[Gnumed-devel] GNUmed vision and how to get there - specific

[James Busser]

I was going to say "Identify stakeholders" (current participants).  
But if we make it clearer / more concrete what is to be achieved, we  
may get more / better responses!
I would ask:

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What is it that we need to verify for ourselves as satisfactory?
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1) for current users... whether any current *client* functionality  
does not work well enough. Failure to address this creates users who  
do not want to recommend the product to anyone else, and who may even  
abandon the software
2) for people who are close to using GNUmed... what more do they need  
before they could try to get it into production?
... the dependencies for the above would seem to be the developers,  
so we iterate the question:
3) for current developers... whether any current *project*  
functionality does not work well enough.  Failure to address this  
creates developers who do not want to recommend the project to anyone  
else, and who may even abandon the project.
4) for people who are *close* to contributing to the project... what  
more do they need before they could try to contribute?
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(My) Answers
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1. I don't know. I am not yet a current user and have not yet  
witnessed direct communication, except since Rogerio and Jerzy  
joined. We know the clinical notes manager may not yet be some  
combination of clear enough and easy and nimble enough. However I  
would have to say that this is a bit of the holy grail and among the  
hardest parts (if not *the* hardest part) to get right and so if we  
can establish something that should work reasonably well for  
clinicians we may be really well-positioned.
2. Sounds like Jerzy may be close and may be able to achieve a good  
part of what he wants through his own efforts (though everyone can  
enjoy some help). I am getting close to the *possibility* of using  
GNUmed... as soon as I can determine that labs can be imported and  
managed with a satisfactory workflow I would yet have to connect that  
stage all the way up through having a server mangeably located and  
maintained with suitable IT support so I did not need to do it (all)  
myself. I would also have to determine the practicalities of getting  
my partial secretary (who also works for colleagues) to use it and  
hopefully to get my colleagues to use it, although they may be happy  
to use it if I would pay for it all, but less happy to pay a share. I  
would have to identify for them in some financial terms that the gain  
in satisfaction from everything being able to be found, and re- 
findable, and things not getting "dropped", and maybe being able to  
do a better job in the same time, would be the business case to do so.
3. For current developers.. we can thank (and I do mean thank) Gour  
both for his pressure to at least reconsider how we do things, and  
his patience as we proceed cautiously so there is only little risk of  
any "wrong turns". On top of which is the time it took for the ideas  
and alternatives to be thought about, researched and the concrete  
work of getting improved bug-tracking going.
4. Not sure about this one. I support Karsten's recent reminder that  
we need testers. I note that Gour is an IT-spouse of a clinician as  
had been David Grant... David is an engineer who was at the time  
engaged to (and has since married) a medical student, and David was  
the original host of our first wiki. His wife has since joined a  
clinic that may or may not be using Oscar which may (or life itself  
may) simply explain his having gotten busy with other things. So I am  
wondering if we need to beat the bushes of some classes of medical  
students who have boyfriends / girlfriends who could hack or code or  
otherwise be interested to give some help.
#4 could be extended to include people who would be IT support, but  
maybe we are not there yet.