Re: long term goals of debian membership

[Glenn McGrath <bug1@optushome.com.au>]

Manoj Srivastava wrote:
> 
> >>"Glenn" == Glenn McGrath <bug1@optushome.com.au> writes:
> 
>  Glenn> Ideally how many debian developers should there be ?
> 
>         Hard to say definitively.
> 
>  Glenn> More people than packages
> 
>         Which is not necesarily a good thing. Already we are at a
>  point where the sheer volume of packages are intimidating to
>  people. More packages means we need to invent a better means of
>  managing package management on all our target systems, better means
>  of solution discovery, and a means of distinguishing between the 900
>  packages that all play CD's.
> 
>  Glenn> Will more workers result in a higher quality distribution ?
>  Glenn> Yes. (as long as they all follow policy)
> 
>         Rubbish. Firstly, quality counts. Secondly, throwing more warm
>  bodies at a problem may make the solution unwieldy, take longer, and
>  result in a shoddier product.
> 
>         I strongly advice you to read "The Mythical Man Month".
> 
>         There is a cost associated with managing larger groups of
>  people, and co-ordinating them into an effective team. As the group
>  grows, more effort has to be expended in bureaucratic tasks.
> 
> 

Thanks for you constructive response, i havent read "the Mythical Man
Month" i will make an effort to do so.

To be honest im pretty amazed that my opinion is so unacceptable to
most.

If each person is aware of their own limitations and capabilities and
works within them then more people should result in a gain. If people
need to be trained to get their capabilities upto scratch, then i see
that that will distract other productive workers, but that is an issue
with the newworkers capabilities not beign upto scratch.

If there are nine pregnant ladies, im sure each of them realise a
pregnancy cant be rushed by a group effort and wont try to make things
happen any quicker, nothing ventured nothing gained.
Similarly if there are 60 workers with shovels wanting to dig a whole,
im sure they would realise that all of their shovels wont fit down the
hole at one time and the majority of them will either have of a rest
(leaning on the shovel relaxing watching the traffic cruise by), or
assist in other ways (one might hold the post thats to be put in).

I think at debian the issue is making sure the capabilities (or lack
there of) of new volunters doesnt distract others from their work.

I honestly believe that every person is unique, and therefor has
something unique to offer in help. Obviously not all helpers need to be
members, but anyone who does make a significant contribution to debian
should have the right to vote about debians future.

Debian is more than just a bunch of politically correct deb's, im sure
there are lots of people who make significant contributions to debian in
non packaging areas that dont have a right to vote on debians future
direction.

I would like to discuss the managment side of things constructively
more, i guess after i read the mythical man month i will have more of a
perspective on others opinions.


Glenn