Re: Bits from the DPL: FTP assistants, marketing team, init scripts, elections

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org>]

On Mon February 25 2008 2:29:27 pm Ingo Juergensmann wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 10:01:31PM +0200, Lars Wirzenius wrote:
> > On ma, 2008-02-25 at 10:31 -0500, David Moreno wrote:
> > > IMHO, the DPL position should have less showcase and more time to get
> > > some real work done during time (say, two years, since the free
> > > software and the technology world changes drastically in short periods
> > > of time).
> >
> > We already discussed last year lengthening the DPL period to two years.
> > Martin Michlmayr, the most recent example we have of a DPL that has
> > served more than two years, said it was a bad idea: "I don't think it's
> > a good idea to increase the time of a DPL term."
> > http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2007/08/msg00043.html
> > See the thread for more detailed arguments.
>
> Sorry for not having the time to read that thread, but just a quick idea:
> how about keeping yearly elections and introduce a 2 year period of the
> DPL in that way, that the new elected DPL is second in charge (2IC) or
> vice-DPL. That way the new DPL can slightly take over the business and the
> old DPL can assist later when the new DPL is swamped with work.

From a pure human nature standpoint, this could be a recipe for trouble.  If 
the DPL and the 2IC do not like each other, or even have completely opposed 
ideas about project governance, the result is not likely to be positive for 
the project.

This is, I believe, why the USA changed from having the vice-president be the 
presidential candidate with the second most votes to having the VP be tied 
to the presidential candidate.

-- John