News

The first-ever Plone Strategic Planning Summit took place in Mountain View, California on February 8-10, 2008 at Google Headquarters. The group consisted of users, integrators, industry experts and hardcore developers from around the world engaging in intensive conversation, brainstorming and planning follow-up actions. The purpose of the meeting was to produce a plan for the strategic future of Plone in light of the rapid growth it has experienced over the last few years.

Organizer Jon Stahl and Mark Corum led the first day in determining the markets and audiences that Plone serves, its strengths and weaknesses, and the positioning of Plone relative to the competition. The second day focused on the theme of “approachability,” that is, making it easier for newcomers to use Plone and subsequently including them in the Plone community. Some intense brainstorming ensued and thus the group identified numerous actions to pursue. A “champion” was assigned to each action to ensure that action would move forward. On the final day of the Summit, the group welcomed Jonathan Wilde, the 14-year old Grand Prize Winner for Plone’s entry in the “Google Highly Open Participation Contest.” Jonathan wowed the audience by producing four high-quality themes and two new Plone portlets in just a few days.

Most agreed that the Summit was an initial success and left excited about the future of Plone. The action steps have been put into the Trac system so the champions can continue the cause.