raise out of needs being met. In the case of Textpattern, it was the designers’ needs that were particularly fullfilled. Few if any application at the time was able to offer such flexible templating, and clean standard compliant code. With MODx, I found an application which added another layer of flexibility, namely the ability to build websites with custom data structure. Each application which meets the needs of a given individual or/and a given kind of web project, has a great chance of succeeding at gathering people around it.
- Set the goals for your project : Without goals, you can’t achieve anything. The challenge with a project is to set the goals high enough to motivate people, but realistic enough not to discourage them or discredit yourself. What drew me to Textpattern and then to MODx is that I felt the goals were realistic yet ambitious enough, and more importantly, I recognized myself in them. It’s the first step toward getting involved, IMHO.
- Gather the means to get and keep things rolling : Of course, a community can’t work without tools. It often starts with a website and a forum hosted on shared hosting, but can quickly require bigger means. It’s the responsibility of the team to ensure that the community has everything it needs to keep things rolling. It’s part of my job to help find funds to finance those needs. Of course, things are way easier when you work with people who think ahead.
- Set the mood to enable knowledge sharing and build/strengten involvement : It’s common place to say that people will share knowledge more easily if they feel they can ask questions without being ridiculed, and that they’ll get have more chance of getting involved if their suggestions are taken into account. This last part has really struck me as outstanding at MODx, devs who actually listen to users and core/advanced members answering even the simplest questions with sometimes great patience.
- Have fun ! : I really do believe that an open source community needs a good share of fun. It’s like oil in the motor, if you don’t have it, the motor just breaks. I have seen it at Textpattern, and I see it at MODx : the mood is good, it’s a fun place to be. That’s key when you don’t hand out paycheck to people who (sometimes heavily) contribute…
Q. Okay, another completely different question: are you an extensive shopper
lol
Well it depends what I am shopping for. Don’t ever get me close to a high-tech store or a wine shop or I might end up on a shopping spree, burning my credit card to shredsThat’s how I recently got myself a 17” MacBook Pro or a bunch of 1998 Saint Estèphe, not a reasonnable thing to buy but hey, how could I resist ?
Q. You are the main marketing director of MODx. That does imply you are responsible to popularize ModX CMS. Correct?
Director might be too strong a word, especially if you consider that there is no rigid structure at MODx. Things are not based on status, but rather on involvement and skills.
Ryan Trash (founder) is the one who offered me to join the team and help the marketing effort in november 2005. I had created some buzz to make MODx a popular CMS in France. I wrote an article about MODx for a famous french webzine about opensource software, which is among the top referrer of modxcms.com. Also, I posted a review of MODx at Webmaster-Hub, which got quite some attention. Of course, it’s easier to stand out in the french world than in the english speaking community where the competition is fierce, but I think it was enough to convince Ryan that I would be an asset for MODx marketing.
One very nice thing for me is that Ryan is pretty involved with marketing MODx (and has lots of great ideas), as is Zaigham (aka Zi), modxcms.com designer’s and forum admin. Right now, I consider myself as the guy who impulses and coordinates the marketing efforts and acts as a MODx evangelist (not unlike what I did unofficially for Textpattern).
Q. Which specific marketing measurements do you use for ModX? In other words: how do you market the ModX product ?
Q.What are you personal goals for ModX 2006/7?
Well, Alex could just keep asking "In simpler terms, what does that mean?" after every answer, until we finally got "MODx rocks."
Of course it will be harder for Alex to write all the Qs, since she is no developper. But I have no doubt Jason will be able to help with that
Then with the early adopters, which share the beliefwho share the belief.
Well, Alex could just keep asking "In simpler terms, what does that mean?" after every answer, until we finally got "MODx rocks."
I must say your English is miles better than my French! (And better than Alex’s).
Note that Alex is german, but since you seem to be a reader of txpmag, I guess you knew that.I have a few niggles; the general standard of txpmag articles isn’t particularly high but it would still be better if various little grammar and spelling areas were tightened, eg:
Then with the early adopters, which share the beliefwho share the belief.
Also, commitment not comittment, strengthen not strengten, paychecks not paycheck, reasonable not reasonnable..
Your use of "impulses" is intriguing, but I’d leave it in. (There’s a fine line between removing all the character from an article and formatting it to house style).
If you can post the complete article before you send it off, I’ll happily tweak it. But really, that’s all that needs changing- the content is fabulous.
It is a very good article in terms of leading Textpattern-ers to MODx and introducing yourself as someone who respects Textpattern, has been involved with TXP but now believe MODx to be the way forward. Also, there’s some good solid advice there that associates MODx with best practice. All good things.
Keep whatever you cut somewhere!
This article (both in content and existence) has motivated me to commit to launching a MODx magazine site, "MODx User" - I’ll sketch out my plan in another thread sometime soon, but it would be sort of a cross between A List Apart and txpmag - interviews with specific users/developers and best-practice guides for users in a weekly issue format.
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