Image is nothing, Organisation is everything...
Let me try to create an analogy here.
We (
http://robotics.puv.fi) are competing in Robocup (
http://www.robocup.org) for the second year. Last year we made third place in the European Open, and this year we are competing in the Worldcup in June.
Building, programming and testing these robots is a multilevel discipline that requires the maximum from mechanics, embedded system design, software engineering and electronics.
In order to manage such a diverse mixture of skills, one needs a strong institution (or person/small group of persons) to manage this.
Last year we had problems directing everything in the right direction, with many overlappings, and too few detailed specifications for our robot requirements. This meant that even though we managed to get the robots working, it was quite a chaotic undertaking. Furthermore, the other departments in the university (like business) were not involved and didn't even know about the project. Let alone external companies...
Well, this year we changed all that. A well defined set of specifications on all levels, involvement of all departments including the business unit to do some marketing, we found sponsors who've really shown a lot of interest in the project and the media knows about it.
The result is that the people involved in the design and implementation of the robot get even more motivated because they can see that their work is giving results.
This can also be applied to the POWER architecture. More people need to know about it, standardisation is very important and the developers have to know their work is appreciated not only within the community, but also outside.
Combine this with a central 'strong institution' like power.org to guide and affirm this stance, POWER will take off like a robot towards the ball
And lets hope that Genesi will succeed, as I hope to get our robots running on POWER by next years World Championchip!
Johan.
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Johan Dams, Genesi USA Inc.
Director, Software Engineering
Yep, I have a blog...
PurpleAlienPlanet