Re: Debian as a social group and how to develop it better
On Fri, Nov 29, 2002 at 10:10:14PM +0100, Martin Schulze wrote:
AS>> or more of these areas are underdeveloped. This approach can also
AS>> be used to identify and remove the bottleneck for further growth.
MS> It would've been helpful if you would have added in which areas
MS> Debian needs to improve and where our bottlenecks are in order to
MS> become "fitter". (I've seen two issues in your mail. If they are
MS> the only one, we're pretty good according to your books.)
Actually, it was only one issue that I've noticed: that Debian is too
focused on solving technical problems, and doesn't pay enough attention
to social and interpersonal issues within itself. Each time someone does
something for Debian, he does it for his own personal reasons, not for
some technical goal per se.
AS>> Empowering leadership
<...>
MS> I'd like to emphasize that leading and coaching are two different
MS> things and that Debian rather needs a coach than a leader.
Right, I would even generalize this emphasis and say that _any_ group
needs coach rather than a leader, or, in other words, good leader is the
one that coaches rather than leads.
AS>> large number of people who became Debain developers and dropped
AS>> out over time. some Debian longtimers are beginning to show signs
AS>> of burn-out. the technical commitee is one example. If someone
AS>> quits and says: "i have not enough time for debian anymore" he
AS>> actually is stating that the priority which he gives debian is no
AS>> longer high enough and that he is not excited about it anymore.
MS> I don't have the feeling that most people who are in the CTTE are
MS> burnt out but they can't afford as much time as they could five
MS> years ago.
[ Hm, I guess you are not talking about yourself: from outside it looks
like you are still doing more for Debian than I do for my day job ;-) ]
Whatever the cause, the outcome is almost the same. It is quite natural
that experienced developers such as CTTE members loose their enthusiasm
and get increasingly distracted by real life (kids, job, health, etc.),
but, as someone already pointed out in this thread, there should be a
reason for younger, more enthusiastic developers not taking their place.
Is there not enough attention paid to coaching new group members, or
social climate inside the group is inattractive, or what?
--
Dmitry Borodaenko
Reply to: