Re: [ba-ohs-talk] What are we trying to accomplish?
[Alternative]
In reply to the question posted above, I offer the
following alternative:
An online design/discussion tool (01)
My reasoning is this:
We face the chicken and egg problem where we
don't have the tools we need to carry productive
discussions remotely about the tools we need to
build. (02)
In the best tradition of bootstrapping, then, we should
focus on that issue, and use the results of that effort
to improve our ability to build the next generation
system. (03)
Aspects of that system include IBIS-style categorization
of messages (or paragraphs), hierarchically-structured
text, typed links, and the ability to hoist a lower-level
response to an upper level. (04)
For example, when in the discussion of a wicked problem,
a good summary is adduced way down in the depths of
the tree, that node should be hoisted to the top, with
everything that led to it "hanging off it", as background
information. (05)
If the root of the tree is, "What problem are we trying
to solve?", then the each alternative offered should
appear as an entry under that question. (06)
For each alternative, the question, "how can we do that"
is implicit. Suggestions for ways and means and do so
can then be listed under the relevant alternative. (07)
At some point (and here the process gets both nebulous
and rocky) a *decision* has to be made. That is where
the problems start. (08)
The request for a "clear vision and a strong leader" is, in
effect, a way of saying, "we need to put someone in
charge of making some decisions, so we can get off
square one". (09)
Other alternatives for decision making including voting
systems, and "rated evaluations", where an alternative
eventually snowballs to victory based on the strength
of the evaluations and the reputations of the people
giving them. (So when 3 very respected people give
proposition X a "+5", I'm inclined to go along for the ride!) (010)
Personally, I think that rated evaluations make a lot of
sense. But we need tools to structure the decision and
sort things according to their ratings so the cream rises
to the top, where it is on screen. (011)
There's my vision. Before we rush to make a specification
for it, though, let's see who else responds, and what they
have to say. (012)