CodeIgniter Community Branch NDA

We’ve been receiving some questions regarding a statement made in a news post earlier this week:

Potential candidates will be asked to sign an NDA to discuss the details of the branch before accepting a seat.

The confusion lies in the purpose of the NDA, and the scope of what it covers.  The branch’s development will not be under NDA, nor will discussions between the deputies and the community, how they receive code submissions, what they reveal to others about their own plans, and so on.

Since much of this preliminary discussion is going to be an open table with the deputy candidates and EllisLab staff to determine the guidelines and strategies for the community branch, the NDA is necessary.  As would be the case any time we are dealing with third parties, in order to have a candid discussion and presentation of our point of view with the deputies may require revealing proprietary or confidential information relating to our other products, new product plans, confidential information from our users and partners, or our business in general.

In short, the NDA will not block the free flow of information about the community branch, or from and between the deputies.  Development of the community branch will not be done in secret with surprise pushes and releases.  There is no cone of silence, except with respect to information shared regarding the protected assets of EllisLab, Inc. and our stakeholders.

Posted by Derek Jones on November 19, 2010