> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cees de Groot [mailto:cg at cdegroot.com]
> Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 6:31 PM
> To: The general-purpose Squeak developers list
> Subject: Re: Possible goals for future releases (was: Re: 
> Let's Release
> 3.4)

>You set goals or you set dates. As long as this is a volunteer effort
>where people wildly fluctuate in the amount of time they can contribute,
>you cannot set both.
>
>I'm in favor of setting dates.

I think you need to propose targets for BOTH goals and dates, with an understanding that either the goals or the dates are the higher priority.

Some goals may be high enough in importance that you are willing to move the date, and some goals may not be that important.

Setting dates provides a motivation for people to choose to spend some of their time on things that they want included.

If you only set dates and no goals, Squeak is less likely to get assigned a priority in people's daily lives, and the date may arrive with nothing new to release.

I think these ideas are fairly basic principles of project management,  but feel free to disabuse me of my pre-conceptions.

					-Dean Swan