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How We Plan to Reconstitute the MUMPS Development Committee
http://mumpster.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1771
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Author:  toad [ Fri Feb 07, 2014 9:44 am ]
Post subject:  How We Plan to Reconstitute the MUMPS Development Committee

I've paused in loading extensions to sort out the next step in reconstituting the MDC, and I think I have our strategy pinned down. What follows is tentative pending consultation with the MDC chair, Art Smith.

We are going to do it formally, in the classic MDC spirit, by self-constituting an MDC task group that takes on the responsibility of reconstituting the MDC, and does it all by the book, with formal documents, motions, and meetings. That task group, MDC TG19: Reconstitution, will meet online in March, May, July, and September, to get all the standing documents, MDC Type A Extensions, and the RMDS into shape.

TG19 will then reconstitute the MDC on 20 October, at which meeting TG19 will transfer over its membership, task groups, subcommittees, and documents to create the MDC and for MDC ratification. TG19 will then ask to be dissolved. The reconstituted MDC can then carry on with the ANSI and ISO approval processes, and with developing the subsequent MUMPS standard in parallel under the new constitution and rules.

Meanwhile, I hope by the end of this weekend to have finished preparing MDC TG19's first real document - its bylaws, which include scope, schedule, and membership rules. Generally speaking, TG19 will be a cross between the MDC as it stood at its last meeting and three organizations that have carried on the work since then: (1) SC16/TG3/WG1 Object Orientation, which continued meeting for a couple years after the MDC stopped meeting, before transforming itself into WorldVistA; (2) the MUMPS Standards Organization, which the MDC chair and vice-chair designed and operated as in 2006-2007; and (3) the MUMPS Development Crew, who have operated informally since 2010 to prepare for this year's effort.

After that, the next document I post will be an artifact defined by our new proposal rules. It is called the MUMPS 2015 Map, and it shows which MDC Type A Extensions we are targeting for inclusion and which postponing, along with the reasons. Under the new proposal rules, the current draft of which Art Smith and I jointly devised in 2006 and 2007, each round of standardization starts by agreeing on our goals for the standard, so subsequent work and votes can focus on whether we did what we set out to do, to avoid open-ended arguments about direction throughout the process, which was an old MDC tradition we are happy to leave behind us. Maps for future MUMPS standards will not be tied to MDC Type As, but will instead define the features that need to be added or updated, and for which new MDC Type As will be developed; the MUMPS 2015 Map is different because this next standard is so unusual, mainly consisting of carrying on the work the MDC was engaged in from 1995 to 1999.

Once the draft map is published, I'll go back to publishing MDC Type A Extensions and preparing for the March MDC TG19 meeting.

If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, or suggestions about all of this, please do not hesitate to discuss it. We'll be here for the next century, working diligently on behalf of the MUMPS community to improve the standard of this remarkable language.

Author:  toad [ Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How We Plan to Reconstitute the MUMPS Development Commit

Well, after a distractingly busy month and a half, it's clear we will have to adjust the schedule a bit, but my goal is still to get things into shape in time for an October 2014 relaunch of the MDC. More soon.

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