Re: How to leverage money to accomplish high impact Debian projects
On 19.03.21 11:29, Enrico Zini wrote:
>> I don't think that lack of interest is the problem here, but I do think
>> that Debian contributors tend to be already starved for time, and trying
>> to get them to do more is like trying to tap water out of an empty well.
>> For some, a financial incentive might work if they're not currently
>> working full time, and especially if they need money, but the median
>> Debian developer seem capable of sustaining themselves reasonably well.
>
> Thinking at how we set our bar for membership in building a reputation
> within the project, I imagine we implicitly select people who are able
> to sustain themselves reasonably well without Debian's help.
That might be the case, but generally speaking, that self-sustainment is
achieved by devoting one's time to some other cause, like $DAYJOB, hence
the lack of time for Debian.
I have the suspicion that quite a few Project members have somewhat
flexible jobs (freelancers, or project work, or part-time work), and I
believe that a financial incentive might enable them to dedicate more of
their time to Debian, than to other projects.
I also think that it's important to make a distinction of what gets paid
and what doesn't. A frequent counter-argument I hear to getting paid for
Debian work is that it would be unfair to those not getting paid. I
disagree with this.
Not all tasks are equal, and I many Debian chores come to mind that
nobody wants to do, but still have to be done, and we're grateful to
that one person doing it once very four weeks. I think financially
motivating it someone to do that chore once a week, or even more often,
would be worthwhile.
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