The Last Crusade

This is the final follow up to Has Umbraco turned into the "tourist trap" of open source .net

That caused some actions from HQ... Kim(the CEO) got in touch and I gave it 2 months where I didn't complain about anything... now at the DF20 my session about this wasn't picked... but was invited for the roundtable that took place around umbraco community... getting the agenda 2 hours in advance, no questions that got collected from the community where asked.

So I'll just stop trying to put energy in this but just wanted to share the thoughts I mailed Kim and Niels...

Mail1

Hey Kim and Niels

Since the kids are in bed now I have some time for a more detailed mail. As Niels might tell you I also reached out to him to make amends.

From our phone call I can hear you are definitely full of ideas and have a vision for a bright Umbraco future.

Since my "crusade" in March several people from the community reached out with several thoughts. And why not let that benefit you.

I am totally not a business guy but I do have a good touch with the unique Umbraco community. I also think I can give you some special insights... (since I know you aren't a twitter/slack guy). I've been around for a loooong time and also know of several HQ aspects.

But my true passion is for the community

Like look at this one https://twitter.com/timgeyssens/status/1296782437603848195/photo/11 , it is a picture from CG 2009 where the MVP's are announced.

What I find cool about this is that 4 of those folks are stil active with Umbraco. Got me thinking why is that? Since that is a long time to be using a piece of software.

For me personally Umbraco (and Niels of course) showed me that you can be a developer and also have fun (not just be the dull guy behind the computer). So even though there might be mistakes along the road what get's people to stay for the long term and not look back is that unique fun community feeling.

I'm sure you have seen/felt it at cg, but cg is a small subset of the community. And especially with this years COVID situation even that subset missed out...

But a digital business that can have these long standing relationships... that is golden I think.

Those cheesy quirky things are what put a smile on peoples faces... and that is a powerful to do.

Another thing from this week is this: https://twitter.com/KieronBos/status/1296379233351143426

Kieron contacted me on slack about a simple question, will a package I created (configtree) work on umbraco v... (conversation as attachment , diffent screenshots from slack, sorry don't know how to get 1 big one)

So as you can see I went the extra mile and also had some fun while helping him. I think Kieron will definitely remember this now and maybe even cut me some slack when something goes wrong, or turn his positive energy towards another community member.

Niels even had a Umbraco is % amount crazy on the site once (dunno if that is still on there), but that is what makes umbraco standout.

Will there be tech options in the future that are cooler, probably...
Options that are more feature rich, probably...
Options that are better priced... of course

That is a hard thing to predict and keep ahead of competition...

So I truly believe that you need to focus on having people committed and not even think about looking at other options. If you keep the Umbraco spirit and go the extra mile... people will stay on board for the long run. And they will also evangelize the platform with other folks...

If you know where to look, the community is full of great ideas https://twitter.com/Steve_Gibe/status/1296816981493141504

Surprise them, act on an impulse... and I'm betting most will forget the frustrations and cut you some slack.

So make the Umglourious Basterds happen, it might be hard to measure the ROI but I do think it is worth a try. And I think the community would be surprised if you announced that you turned the annoying guy into a valuable asset.

Again give it some thought, I don't expect you to get back to me immediately ... a community that would go through fire is priceless.

Have a good weekend!
Cheers,
Tim

Follow up mail:

Final idea on the Umglourious Basterds

Nothing set in stone of course but imagine having the team like this:

Chief Unicorn (Niels): making sure the community is up to date with the folk at HQ, like videos with HQ members showing what the job they do consists of...
Hacker (Warren): having Warren spend a day a week exploring the new features, ecxiting hack options with new tech...blogging about that on .com (so it has more reach then twitter)
Instructor (Paul Seal , from codeshare.co.uk): sponsor him to keep his youtube channel populated with new umbraco focused tutorials, how much he needs to get some vids a week, dunno...maybe 1 day of work in a week...
1st Lieutenant (Me): taking care of the frustration "killing" and overal keep the good vibe and crazyness in the Umbraco community.

Make a fun photoshop collage of them and ...

Response

Kim is a nice guy no doubt about it... and we want the same end result, a great Umbraco community... with a super succesfull HQ backing it...

But the response was: great ideas but no budget...

Guess Marketing comes at the first place...

Will I still using Umbraco, yes... still passionate about the project? Not that much, some side stuff like hacktober fest and the package team + the .net core version spark my interest but for the rest it's just a plain software comp now...