I think the founds recibed need to be parted a bit to founds, Inkscape related we/man power

If posible I want to add me to the list of devs

All the best, Javier.

Enviado desde TypeApp

En 6 sept. 2017, en 8:51, C R <cajhne@...233.....400...> escribió:

Sounds great for the main project, however even a year long position is not much job security for full time developers.  This is where Patreon provides a convenient solution for some of our current developers - they can see what their monthly salary is and set it as high as they need to complete the work. 

That doesn't mean we can't do both. I think we should still support developers who want to use Patreon to do independent work on Inkscape. Also, self promotion need not be the only method of getting donors. We do have a new Vectors group whose job it is to promote Inkscape. We should offer its services to long time Inkscape developers who wish an independent way to raise funds for development work, even if it's just a hold over until Inkscape gets enough funds for permanent positions.

Either way, I'm at your service for graphics stuff, as I imagine are most of the other Vectors team members. Let us know what you need. :)

-C

On 6 Sep 2017 2:52 a.m., "Bryce Harrington" <bryce@...961...> wrote:

There's been interest of late in figuring out some options for funding
development work on Inkscape.  I'm thrilled to hear this as I also think
it's an important direction for Inkscape's longer term health, and
something I've been working on directly myself for some time now.

I promised Martin I'd write a thorough response to his proposal,
including the course of action I think we should undertake, which makes
for a long read, so I apologize upfront about the length.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
First, let me share my thoughts on Patreon and why we should not rely on
it for our *project* needs.

Patreon looks interesting for individual developers, but for the
Inkscape project in general what we really need is a mechanism to direct
and focus funds towards the issues our donors, users, and developers
care about collectively, and to provide them with a level of
accountability that the funds are being put to good use for tangible,
predictable benefits.  Patreon is undirected, simply providing funding
for whatever the recipient wishes to do.  It provides no mechanisms for
review, guidance, or transparency.

Martin suggested advertising placement on the Inkscape website and
utilizing trademark legal enforcement as a carrot/stick mechanism to
help ensure the recipients are at least working actively on Inkscape.

However, website placement is likely going to be contentious since it
relies on donors selecting who to fund.  They'll either pick the most
popular, the guy at the top of the list, the biggest self-promotor, or
randomly.  We can strive very hard to make it "fair" but with money
involved there will always be complaints, and someone feeling that
someone else is getting more funding priority than they "deserve".
Despite our best of intentions, this feels likely to turn into a can of
worms.

The use of trademark enforcement is an interesting angle, by restricting
who can label themselves as "Inkscape Developers".  However, I believe
trademark law does not work that way, and even if it did would be
difficult to enforce, requiring the involvement of the Conservancy to
issue cease-and-desist letters -- I think we'd end up deciding the
marginal benefits would not make up for the time, manpower, and stress
investments of dealing with abusers flouting our trademark rules.  It
may work adequately as a gentlemen's agreement, but if someone truly
challenges it, I fear our enforcement will be revealed to be a paper
tiger.

But we needn't overthink it to that level - fundamentally, restricting
how other developers define themselves within our community is at odds
with our egalitarian principles, and does not respect the development
freedom we cherish.  If someone wants to refer to themselves as an
Inkscape Developer, we should encourage it.



------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fortunately, we can achieve a much better approach by focusing our
efforts more intently into the funded projects system already under way.

Paid developer work has been long discussed in our project.  We've
looked at bounty systems, direct patron sponsorship, straight up
contracting, and so on, that other projects have experimented with.
We approached the Software Conservancy with these ideas and hashed them
out into a workable system, after months of discussion and drafting.

The essence of the system is straightforward:

  1.  We post a list of approved jobs, similar to our GSoC lists.
  2.  Money from donations can be directed towards jobs the donors want
      to see done.  Small donations can be aggregated together to
      provide big funding for larger efforts.
  3.  We carefully vet developers who wish to take jobs, similar to how
      we vet GSoC students, but also judge their past work, history of
      Inkscape involvement, etc.
  4.  Vetted developers can take approved jobs when the funding level
      reaches the amount they feel is appropriate to the work, by
      sending in a Job Proposal (similar to GSoC), that we review and
      accept.
  5.  Developers are required to post monthly reports, just like GSoC.
      Each job also defines an expected time limit, like with GSoC.
  6.  On job completion, a Reviewer checks that the requirements were
      met, and the payment is cut.

The process is strongly modeled after Google Summer of Code, which has
been proven effective for us historically.  It builds in several
checkpoints to ensure bad actors don't enter the system, and to ensure
accountability and transparency into the development work.  It also
empowers and leverage donors to influence where their money gets
invested, both to give them a level of ownership and to use their
donation decisions as "crowd wisdom" to ensure we're putting money where
it will most benefit the Inkscape community's needs.

One important distinction from GSoC is that jobs don't need to be fixed
sized to fit 3-month summer schedules.  This system should work for
quick turn-around 1-2 week projects, up to multi-month or even year-long
efforts.  Whatever we need.  It also doesn't have to be feature work,
but could target bug fixing, website work, documentation.  Whatever we
need.

A final benefit - this system's already been reviewed and approved by
Software Conservancy's lawyers.  So, while there might be some bumps
along the way, there is no reason we can't start using it immediately.


What I have been working on myself is Django-based software that would
enable us to scale the system up to handle a multitude of project ideas,
track jobs in various states of completion, and coordiate work by
arbitrary numbers of developers, vetters, and reviewers.  It aims to
also directly hook the donation system into the project listings so a
donor has instant feedback of the effect of their funds.  This is
complex, as you can imagine, and with my time being in short supply it's
been slow going.

However, for small scale needs the software is superfluous, we can do
all the same steps manually, tracking status in a google spreadsheet or
whatever.  And for the near term, I think we should.  Here's what we'd
need to do:

  * Designate several people to defined roles:
    1.  Fundraising coordinator.
    2.  Vetter (must be a board member)
    3.  Reviewer

  * Add more Job definitions.
    + For each Job we define Completion Criteria
    + Board can vote to make certain of them immediately fundable.

  * Organize an online fundraiser.
    + Set up is just as we've done for hackfest fundraising, but with a
      detailed list of what Jobs are specifically being funded.
    + Donated funds are distributed equally to the specific Jobs we
      list.
    + Board can vote to assign Inkscape funds, too.

  * Recruit developers to participate
    + We already know of several (Mc, Tav); put out a call for more
    + Vetter will receive job proposals and review applicants, check
      that they've been actively contributing, and look able to complete
      assigned work, have provided payment details, etc.
    + Once vetter gives OK on a given job proposal, work can begin
      immediately

When the work is done, the Reviewer reviews it, and I notify Conservancy
to cut a check or wire transfer to the person that did it.


This system is set up to make payments after completion, rather than
reliably regular monthly payments, and I know that will be an issue for
people needing predictable income for covering monthly rent and so on.
One way we can hack around that is instead of defining one big 3-month
job, to break it up into three 1-month (160 hr, $2000+) jobs assigned to them
that they perform sequentially.  This will require more reviewer
involvement, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.


For all of this to work, though, I would need to recruit a number of you
to help out in various roles.  I don't think these roles will be time
consuming, but you'd need to commit to being available regularly as
stuff comes up.

How does this plan sound in concept?

Bryce

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