[python-advocacy] Marketing Python - An Idea Whose Time Has Come

[Michael Tobis]

I'm struggling with this idea of a "request for leadership". This has
come up both on the marketing-python list and in the edu-sig.

There seem to be funds for someone to do some stuff in both contexts.
In some ways I feel like throwing my hat in both rings as there is a
chance I will be underemployed next fall. (There is this long-shot
high-payoff DoE grant application pending though...)

I think I have genuine enthusiasm, honest idealism, creativity and
organizational skills to contribute. Let's leave aside the problem
that this demands a certain brazenness in saying "I am a potential
leader", i.e., "I would be a good choice for you to pay me to be in
charge  of this stuff".

However, I am not now, and (though I'm not giving up yet) likely will
never be a top-tier Python programmer.

One big trouble as I see it is that Pythonistas, like most open source
programmers, revere the most productive coders and undervalue many
other skills. So the only people who would be able to exert
"leadership" are the people (like Guido himslef) whom we'd rather have
doing other things, and the people who have the appropriate skill set
to be "leaders" are not likely to get the permission to lead by the
community.

And though I think I am articulate and friendly and have a good sense
of humor, I'm not exactly charismatic, so there is some problem with
stepping up to a role called "leader" or even "director". If I were
granted, in effect, a title of Benevolent Assistant Dictator for a
Provisional Term with a Portfolio in the Stuff that Doesn't Much
Matter to the Community, I would be a hopeless basket case in a week.

Perhaps there is someone who understands Python well enough who
nevertheless has a sufficiently strong personality to be able to
handle such role, but perhaps not. I suggest that the question is
being framed in the wrong way.

I think concessions to internal marketing are the first step.
Therefore, I suggest a request not for a "leader" or a "director"
which sounds presumptious and will probably appeal to the wrong
people, and rather that it be stated as a request for a "facilitator".

(Note that my perceived-as-tedious carping about the logo is also more
about internal marketing than external marketing. I think it's
adequate for a corporate presence for Python, but I think it's
inadequate as a rallying point for enthusiasm among the troops.)

Secondly, I suggest the funds should not all go to one person, who
will then find self in the position of defending turf as much as
advancing the community. Rather, small amounts of funds should be
doled out to several projects each with its own protagonist.

The Foundation (or other grant agencies) can gradually shift
responsibility to the most successful/least distracted person or
persons. So I suggest multiple small projects be identified and
funded. This would be lower risk to the community and potentially
higher payoff. So therefore there would be multiple part-time funded
projects rather than a full-time endowed professional position, at
least as a first step.

The Foundation could identify these projects and the appropriate
funding levels and mechanisms themselves, or delegate that to an ad
hoc committee.

mt