Developer discussion for Creative Commons technology and tools

[Catherine Casserly <cathy AT creativecommons.org>]

Dear CC Development Community,

I am writing to share with you that Dan Mills will be leaving CC. For specific details, see the note appended below, shared earlier today with staff.

We are planning for a smooth transition for the organization, and Dan has been gracious to commit to remaining until the hand off is secure and complete.

We will miss Dan and his many talents.

Cathy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Catherine Casserly <cathy AT creativecommons.org>
Date: Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 2:43 PM
Subject: Dan Mills transition from CC
To: "cc-staff AT lists.ibiblio.org" <cc-staff AT lists.ibiblio.org>

Dear CC Team,

It is with mixed feelings I share the news of Dan Mills moving on from CC. Dan came to CC to lead our product effort, specifically to tackle some of our thorniest and longest-term challenges, i.e., how to create a more defined “commons” pool, identify ways to track use and reuse, expand the size and quality of the CC content pool, and identify products with revenue potential.

With his deep expertise from Mozilla and beyond, Dan led our pivot to product to address these challenges from a new angle. He dug in and used his entrepreneurial mindset to explore potential product paths to create a back-end database of works, deciding to focus on K-12 education to develop a product concept, a community where CC continues to gain deep traction. While still in its early stages, it became clear that the road to a minimal viable product is an arduous one, nonlinear by nature.

Earlier this fall, with board encouragement, Dan and I began to explore whether product at CC might be spun off and perhaps better suited outside of headquarters. These conversations led us to better understand the complexity of implementing a pivot product within an existing organization, i.e., while the product concept under development would unlikely yield the hockey stick growth of a young start-up worthy of venture funds, the product (or some version thereof) was tactically aligned to assist realize the CC vision.

Long story short, these conversations provided the space for Dan to stop and consider where he wanted to focus his energy and talents. With that, Dan (the entrepreneur) has decided to start his own business.

During this transition, Dan remains committed to CC and to finding a system administrator to support our core infrastructure. He will remain engaged until a secure hand off can be made. With the search for the system administrator underway, we are targeting the end of February as the transition date (with continued contract support as needed from Dan thereafter).

I think it is important for all staff to discuss this change and its implications for our work. I will ask Meryl to find a time when we can meet to the week of January 27th to debrief, and for Dan to share more about his business venture.

We will miss Dan, his creativity, his passion, and his intellect, and wish him all the very best on the next leg of his journey.

Cathy

--

Cathy Casserly, CEO

cathy AT creativecommons.org

cathy.casserly AT gmail.com

Phone: 650.868.3258

We've kicked off our Annual Campaign!

donate.creativecommons.org
teamopen.cc

--

Cathy Casserly, CEO

cathy AT creativecommons.org

cathy.casserly AT gmail.com

Phone: 650.868.3258

We've kicked off our Annual Campaign!

donate.creativecommons.org
teamopen.cc