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On Thu, 2006-08-24 at 20:55 +0200, Thierry Carrez wrote: |
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> Lance Albertson wrote: |
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> |
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> > Anyways, I'm not going to take any more flame bait since I'm sick and |
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> > tired of this shit. |
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> |
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> And my intention was not to revive that precise debate. I'm just saying |
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> that for the "leader" (or "strong council") to succeed, everyone has to |
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> follow what he/they decide. |
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> |
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> With the current organization/devsgroup, very often the affected team |
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> will think that the decision is not right or could be improved (and very |
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> often they will be right, as they know better their turf than anyone). |
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> Is *everyone* here prepared to obey to orders they won't like ? |
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> |
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> That's why I agree with you Lance when you say : |
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> |
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> > I'm afraid those days are in the past unless some kind of fork happens |
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> > where the folks who think we need a leader go their way and the folks |
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> > who prefer the leader-by-committee approach go their way. We all hate |
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> > forks, none of us have time for forks, but looking at the dividing line, |
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> > I don't see how we'll be able to compromise with out adding more |
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> > policies and BS. |
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> |
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> I've done my best the last two years trying to change the metastructure |
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> into something more efficient. I guess I failed. A lot of current devs |
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> did not enter Gentoo by signing a "I will obey to the leader" paper, so |
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> they decided noone can rule (or change the system). I see only a fork to |
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> solve the division between those wanting strong leadership/vision and |
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> those wanting gentoo-dev votes for every decision (yes, someone asked |
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> for that not that long ago). |
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|
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The way I look at it is having strong leadership does not mean |
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abdicating your ability to provide quality input in the leadership |
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process. The entire reason for the two aforementioned issues boiled down |
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to a lack of communication. I believe that the job of a good leader is |
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to seek out feedback from those that know better about an issue then |
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they do. Being a good leader *means* understanding your strengths and |
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weaknesses. |
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|
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Taking the email issue previously mentioned as an example. The council |
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was under the impression that since the discussions happened out in the |
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open that any issues anyone had would have been raised in that forum, |
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infra was under the impression that if they were going to be asked to |
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perform a new duty that their opinions would have been actively |
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solicited (and I'm talking more then "Well the meeting agenda was posted |
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and no one from infra showed up ... I guess infra doesn't care.", what I |
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am talking about is "Well this involves infra in a key way, lets get |
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Lance and Kurt in here to discuss this and if we can't find them lets |
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postpone the discussion until we can."), neither happened and what we |
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ended up with was an edict that made no sense. Clearly, although filling |
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this role is less then glamorous, the roll of those in charge has to |
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include actively tracking the involved parties down, quiet acquiescence |
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and silent acceptance can't work when dealing with issues that involve |
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the hard work of other people. |
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|
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When I talk about strong leaders who provide a forward looking vision I |
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am not talking about people who do this in a vacuum, I am talking about |
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people who coalesce the will of the group into a cohesive plan and |
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provide way points along the way to ensure that progress is being made. |
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I am talking about people who build their own vision on top of the ideas |
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of the other groups that make up the community. Sure even in those cases |
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there will be conflicting goals and differing opinions but those in |
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charge should be able to hear those out and try to come to a rational |
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compromise. From there the decision has to stand...I have a feeling that |
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following a plan, even when it doesn't jive with your view, will be an |
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easier pill to swallow if you are sure that your input and concerns were |
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honestly heard and digested as part of the decision making process. I |
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think of the community as a whole as a sort of advisory board to the |
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Council...I dunno, I'm sure there will still be those that are so upset |
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that their choice, opinion, or plan was not heeded 100% that they throw |
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a fit and/or leave but maybe just maybe that is OK, maybe that is just a |
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sign that was they want isn't what Gentoo is. We are trying to make |
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Gentoo everything for everyone and failing...maybe we just need to |
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accept that we are not and cannot be and that people moving on to find |
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what really is what they want is healthy, not only for Gentoo but for |
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Linux and OSS as whole. |
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|
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--Dan |