[ quoted text reordered ]
On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 10:32:22PM -0600, Gunnar Wolf wrote:
> (Yes, quite a hypothetical question. However, if 10-year predictions
> are allowed, then mine is too ;-) )
Well, let's not drift too much in that direction, shall we? :-)
(Just kidding, this question is perfectly fine, but I do fear what _can_
happen if we unleash the geek power of posing hypothetical questions!)
> What would be different if there was no leader? Where would the
> project lose more? Would it gain in some aspect?
In the immediate, we will lose someone taking care of some of the
constitutional DPL "duties", like: taking decisions which are either
urgent or for whom no one is responsible, deciding how/if use money
(possibly quickly, due to some urgency), representing Debian with the
external world (i.e. addressing the "single voice" problem mentioned in
this thread).
Then we will lose an important coordination role that worries about
making people and teams communicate smoothly, even in presence of
personal issues among the involved people (e.g. as intermediary).
Finally and more importantly, we will lose someone that can put into use
an important potential of the DPL role, namely: someone that should
drive discussions when and if needed, someone that should coordinate the
redaction of the project agenda and check periodically if we're on track
or not, and that can use some of our resources to help the project get
back on track if needed (e.g. by organizing specific mini-hack-camps on
technical areas of the project we need to improve).
All in all, I don't doubt the Debian project will survive without a
leader; in fact, it has already happened to us in the past that DPLs
went MIA for unexpected reasons, and we're still here. It would "just"
be a pity, in the sense that we would renounce to a resource that can
make the project proceed more smoothly than without it.
Cheers.
--
Stefano Zacchiroli -o- PhD in Computer Science \ PostDoc @ Univ. Paris 7
zack@{upsilon.cc,pps.jussieu.fr,debian.org} -<>- http://upsilon.cc/zack/
Dietro un grande uomo c'è ..| . |. Et ne m'en veux pas si je te tutoie
sempre uno zaino ...........| ..: |.... Je dis tu à tous ceux que j'aime
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