Re: Some questions for the DPL candidates

[Brian May <bam@debian.org>]

>>>>> "Ben" == Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org> writes:

    Ben> I would certainly not like to vote for someone who just said
    Ben> "I'll support whatever the project supports", since that
    Ben> would not be a "leader" at all, but a follower :)

The leader has to make the right decision. This may mean getting data
from various sources, eg. votes, known experts in the field, etc. Some
of these sources might contradict, in which case, the leader must
decide how to resolve the issue.

Or, it might mean delegating the decision to somebody else who the DPL
considers more experienced in the given area, or who may be able to
come up with a better decision.

However, once the decision has been made, then the leader must be able
to convince others to execute it, in order to lead (like Ben said).

I see the leader as the person who prevents everybody heading in
different (incompatible) directions, and has the final say which
direction is the right direction. So, unlike Ben, I don't see any
problems with "I'll support whatever the project as a whole supports",
because it is still leading the project in a single and unified
direction.

If however, the DPL said "I'll let everybody do what they want to do",
that would be bad, because everybody is going to have a different
opinion. Instead of 1 project with XXX developers, you are likely to
end up with XXX projects with 1 developer each ;-).
-- 
Brian May <bam@debian.org>