Radar 33

[chadwhitacre]

What are you working on this week and why?

last week

[chadwhitacre]

Roadmap (what?)

Short Term

Embarrassments:

• can't edit teams (Team Basics)
• not using immutable ids (https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/835)
• widgets are broken (https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/389#issuecomment-153884921)
• escrow imprecision (https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/389#issuecomment-153929881)
• Security 9 (https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/389#issuecomment-153930768)

Long Term

[chadwhitacre]

:-(

https://medium.com/matter/living-and-dying-on-airbnb-6bff8d600c04

[chadwhitacre]

Bringing over from @mattbk at https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/395#issuecomment-157202794:

Flexget included a link to a great blog post about contributing without being a coder: http://blog.smartbear.com/programming/14-ways-to-contribute-to-open-source-without-being-a-programming-genius-or-a-rock-star/

[techtonik]

I am trying to recover some focus and therefore I will ignore AirBnB casualty for now.

First, what is that deal with going to Flask? If I remember correctly, Aspen is a file system router. What Flask will be there for? Also, do simplates care about where they are in filesystem hierarchy? Because if they care, how can Flask tell them that? Also, how do we ensure that our simplates can not read/write outside of our project directory - does Aspen has any sandboxing mechanism at all?

[techtonik]

I see if I can create setup script for grtp.co. Right now the problem is to configure network in my LXC container to test things out.

[chadwhitacre]

First, what is that deal with going to Flask? If I remember correctly, Aspen is a file system router.

No. Aspen is a web framework. It includes a filesystem router and the simplates file format, along with its own request and response objects and a WSGI application. The proposal on https://github.com/gratipay/aspen.py/issues/526 is to let go of the request and response objects and the WSGI application.

What Flask will be there for?

Request/response processing as a WSGI application.

Also, do simplates care about where they are in filesystem hierarchy? Because if they care, how can Flask tell them that?

There will be mechanisms in the new Simplates library to specify a filesystem root for simplates, and a shim to enable Simplates to work with Flask.

Also, how do we ensure that our simplates can not read/write outside of our project directory - does Aspen has any sandboxing mechanism at all?

Nope, no sandboxing. Simplates are not user-writeable.

[chadwhitacre]

Let's talk Roadmap! In my Platform Cooperatives write-up, I shared that I think we have six big pieces of work ahead of us:

1. legal foundation for payments addressed in Gratipay 2.0
2. community management addressed in Gratipay 2.0
3. accounting (#367)
4. governance (#72)
5. legal foundation for payroll (#242; entangled with governance)
6. tech debt (e.g., https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/3617, https://github.com/gratipay/aspen.py/issues/526)
7. product development
8. marketing

How should we think about these? How should we update our roadmap? How do milestones and queues relate?

[kzisme]

@whit537 would the Platform Cooperatives write-up be worth turning into a Medium blog? Just a thought :)

[chadwhitacre]

@kzisme I was thinking we might link directly to the GitHub comment but a Medium post probably makes more sense. Good idea! :-)

[mattbk]

+1 for a positive blog post!

[chadwhitacre]

Brainstorm: We should write bylaws (#72) and sort out governance (#404) for Gratipay itself, so that we can bring back payroll for Gratipay as quickly as possible. Once we have payroll flowing again for Gratipay, we'll be able to move increasingly quickly to build out the product for others.

[chadwhitacre]

Or: it doesn't matter how much capital we have (#405) if none of us can take any of it!

[mattbk]

Interesting conversation going on here: https://twitter.com/patio11/status/658748957250596864

[mattbk]

Brainstorm: We should write bylaws (#72) and sort out governance (#404) for Gratipay itself, so that we can bring back payroll for Gratipay as quickly as possible.

So, the specific version of https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/242 before I changed the name of the thread?

[chadwhitacre]

So, the specific version of #242 before I changed the name of the thread?

Hmm ... maybe? I think we want to make it work once for Gratipay, but with an eye towards productizing for everybody.

[chadwhitacre]

On http://inside.gratipay.com/big-picture/welcome we say that owners are the subset of ~users that "buy into our mission."

