A partially formed idea...
My guess is that a good proportion of those who come along each month, either design things, or code things, or are in someway involved in making things.... At the last Reading Geek Night (partly inspired by Alan Bradburnes talk), I spoke with a few people about how we all go about getting feedback on 'stuff' that we make. The consensus was that for those of us who freelance, or work in small startups, it can be hard to get real, honest feedback on what we produce.
Out of the various conversations we had, came the idea of forming some kind of group - lets call it a feedback circle (ok its a naff name, but you get the idea) - where you could offer-up something you had done, other people could have a look at / play with it and give you honest feedback on it from the perspective of a 'critical friend'. In return you would do the same for them.
I haven't thought through how it may all work, but wanted to throw it open to you...
So the first question is.... Does it sound like something that would be useful to you?
and the second is.... Any ideas / thoughts etc on how it should (or shouldn't) work.
7 Comments
Chris Tingley
I think this is a fantastic idea and I'd be 100% behind getting involved as I have some of my own projects that I'd like to get some feedback on.
My only slight concern (puts his commercial/legal hat on for a minute) is that some of the *ideas* may have commercial viability (mine certainly do) and therefore would usually be discussed before launch/during conception under the protection of a non-disclosure agreement. I'm sure that within a close-knit group where it's likely that people know each other that this is unlikely to be a big problem, but I thought I would raise it as a concern now. *Doffs legal cap*.
I would foresee these critique groups coming together on a pretty ad-hoc basis, as and when there is any/enough material to make a meet-up worthwhile. Would it be an idea to have a mailing list which interested people could join and discuss events etc.?
Jim
In answer to Chris's point above... I'd suggest as a minimum we would all sign up to the excellent FriendDA - http://friendda.org .
Of course if everyone felt we needed to sign up to something more robust, then I'm sure we could find a boilerplate agreement that would work for everyone. Does anyone have an off-the-shelf NDA that would suit something like this?
Chris Tingley
Good idea Jim, I like the FriendDA - very good! We could adapt it slightly to mutually cover a group of people.
I have a boilerplate NDA if needs be. I think this is something that would need further discussion between the people that want to get involved.
What do you think about the ad-hoc nature?
Ray Lee
NDA's are a strange thing. They are mostly unenforceable in the UK and often stifle things going forward. The FreindDA is a nice lose document that covers a lot of what you want whilst an NDA would need to be reviewed by 3rd party legal people if I or many of us I suspect. A lot of the work I do nowadays is not under NDA for that very reason. Bearing in mind that in Europe you cannot copyright software "code" what does the NDA seek to achieve?
Dogsbody
I know I haven't yet made it to a Reading Geek Night, things keep coming up!
I love this idea, not as a big site but as a small local one, where you may or may not know the people but can meet up should you want more face to face feedback over a beer.
My initial thought is something like a uservoice style system but a forum format may work just as well.
Rob Lang
As another Geek based in Reading that hasn't made it to a night yet (have wanted to from the off, I'd even present but I do more geekier things on a Tuesday), I'd like to say this is a superb idea. However, there should be some sort of password thing on it so that any tom-dick-and-harry can't nip on and nick the ideas. Perhaps a password handed out during the reading geek night. Or if its a forum, change the eula-agreement-thing on registration that embodies the FriendDA.
Jason Mehmet
I too havn't made it to a night. But this is a great idea. It clearly should be dubbed The Feedback Loop!