Re: [gentoo-project] Gentoo Council 2014 / 2015 election

[Roy Bamford]

On 2014.07.06 13:31, Rich Freeman wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 6, 2014 at 7:51 AM, Roy Bamford <neddyseagoon@g.o>
> wrote:
> >
> > ... but Gentoo has had no leadership since the council was formed
> ...
> > or even since drobbins left the first time.
>
> I think you're confusing leadership with titles here.  You can have
> an
> official project leader who doesn't do any leading, and you can have
> people doing leading without any title at all.
>
> I would not say that Gentoo has been entirely bereft of leadership.
> Look at where we are vs where we were in 2003.  Do we really think
> that we'd have deployed PMS and migrated to newer EAPIs without SOME
> kind of leadership?
>
> Many individual leaders promoting small projects that collectively
> improve the distro is still leadership.
>
> >
> > The council is a technical disputes resolution body, that infers
> that
> > its forbidden to lead, since setting a direction (leadership) falls
> way
> > outside the councils terms of reference.
>
> Frankly, I think we can do better than that.  Sure, if nothing else
> the Council can be a place to get a final vote on a dispute, but I
> think that Council members ought to be trying to influence the
> day-to-day direction of the distro.  That isn't limited to
> participating in email threads - their influence can be behind the
> scenes, from taking the lead on projects, etc.  When there is a
> problem, step up and contribute!
>
> >
> > Probably just as well, since you can't lead by committee. You just
> get
> > a mess like the EU.
>
> What you can't do is call passing resolutions leadership.  As a
> committee the Council votes on resolutions that we all agree to
> follow.  That is a necessary function of the Council, but it isn't
> really leadership.  Council members can and should lead in other
> ways.
>
> And lots of people take on leadership roles in Gentoo without having
> any title at all.  Most FOSS projects are meritocracies, and we're no
> different.  When people see something good, they follow it.
>
> You can't have a leader by appointing a leader.  At best you can
> assign a title to somebody who has already been doing the job.
> Putting a mantle on somebody who hasn't already been a leader just
> tends to lead to a lot of conflict.
>
> That is one of the things that works well with our project system.
> Devs self-assemble into small teams based on interest and they choose
> their own leaders.  Generally the job of the Council as a committee
> is
> to stay out of their way, unless they're bumping into each other.
> Leadership in an organization like ours usually doesn't consist of
> issuing orders...
>
> Rich
>
>

Rich,

I think we really agree. There has been lots of local leadership to 
get things done by the people involved but no 'Gentoo the distro' level 
leadership since drobbins left, as there was no longer any BDFL.

Even drobbins only took an interest in some things, there was just too 
much to do. The rest was left to the Top Level Project leads, which 
gave way to the council when the TLP leads wasn't working any more.

Its another question if the loss of 'Gentoo the distro' level 
leadership matters as Gentoo has always been a loose collection of 
projects anyway. 

-- 
Regards,

Roy Bamford
(Neddyseagoon) a member of
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