[chadwhitacre]

Here's a draft of a Medium post about Gratipay at Platform Cooperatives:

"A Platform Cooperative ... Almost"

Howzat look, @kzisme @mattbk @webmaven @techtonik @mitar et al.?

[chadwhitacre]

I'd love to get a photo (https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/384#issuecomment-157504292) before posting. Maybe let's give that one more day?

[chadwhitacre]

Post revised. Same link.

https://medium.com/gratipay-blog/a-platform-cooperative-almost-94cd5900840f

[techtonik]

The post is positive. :+1: I wish we had more clarity WRT to legal requirements. The stuff about capital is good. It may help to speed up the development. I will try to speak with banks and UNDP about that. We have some programs that are aimed at educating people about money, and there is no better tool to teach than give people the ability to play.

[kzisme]

:+1: :+1:

[chadwhitacre]

Generous is live. They're a pay-what-you-want platform.

[chadwhitacre]

https://github.com/blog/2085-a-new-look-for-repositories

[chadwhitacre]

Picking up from @webmaven's comments at https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/384#issuecomment-158120541:

Related to Platform Cooperativism in concept (and there seems to be some overlap in people and groups): https://medium.com/enspiral-tales/doing-more-together-together-seeding-a-collaborative-technology-alliance-82243ea30d41

Nice list of fellow-traveller orgs presented at the conference: http://platformcoop.net/schedule/owning-is-the-new-sharing-actually-existing-platform-co-ops

List of projects in the CTA: https://cta.hackpad.com/Tools-projects-and-initiatives-of-the-CTA-zJkyGIUZtEc

[chadwhitacre]

I've joined the Hylo group for the Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA), and also Hackpad.

[chadwhitacre]

This group will create (and adopt when already available) standards, schemas, and protocols to enable interoperability amongst collaborative software tools. This group will also promote user-centered design amongst our member tools, and help to generate a common UI/design language for the ecosystem towards this end.

[chadwhitacre]

@webmaven Wanna keep an eye on that for us and keep us informed as it develops?

[chadwhitacre]

Here's a roadmap update. Not perfect but hopefully better. Color code:

• red—external forces that we're under
• yellow—administration
• green—product development
• orange—marketing
• blue—capitalization

[kzisme]

@whit537 Are all these roadmaps and diagrams auto-generated or do you write them all yourself? (I see the source but I'm just curious)

[chadwhitacre]

@kzisme I write them myself using the blockdiag thing you get when you click through (where you're see the source, I think, ya?).

[mattbk]

https://instagram.com/p/-SM9EnyBlJ/

[chadwhitacre]

!m ashes_yoga

[chadwhitacre]

Okay @kzisme, we're live! :dancer:

https://medium.com/gratipay-blog/a-platform-cooperative-almost-94cd5900840f

[mattbk]

Support 0.

[chadwhitacre]

Alright. We need payroll.

[chadwhitacre]

Everything else hinges on that.

[chadwhitacre]

Until we have payroll, we're vaporware. We're only half a product.

[chadwhitacre]

Who needs another payments solution?

[chadwhitacre]

There's gillions of those.

[chadwhitacre]

But there's no other take-what-you-want payroll system: that's Gratipay.

[chadwhitacre]

I can't pitch https://github.com/naspeh/mailur until we have payroll.

[chadwhitacre]

Generalizing: we can't sell until we have payroll.

[chadwhitacre]

How the heck are we gonna get back to payroll?

[chadwhitacre]

Moving stream of consciousness over to https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/3433 ...

[chadwhitacre]

Ducking back out to ask: How does Gratipay's own governance (gratipay/inside.gratipay.com#72) relate to payroll?

[chadwhitacre]

Payroll is about getting money to three groups of people:

• draws to owners
• wages/salary to staff
• payments to independent contractors

[chadwhitacre]

The question of Gratipay's governance determines how Gratipay itself will use payroll.

[chadwhitacre]

HOW DO WE BRING IT BACK!?!?!?!?!?

[chadwhitacre]

We have to bring it back!

[chadwhitacre]

Both in general—it's our core product!—and in particular—we have to pay ourselves!