Organizational Development for VirtueMart

[Joachim A]

Hello all,

I have been using VM for mora than 2 years now. Some time ago I started a project that required shopping cart functionalities and after much research I opted for VM. It's many features, integration with Joomla and  many attributes made up my mind. It's a great shopping cart and with great  possibilities for the future.

After some time I decided I want to participate more for the community. This I channeled by assisting Roland in developing his new version of CSVImproved. It is really a pleasure working with him the results speak for themselves.

From my experience with VM  I have some observations that might be beneficial:

Organizational development:  VM has grown very fast and at this point it becomes necessary to develop an organizational structure that corresponds to the present situation and provides the base for future growth.
Without systems in place ideas becomes only talk and good intentions and  People that want to contribute just loose their steam.

A great example is the modifications - Joined forces thread: There are many great ideas there.  But for  them to become reality and render beneficial they have to be implemented. Now as far as I know there is a shortage of resources in the present core team, and they probably don't  have the time to implement it. But if the core team delegates and creates the necessary structures and resources then a smaller team can take charge of this project and become a reality.

A Modular Structure for VM: The creation of  smaller units  for production projects and operations within VM to facilitate production and growth with clearly established responsibilities and objectives.

New Staff Teams for VM: As any organization grows the needs for new units that support production increases and become increasingly important for the organization. If this need  is not  addressed production units  tend become overwhelmed by the many problems growth brings along. This is not an exclusive phenomenon to VM but it happens to most organizations and its just a stage in development that requires adaptation.

A diverse core Team: I think that it would be very beneficial to VM to have members in the core team that are not coders. There are many functions  and important points of view associated with a project that aren't coding and also need to be addressed. For example organizational development, graphic design, marketing, documentation development, financial management, customer service, etc. If this is already so great.

The first Step: Create a first team that is not directly involved in production (but a production member present) and proposes an new organizational structure that is more effective and flexible in dealing with the present situation and that facilitates participation and future growth for VM.

Is there Interest in Pursuing this? Are we ready to "upgrade" Virtue mart?

I'm willing to participate.

Joachim