Re: Working alongside other groups (was Re: [MACCAWS] Hello to Group)

On Thu, Aug 01, 2002 at 06:20:18PM -0700, Jon Dillon wrote:
> 
> I don't think necessarily coordinating with "these guys" is a good thing
> right now.  We need to establish ourselves as leaders in what we're doing.
> I've worked on a lot of distributed projects, and IMHO, I think our priority
> right now should be completing some work.  Let's get done with the 1.0
> version of our document, and then let's see where we can get it out there,
> and see whom will lend us their support.
> 
> Until then, we're just a bunch of people with an idea, which I don't
> personally respect as much.  Let's walk the talk, accomplish something worth
> mentioning in a weblog, and *then* find out how we can collaborate with
> others in the community.
> 
> I guess what I'm trying to say is that we're an unproven organization, and
> until we prove ourselves, we should get to work.

Just to add to/clarify my point of view :-

Why should we be concerned about 'proving' ourselves first and foremost? 
I think we would look more foolish and less knowledgeable if we are not
following other work that is happening outside closely, and not
leveraging thoughts from other brains and providing our own input
where we can. This group is not without people of extremely good
experience and varied qualifications.  

If our goal is to evangelise web standards to a specific community, then I think it makes sense to communicate with others who are trying to achieve similar things - there is no point re-inventing wheels, but we can certainly improve them.  
We can help others to review their work, and they can review ours as we
are in the process of putting things together. 

This should not be about ego, about which group is better than which,
about being necessarily leaders.  This should be about people who believe
in the same good things working together to achieve it.

cheers,
-steph