Since the release of Neos 1.1 in June this year, we experience a steadily growing adoption of the next generation CMS for customer projects. But many web agencies were missing important features for Neos to be used in their day to day projects. The upcoming version 1.2 provides translation support which was an important feature on everybody's shortlist. Now until end of this year, the Neos team has an ambitious goal: implement the remaining top features everybody was asking for, and some more.
User access rights for content types, node tree branches, modules and languages is the most requested function right after content translation support. A translated user interface, improved media management with cloud support are following up close. In order to implement these complex features in a timely and effective manner, it takes some more than investing spare time along your regular job.
The team reached out for additional support for raising the necessary funds and bring in a stronger focus on business needs. Former TYPO3 Association board member Gina Steiner, initiator of the TYPO3 brand Daniel Hinderink and TechDivision's Josef Willkommer worked closely together with the TYPO3 Association's Expert Advisory board to set up a special sprint in November and December. During this time the TYPO3 Association will provide the necessary funds to buy significant additional time from Neos team members to intensively work on high priority tasks. Daniel Hinderink will take the Product Owner's role, suggesting and prioritising features. As the release manager for Neos 1.3, I will work closely with Daniel channeling concepts into stories which can be implemented by the team.
The team will work remotely most of the time and communicate via our well-established team chat, the mailing list and Google Hangouts. Ludwig Mair, a Scrum Master at TechDivision, will guide us through the (virtual) daily standup meetings and help improving the development process. We also plan to have several real-life meetings, in the beginning with only parts of the team and at the end of the sprint, a general assembly of all participating team members to finalise and celebrate the features we created.
We will keep you posted and give you insights into the sprint progress via blog posts, news and tweets. We are looking forward to some exciting times in Neos land, and most likely have a great Christmas gift for you :)
Robert,
Neos Team Mouthpiece