[r6rs-discuss] JAR candidate statement

[Jonathan A Rees]

I'd like to see more candidate statements. My nomination blurb was  
not meant to be one, and I would expect the same to be true of others'.

Here is my statement:

I think the group might consider some of the following:

- A more conventional working group structure, with understanding of  
benefits and obligations of membership
- More conventional engineering process (charter, goals,  
requirements, use cases, ...)
- Examination of process used in other similar groups;  
experimentation with different practices
- Maybe multiple charters / groups / reports aiming for different  
goals and using different process
- Decision-making process that is inclusive, transparent, and  
lightweight
- Clarity over costs and benefits to participants of working together  
(null hypothesis = no cooperation)
- Monitoring of needs, resources, and commitments

If some of the above turn out to be bad ideas I won't push them  
dogmatically. The main thing is to work with community members  
(including steering committee) to enable people work together more  
happily.

I think the successes and shortcomings of the SRFI process should be  
examined so we can learn from it. I have not been involved but I  
wonder whether R6RS should have been more SRFI-like, and the SRFI  
process should have been more report-like. It looks like we have  
erred sometimes on the side of undercoordination, sometimes on the  
side of overcoordination.

I see a community that wants to do things together, but I don't see  
an R7RS as a given.

I think an activist steering committee would be a good thing at this  
stage.
In the event I ended up on the SC I wouldn't plan to make a secret of  
my opinions on process, editorial, or technical issues.

 From my point of view the biggest challenges are articulating  
objectives and requirements, obtaining peace among competing  
philosophies, figuring out how to sidestep disagreements, and  
settling control of the group's 'trademarks' (what to call the  
various languages and reports). The pre-R6RS process achieved harmony  
and quality by halting progress. The R6RS process  traded harmony for  
progress. There has to be a third way.

Jonathan