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Hi all, |
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Here's a good story about how Debian's governance model has evolved over |
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time and what kinds of qualities are important to people involved in |
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things like our council: |
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|
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http://www.techforce.com.br/index.php/news/linux_blog/scientific_study_about_debian_governance_and_organization |
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A few interesting snippets: |
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The authors find that while technical proficiency is an important |
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criteria for leadership in such a group, it is not sufficient. Despite |
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espoused preferences for ‘hands-off leaders,’ skill in building the |
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organization becomes increasingly important over time. |
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... |
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Recent scholarship on open source communities suggests that any |
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governance system introduced must be meritocratic in order to attract |
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high quality contributions from voluntary members. |
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... |
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Second, the authors show that even in a community of open source |
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programmers that espouses the value of technical contributions above |
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all else, members’ conceptions of leadership change over time to |
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increasingly value organization building contributions. |
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... |
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|
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Developers were more likely to become a member of the leadership team |
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when their technical contributions were widely used by other members, |
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as opposed to the mere volume of their efforts. Contrary to a |
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simplistic meritocratic explanation, developers who engaged in |
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organization building behaviors were more likely to become members of |
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the leadership team. |
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Thus, Debian may be a meritocracy, but merit is not measured solely by |
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ones’ technical contribution. |
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|
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Thanks, |
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Donnie |
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-- |
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gentoo-project@l.g.o mailing list |