dkjorgi wrote:I think it is great the church is embarking on Community development which I can imagine must throw up many new challenges which are different to the normal environment of in-house software development and therefore I too would throw caution to the wind.
I am not saying you are wrong but just showing there is always two sides to a coin (in terms of opinion).
I think the problem here is it depends on who defines "original intent".
I absolutely love the original idea of RAR and think you fully deserved the award you got for that.
I equally love YouthMaster for the same original idea to show how technology can be used in a church setting.
At the same time there are also things about RAR I think are pointless.
That's life.
We have to realise our eyes will look differently from those looking at this more globally. They have to see what brings best value for money to the masses ie many different countries with many different setups.
Another good example would be the unit websites, some cannot understand why effort is not used to enhance the functionality already here but others who do not have access to unite websites at all would want this first. You cannot always do both in the same timeframe.
If the HT/VT app brings online reporting to the masses then I think thats a great thing. Ok it hasnt got everything in it that I would have hoped for but I am pleased it is still going ahead and I am greatful for those in the community who has the needed skillset to take it forward.
I cannot complain as I do not have the needed skillset in JAVA and I assume neither do you.
You're right.... regardless of these recent developments, I would not be able to contribute because I do not have the skillset or the time to help. But that is not the point.
We started out on this venture [when I did have the time and the skillset] to accomplish something. A lot of us spent a great amount of time researching and developing a solution. I'm irritated that all of our research has been thrown out. At first it was a few items that we [many of us] felt were important. Now, the core intent of the project is in question.
First, I was hoping that RAR could end up being the Church's official solution for Home/Visiting teaching. Eventually, after spending countless hours on it, it was made clear to me that this would never happen.
Next, I was hoping that RAR could be an official pilot-test so the Church could learn from it and develop an official application based on what was learned from it. This too was shot down.
Next, I financed RAR myself and provided it, myself and RAR's users as resources to help the Church with the official project. Needless to say, this was also a rejected proposal.
Finally, I merely hoped that while the Church found it necessary to ignore RAR for legal and [whatever other] reasons, some minor element of my work would be of some benefit the the Church. These recent developments have caused me to feel that every second I spent on this project over the past 3 years has been a complete waste of time [at least regarding the official Church project.] You must understand why I would feel this way.
At the same time, I do understand why the Church has made [most of] the decisiions it has made. I've worked for large corporations and I know as well as anyone else that there are a lot of legal and beurocratic issues that complicate things greatly.
What meaning is an award when every single suggestion that I have ever put forth over the past 3 years has fallen upon deaf ears??? I have the award sitting right here and it does mean something to me. To me, it means that community members recognize some work that I have done has drastically helped people in their Home & Visiting Teaching duties throughout the world with RAR. Anyone can say, "Let's start a community Home/Visiting Teaching developed project." I was never interested in attaining an award. I was interested in helping Home and Visiting Teaching.
I should have been smart like the YouthMaster guy and never assumed that my work could ever be a Church project. But it is quite stressful spending time on an unofficial project that is threatened with being shut down for non-compliance with official policy.
Well, I'm sure everyone has had quite enough of my negative comments in here, but the good news for you is that I am completely spent on this whole issue. I have tried to move past this and ignore it countless times, but I sincerely hope that I can resist the urge to continue any further comments on this because I know I'm just coming off as being a whiner that is not getting his way.
Thanks,
Brad O.