Tech Forum

I would just like to voice my support for this application, and hope that it becomes a reality for everyone to use. As a new Elders Quorum President, I can tell you that I would LOVE to have this application available to use from my home.

I forgot to ask; how is the project coming along?

Have you checked out the Home Teaching / Visiting Teaching Applicationpage at the LDSTech Wiki?

I remember doing a Capstone project prior to graduating from college. I had no trouble finding someone who was eager to have me develop some software for them. I did a half-way decent job on the application and got an A, but I certainly did not do a superb job because I lacked the real-world experience that a more seasoned designer/developer would have had. After that, it was time for me to find a real job, so I moved on and haven't looked at or thought about my Capstone project since. I sure hope those guys never needed technical support on the application that I developed for them.

I've worked as a consultant developing applications for large and small companies. Each time, they pay me to get up to speed on the project and perform some amount of work on it. After my contract is up, I move on to another job. I never look at or think about the project I was working on again. Isn't it kind of strange that they would pay me all that money to get up to speed only to have me leave with all that knowledge?

I just thought I should express my opinion that I agree with those who have expressed that they think this Home Teaching project is going in the wrong direction. It is obvious that this project is not a priority to the Church. This was even confirmed in the most recent Tech Talk. Instead of turning this project over to amateurs (no offense meant -- I was there once), I would highly recommend that this project be shelved until this project actually becomes a priority for the Church.

This project has never had a serious sponsor or any real support as far as I have been able to tell. Instead of getting it a sponsor, it is now being handed off as some college student's senior project as an additional indication that it is not a priority for the Church. This project is now positioned to be passed from one person to another (college students, consultants, and community members) to eliminate any possible sense of ownership.

I think some of us (including myself), though with good intentions, have been trying to cram this down the Church's throat when the Church has no interest. This is why this project has deteriorated into what it has become. Since the Church is not interested in making this a priority, I again emphasize that it is probably best to shelve it to avoid wasting the time of people who still have some hope of it ever going anywhere.

Wouldn't it be far better to just postpone any work on this until experienced people are willing to work on it? I am a huge supporter of the idea of online Home Teaching and I hope everything works out, but I have a very bad feeling about this.

TB

You have to remember that the Church ICS department is a service to all the rest of the organizations in the Church. They don't make many of the decisions, but instead their "customers" make all the decisions. Being personally involved in much of the discussion and initial planning of the HT/VT project, I have seen legal concerns and priesthood decisions made that have whittled away at the proposed feature set. Many of the most enthusiastic community developers have been left disappointed in the remaining project requirements, dropping off as active contributors. There's not much Community participation left and it's been that way for quite a while.

I think instead of shelving the project, they decided to allow a fresh set of developers work on it, who haven't been let down by requirements changes. These BYU students are probably excited and enthusiastic for the opportunity, which the project needs right now. I personally can't get as excited about it as I used to be, because I'm left with this feeling that we had certain features planned in that had to be removed; it almost feels like something was taken away from me, even though I never really had it in the first place.

I think this fresh perspective from new participants can only be a good thing.

TechnoBabel wrote: I would highly recommend that this project be shelved until this project actually becomes a priority for the Church.

I think the project actually is a priority for the Church. It is a key part of an overall strategy to migrate some MLS functionality to the web. The challenge is isolating the right set of functionality to migrate as a first step.

Historically there have been two big pieces of data missing from the core membership information collected in databases at CHQ: Callings and HT/VT data. The first piece is being fixed with the new standardized callings in MLS, which now are being harvested; this project would provide the second piece.

The problem is that the design does not meet its articulated objective of replicating MLS functionality on the web, because some of what would be destroyed in MLS (integrated reporting and export data) would not yet be replaced in the new app. If that problem were solved -- and I think it could be solved -- this project would be a big step forward.

But until that missing piece is provided, my advice to local priesthood leaders would be not to adopt the new application when it is rolled out (an option contemplated by the stated plan). The new app's functionality would primarily benefit quorum and RS secretaries, to the detriment of bishoprics. Fix that, and the project would be win-win.

mkmurray wrote:These BYU students are probably excited and enthusiastic for the opportunity,

I'm sure they are. I was excited and enthusiastic about my senior project also. I'm sure that these BYU students are smart and motivated... I just think that a project of this magnitude should be reserved for more seasoned individuals.

TB

dthom wrote:I would just like to voice my support for this application, and hope that it becomes a reality for everyone to use. As a new Elders Quorum Presidency, I can tell you that I would LOVE to have this application available to use from my home.

These are my feelings as well.

Is there a link to the beta page of this HT/VT app?

adhansen5 wrote:Is there a link to the beta page of this HT/VT app?

There is not one available at this time. There is further information in the "Important News" paragraph of the Project Newssection at the Home Teaching /Visiting Teaching Application page of the wiki.