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The Java Community Process (JCP) program applauds the community's Star Spec Leads.
These leaders earned this honor through their efficient, prompt, and transparent
communication with their Expert Group, the Program Management Office (PMO), and the
Executive Committee (EC). They used community web pages, observer aliases, and other
tools to communicate with their expert group, the JCP program community, and the public.
They kept their Java Specification Requests (JSRs) on schedule by making sure their team
stayed focused and felt appreciated. The JCP program congratulates and honors these Star
Spec Leads. |
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More than ten years ago, when David Nuescheler joined Day Software, then called "Bidule," the
company was located in a former sausage factory on the outskirts of Basel, close to the French and
German borders -- and not far from skiing in the beautiful Swiss Alps. As the chief technology officer
(CTO) of Day Software, David has been instrumental in growing the company from a small multimedia agency
to a global content management solution company. He has participated in website content management projects
for high profile clients such as McDonalds,Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen,
and Holiday Inn.
In 1999, David began working with Java technology when the decision was first made to
adopt the Java Platform for Day's entire suite of products. Since then, he has worked primarily on server-sided
web projects as a solution and product architect. By 2001, he had joined the JCP program, and he currently is
Spec Lead for JSR 170 Content Repository for Java Technology API.
To lead his Expert Group, David relies on the email list provided by the PMO as the main conduit
for technical discussions among the 42 members who represent 22 organizations. Weekly phone
conferences
are used for administrative discussions or schedule updates as well as for getting a feel for whether
consensus is emerging. Meeting invitations and an agenda go out on Wednesdays, and the meetings occur on
Thursdays. For every meeting, there is a simultaneous webmeeting with slides. Issues raised are noted as
action items and put on the mailing-list for those who could not attend the phone conference. An ongoing
open issues list tracks all issues pertaining to the specification, Reference Implementation (RI), and
Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK).
David calls for a face-to-face meeting about twice per year, as needed. An agenda is produced weeks ahead of time. A rotation of Expert Group members host the
face-to-face meetings in different geographical locations, usually balanced among West Coast USA,
East Coast USA, and Europe. Those who cannot attend in person are encouraged to dial-in to the
conversation and view the simultaneous webmeeting. Resolutions of the face-to-face meetings are
documented and sent through the mailing list for Expert Group members who were not present.
David holds transparent discussions of scheduling woes with the Expert Group and
gets consensus on the schedule and the implied consequences. He keeps an "aggressive but adaptive schedule," signaling the PMO when
necessary to update the schedule. David cooperates with the PMO by staying in touch through email
and phone, especially before submissions. In general, he conducts "sanity checks" and announces
short-term timelines to the
PMO. "This greatly helps the PMO to plan its resources and keeps the turnaround time to a minimum," he has noticed.
"A JSR is always also a diplomatic mission for the Spec Lead," says David. In general,
his philosophy is two-fold: try to drive consensus, and vote as seldom as possible on technical issues.
For the rare cases when consensus is not reachable, the Spec Lead must consult the Expert Group,
then make a firm decision in the best interest of the JSR.
The Expert Group publishes the specification as frequently as possible, making it
transparent to those outside the group. David has learned the importance of allocating enough
resources for the RI, and of starting RI development as early as possibly in the process because "that's how you find the real issues with the spec." He also suggests using the RI as a
vehicle to get the open source community excited about a JSR, noting, "A credible open source
implementation will help the adoption of a JSR dramatically." The RI and TCK for JSR 170 are
being developed as open source under the Apache
Jackrabbit Project.
The Star Spec Lead program carries with it other opportunities for David to promote JSR 170.
David says, "The Star Spec Lead program is a great platform for exchanging experiences between
Spec Leads, probably the best way to learn how to run a JSR. Originally, I had many questions where
it would have been great to be able to turn to other Spec Leads and ask them how they successfully
handled similar situations. Luckily, I had a chance to talk to other 'Star' Spec Leads at the time,
but it would certainly have been convenient to have them labeled and organized. Bottom line, I think it is a great idea and program and I am very honored to be
part of it."
Go to the Star
Spec Lead Program page for more information.
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David Nuescheler