Debian has grown so much to so many sides, that helpers are a good idea,
whatever form this takes. It may sound a bit funny, but at the periphery
of Debian, there are already little helpers called "Blends". And there are
various pkg-* activities on alioth with a similar character, all driven by the
various degrees of community-acknowledged talents/insights and available time of
the individual contributors.
A major differenced between the leading of peripheral activities and a DPL's board
of helpers is ... hm ... communication with the DPL and that one has individuals
explicitly coined to have the particular delegate's role. I do not think I would want
to scratch on the "doocracy" principles of the Blends. If there is a way, though, to have
the idea of Blends strengthened by this upcoming board of DPL/project-helpers in
some way, then I would be very much up for it.
Many greetings
Steffen