This is a rather long post, but Alex specifically asked me to post my thoughts, so here goes... (there&#39;s also a lot of history thrown in )<div><br></div><div><div><b>*** Overview ***</b></div><div><br></div><div>Skunkworks is (hopefully) the Kenyan techie community (and interested people) </div>

<div><br></div><div>Tech here is not restricted to ICT. When getting guys together, we hoped to bring as many technology enthusiasts as possible. Maybe after sometime, and depending on numbers, special groups could be formed (biotech, ICT etc). There&#39;s already the security guys who have their own community/discussions/projects going on.</div>

<div><br></div><div>The idea was to get people talking with each other,  and hopefully as a result, some community driven projects could materialize.</div><div><br></div><div>Community is vibrant alright, and it looks like projects are taking off, due to contacts being made within the community.</div>

<div><br></div><div><b>*** The Community ***</b> </div><div><br></div><div>The mailing list has been largely useful. The introduction of moderation was probably overdue, but aims at improving quality of conversation. It is being  (officially) moderated by Phares for now (should be 2-3 more people doing so soon).</div>

<div><br></div><div>The Bulletin Board (forum) - The plan is to have the BB service contain non tech stuff (aka off topic stuff). It is managed by Tyrus</div><div><br></div><div>The blog is (unfortunately) currently out of date :( but has had event recaps, and generally useful information. Several suggestions have been made which can be used to improve it.</div>

<div><br></div><div>Events - Periodic Tuesday meetups have been taking place (thanks to Phares and his tireless efforts). We&#39;ve had a few barcamps (3 so far), as well as had active participation in event such as Alex&#39;s &#39;ICT@Innovation&#39;. It is VERY taxing to organize a barcamp (though lots of fun) hence the &#39;limited&#39; number.</div>

<div><br></div><div><b>*** Projects ***</b></div><div><br></div><div>It is good to see a few taking off - like the traffic one led by Stephen. Aki&#39;s project (<a href="http://projectskenya.info">projectskenya.info</a>) will also be very useful.</div>

<div><br></div><div>There&#39;s server space available for skunkworks projects. I know administration of this has not been all that. But the server as well as bandwidth, co-location was &#39;changiwad&#39; for such projects, and it would be a real shame to see it underutilized. Administration will need to improve for this. </div>

<div><br></div><div><b>Way forward:</b></div><div><br></div><div>I guess this is the bit that Alex was most most interested in. :). The main focus now I think should be getting as many projects out as possible. </div><div>

<br></div><div>* It would be great to see several projects to frutition - The Traffic project is one that has tangible benefits to all (I personally loathe jam). </div><div>* Skunkworks is community driven - more active participation from more people. The model envisaged at the onset called for active participation from a sizeable proportion of techies. </div>

<div>* Al Kags had some useful critique (A separate thread under &#39;Potential Learnings&#39; - Some projects and business skills maybe can be useful. There are guys on the list with such skills I think.</div><div>* Improve the blog.</div>

<div><br></div><div>==</div><div>Hopefully Mich, Kiania, Riyaz, Eric, Laban (Have I left anyone out?) can get to chip in on this discussion- now that they&#39;ve also been part of Skunkworks from the onset.</div><div><br>

</div><div>Would a Tuesday meeting to discuss these issues be helpful?</div><div><br clear="all">--<br>Josiah Mugambi <br><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/samuel_goldwyn.html" target="_blank">Samuel Goldwyn</a>  - &quot;I&#39;m willing to admit that I may not always be right, but I am never wrong.&quot;
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