Django Success Stories
Rob Hudson
One thing that came out of the Django Meet-up at OSCON was someone
asking for advice on how to convince their superiors that Django is a
good choice. This obviously depends on the needs of the individual or
shop, but I was wondering if we could add a section to the Wiki for
success stories -- a place where people who have switched can write
about how the switch went and why Django is working out well for them?
If the idea is good, to get the ball rolling we could ask for stories
in the weekly update. I know our company has one and I'm sure there
are many others. We could, perhaps, discuss a general topic outline
for those submitting success stories for maximum benefit to readers to
hear more about particular needs and requirements and how Django fit
those needs.
Just an idea.
-Rob
Jacob Kaplan-Moss
This sounds like a *brilliant* idea. Since Django's still got a foot
in the "unproven technology" category, anyone trying to convince
management will likely benefit from some success stories and other
related "marketing" material.
Now, there's one small wrinkle that may prove unfortunate for you: in
the Django community, it's pretty much established practice to equate
good ideas with a volunteer offer. By this precedent, I do believe
you've volunteered to gather this material <grin>.
Seriously, though -- if it's something you've got time for, I at least
would benefit greatly from it.
Jacob
Rob Hudson
> the Django community, it's pretty much established practice to equate
> good ideas with a volunteer offer. By this precedent, I do believe
> you've volunteered to gather this material <grin>.
>
> Seriously, though -- if it's something you've got time for, I at least
> would benefit greatly from it.
Yeah, that was the intention somewhat but honestly I thought it might
just fall into place. Maybe I'm being hopeful. :)
Things I think that need to happen...
1) Set up a page on the wiki with instructions and suggested outline
of a success story.
2) Post a "Call for Success Stories" somehow, maybe via the weekly updates.
3) Keep an eye on the page and linked pages.
I thought an outline could be as simple as:
* Describe prior infrastructure and what was wrong.
* Describe current Django infrastructure and if or how it fixed the
prior issues, the more detail the better.
Anything else?
Cheers!
-Rob
Malcolm Tredinnick
> > Now, there's one small wrinkle that may prove unfortunate for you: in
> > the Django community, it's pretty much established practice to equate
> > good ideas with a volunteer offer. By this precedent, I do believe
> > you've volunteered to gather this material <grin>.
> >
> > Seriously, though -- if it's something you've got time for, I at least
> > would benefit greatly from it.
>
> Yeah, that was the intention somewhat but honestly I thought it might
> just fall into place. Maybe I'm being hopeful. :)
>
> Things I think that need to happen...
>
> 1) Set up a page on the wiki with instructions and suggested outline
> of a success story.
> 2) Post a "Call for Success Stories" somehow, maybe via the weekly updates.
> 3) Keep an eye on the page and linked pages.
If you're going to do it via the wiki, you'll need to add
4) Keep a close eye on each page to avoid spam edits.
"Stories" will be easier to validate than the "Django powered sites"
page, where I have doubts about the Django-ness of some sites, but
you'll still have vandalism to deal with.
Malcolm
Simon G.
> 1) Set up a page on the wiki with instructions and suggested outline
> of a success story.
> 2) Post a "Call for Success Stories" somehow, maybe via the weekly updates.
> 3) Keep an eye on the page and linked pages.
4) Politely ask some of the big Django sites if they could answer 5 or
6 questions (e.g. pownce, tabblo, etc)
If you get a few "big" names in there, then others should follow.
--Simon G.
Rob Hudson
> > 1) Set up a page on the wiki with instructions and suggested outline
> > of a success story.
> > 2) Post a "Call for Success Stories" somehow, maybe via the weekly updates.
> > 3) Keep an eye on the page and linked pages.
>
> If you're going to do it via the wiki, you'll need to add
>
> 4) Keep a close eye on each page to avoid spam edits.
That's actually what I meant in #3. By "linked pages" I was thinking
the "Django Success Stories" page would have a top description, then
below all the links to the actual stories on a separate wiki page. Or
should we keep it in 1 big page?
I'll try to set this up sometime today if I find the time.
-Rob
Rob Hudson
> 4) Politely ask some of the big Django sites if they could answer 5 or
> 6 questions (e.g. pownce, tabblo, etc)
>
> If you get a few "big" names in there, then others should follow.
What would the 5 or 6 questions be?
-Rob
Simon Greenhill
> What would the 5 or 6 questions be?
>
> -Rob
Hmm... off the top of my head -
1) Why did you choose Django?
2) What were the other alternatives?
3) What benefits did you get from Django?
4) What problems did you run into? is there anything you'd like to
have done differently?
5) What does Django need to make it even better?
or something similar
--Simon
Rob Hudson
Cool, I've included those as an example of more details.
Feel free to update the following if anyone feels it needs it...
http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/DjangoSuccessStories
Now we just need to get the word out and hopefully get submissions.
I'll probably be working on a document from our company and pass it
around internally before it actually gets up online.
Cheers!
-Rob