Gregory Brown started Mendicant University over two years ago. Since then he has been the driving force behind Mendicant. His relentless focus and dedication helped us to grow into an extraordinary community. But Greg is only human; fatherhood and a growing business have stretched him thin. So, instead of burning out, Greg came to the hard decision to step down from his leadership role in the Mendicant Community.
Not wanting Mendicant’s current momentum to flounder, a number of community members and Homesteaders met via Skype to discuss how to keep mendicant moving forward. In an effort to focus, the meeting centered around the question of “how”.
An organization tends to flounder if its members don’t have a common understanding of its direction and values. This knowledge brought us to a realization during the meeting that the community needs to a clearly defined set of principles and directions we’d like to move in. Without these it is very difficult to explain to new individuals what Mendicant is about and how it works. Some work has begun with the Community Guidelines but a focused effort is still necessary.
As technologists, we often focus on the “how” of a problem. But there is so much interesting in the “why” of a problem. It was with this in mind that a new focus on communicating that “why” of our actions in updates is being attempted. So, instead of seeing raw transcripts and summaries, authors of posts will try to give you the narrative behind the summary (in addition to transcripts and summaries). Look for examples coming from Jordan Byron (Gary Bernhardt discussion) and Felipe Doria (Gregory Moeck discussion).
A number of other topics specific to Homesteaders were discussed. Some of these topics were:
This meeting was a great success and will help to propel us forward. But there is still more work to be done, more discussions to be had. On Monday, July 9 at 19:00 UTC we will again be meeting on Skype to discuss, “What are we doing here at Mendicant, and why are we doing it?” If you’d like to add your voice to the discussion, plan to me in the #mendicant channel on IRC at that time we’ll invite you to the call. You can also post your Skype handle on the forum and Shane will make sure to invite you on Monday.
Mendicant is moving into exciting new territories. I hope everyones as excited as we, the Homesteaders, are.
For those interested, you can find our meeting notes here.