When Plone was merely an infant (oh so many years ago) we were so proud of all it could accomplish. Launch Plone and you launched a community website with membership and a cool wysiwyg editor for keeping content up-to-date (still love ya Epoz). You could even create your document months ahead of time and have it scheduled to show up on the site when you wanted it to.. and then have it "expire" when you didn't need the document visible anymore.

Ecommerce was nonexistent (unless you hand-rolled something with Python). Documentation back then was as sparse as any other Open Source project at the time (it was a given). We didn't care.. we learned how to use the system through trial and error.. and we created our own documentation through mailing lists and spur-of-the-moment tutorials popping up on websites and weblogs (blogs).

We didn't really need ecommerce. Most of our sites were brochureware, non-profit community sites and corporate intranets (I know I built quite a few Plone based corporate intranets).

The needs of the average online proprietor has changed. He wants to manage his entire business through his web site. He wants security and workflow easy-to-use browser based wysiwyg editors and he wants to have the ability to take orders online. Whether that's orders for a product (digital or otherwise) or provision of a service the business owner provides he needs to know that if he wanted to sell something online, he could.

There has been a lot of discussion over that last few years of potential ecommerce applications but many attempts have fallen by the wayside due to lack of funding and interest. Let me be the first to say I'm one of the guilty ones, I jump up and down and complain about our lack of ecommerce functionality and yet.. here we sit a couple years later with limited options.

Integrators need to be able to tell potential converts that ecommerce implementation is a priority. Please take note I said A priority.. doesn't have to be number one..but it really needs to be brought forward as a major concern because as a developer/designer who has worked on other CMS's.. it seems counterproductive to act as if lack of ecommerce is not affecting adoption of this project in some larger deployments.

Ecommerce implementation matters and I propose we plan a week long ecommerce/documentation sprint and make strides towards creating the most secure, most UI friendly and highest quality ecommerce system out there.. (and get our documenters together to keep the fire stoked in improving our documentation story)

Let's not let this spark fizzle out..

While chatting in #plone today Mr. Scott Paley mentioned quite enthusiastically that Plone had been marked quite favorably in the Web CMS Kudos and Shortcomings.

Take a peek!

http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/164-WCM-Marketplace?source=RSS

Go Plone!!

Getting ready for Day 2 of the Doccom Sprint at Google in Mountain View and sitting here reflecting on our first day of sprinting.

Google was gracious in providing us a space to sprint. The weather here has been gorgeous as usual. California in June is the best place to be.. (I'm prejudiced of course.. ). The vegetarian sandwich at lunchtime was sublime, as were the homemade chocolate chip cookies.

We started the day with a round of introductions and then split up into two groups.. "GetPaid" and "The Doc Side" (a la Erik Rose's "come on over to the doc side")

The documentation team created a circle of chairs and leaned in to discuss some hardcore doc issues as the "GetPaid" team assessed the tasks needing to be done.. and who wanted to tackle what.. After a bit they broke out and started doing what they do best..

In the end we had a group of five or so guys working on unit tests (Dave Fowler (GSoC student), Eric Steele, David Brenneman, Brian Gershon, David Siedband (siebo).

Bill Schindler (bitranch) and Stephen Hindle (mech422) will be working on thecheckout wizard with Kapil T (hazmat)

Chris Johnson (cjj), Veda (vedawns) and myself are working on the UI aspect of the GetPaid system.

I had some "battery" issues with my camera but I was able to grab a few pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowwrite/sets/72157600498074853/

and one movie at the Welcome Dinner.. Francis Ford Coppola I am not..

http://video.google.com/videouploadfinished?docid=3322331461815857289&cid=788f68e9d249e39b

low-tech documentation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowwrite/633682186/

It's lunchtime.. and all are hard at work.. and munching on Google food...

Another productive day at the Doccomm Sprint! Exciting Progress is being made on both sides. As we get closer to Friday (and the last day of the sprint) I'm beginning to realize that these sprints.. really work.

I'm working on ecommerce (GetPaid) and although immersed in helping on the UI side of GetPaid.. I can't help but marvel at the fantastic progress being made on the "doc side". How empowering it is for a team to latch on to a process that helps them to move forward in such a visual way. See posts by Alexander Limi , Darci Hanning and Esther Schindler for more about the "card sorting" process. Go Doc Team!!

As far as the GetPaid team.. follow our progress here

Our central repository for links to pictures and updates/blogs is located here (we are still adding to it so keep it bookmarked and check back regularly!)

flickr tag "doccomm sprint"

It was a quiet day on the ecommerce side today... payment processors, administrative screens and viewlets were being hacked away at while documentation for GetPaid was starting to develop.

The highlight of the day was a walk from our sprinting headquarters to the main GooglePlex for lunch with Alexander Limi.. Weather was gorgeous ..

See new pictures at http://www.flickr.com (tags: doccomm sprint plone)

Documentation team announced.. "this half of the wall is done! woohooo" (refer back to the card sorting posts over the last day or two).

All in all the day was productive... as a sponsor, an organizer and participant.. I have to say.. Go Plone! you rock...

As the SanFran bound packed up and headed out the doors of Google one last time it struck me as amazing just how productive both teams were (ecommerce and documentation) over the last week. Sprinters from barely 18 years old to 50+ years of age collaborated for hours every day) and you could feel the sense of pride as another milestone was reached.

So maybe "I just finished this.. yay" was typed into the channel while we sat merely 3 feet away.. but it was there.. and it made me proud to be a Plonista. Totally different personalities.. totally different backgrounds.. totally different viewpoints.. and yet progress was made. This is what makes sprinting an experience not to be missed..

This was my very first sprint. I wasn't sure what to expect and to be honest as a GIT (Geekette in Training) much of what was discussed on the ecommerce side was way over my head. Markers, interfaces, and eggs? I actually know what a python egg is now (thank you siebo and db)..

As an implementer/designer my biggest concern with all the upcoming changes is "How is this going to affect my end users?" and "Does this mean the way we do things to customize a Plone site (especially with look & feel) is going to change? I asked those questions and got honest answers that'll help to prepare myself and my clients. 

Watching everything transpire this week also made me realize there is plenty of room in our community for non-programmers who want to help us continue to enhance Plone's core functionality..

How can you help?

• Sponsor a sprinter (help a sprinter with travel, lodging and food)
• Document, Document, Document... you don't have to be a programmer to write documentation...this isn't necessarily the documentation on plone.org either.. this can be helping with Readme.txt's and intall.txt for core products and third party products. 
• Provide a place for sprinters to get together.. (I for one believe these sprints help to give a team the ability to really hash out things that may hold up development.. a whiteboard and a few diagrams later.. there is only the sound of keys clacking on laptops as the diagrams are turned into working code.)
• Can't write?.. don't have a place to sponsor a sprinter?.. then why not help Plone by testing new beta releases and sending in bug reports..
  

The Plone community is one of the strongest ones I've ever been involved with.. and because of this Plone continues to grow both in implementation and features.. don't be afraid to step up to the plate and say..

Hey.. how can I help?