Strategy¶

As we enter a new year, with core documents complete, the Xalgorithms foundation enters a new stage in the development life cycle. Guided by a set of documents authored by Bill and Joseph, this phase was marked by a set of assumptions that were articulated to intentionally guide the planning, requirement and design phases. The following timeline shows where in the process we are.

On the most recent tech call a number of important topics of conversation came up. 1. the nature of the rule taker interface. 2. the reason for developer adoption of DWDS. 3. the capabilities of rule maker. 4. the effective allocation of resources across this project.

Many answers were hinted at. However, significant ambiguity remains. As we approach the task of defining the work of the next quarter, it is imperative to reflect upon the nature of the design that is being implemented, to make explicit the assumptions we hold, and to determine how our strategies can best support the system that has emerged from the previous stages in the project life cycle.

This process will inform and improve our ability to define work across the implementation of DWDS and the accompanying communications and project management strategy. It will make it easier to make effective use of limited resources, and make it easier to make decisive decisions.

This process will require asking a series of pointed questions and using various narrative and cognitive techniques to help approach answers.

First. It is important to examine assumptions about the user of DWDS as a system. This question has been touched upon before, without satisfaction. The assumption being that it is next to impossible to define a target user in the context of general purpose technology. However this assumption is false. Look at the narrative maps and you will see a common thread.

narrative maps

Every story requires developer integration of DWDS. The developer is the common character across all the different applications proposed. The answer has been hinted at in the past, and on the call, Ted clearly stated this. DWDS has a powerful human centered design. However, if develoeprs don't want to use this system, or do not feel the costs out weigh the benefits, then people will never see the benefits that can be enabled by DWDS.

This position requires some nuance. I put together a persona to help provide a more actionable and sympathetic picture.

persona

There are two key challenges. knowledge acquisition and winning stakeholders.

This points in key directions across the challenges that are raised

what is the goal of the communications

what is the purpose of building out rt

what is the best way to allocate limited resources across dwds development