[openbeos] Re: Openness

  • From: "Jorge G. Mare (a.k.a. Koki)" <koki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 07:50:50 -0700

Hi Axel,

Axel Dörfler wrote:
"Hugo Santos" <hugosantos@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[... elected body ...]
be contradictory. For instance, I've seen mentioned that only trusted
people enter the admin team, and then the same people mention that
whoever is interested in helping should join the admin team.

That's because we need to make it easier for non-developers to work together with Haiku - ie. for some time, it worked quite well to have Jorge as part of the admin team, even though he didn't contribute before; it was just necessary to work together closely.

My entry to the admin group was NOT easy by any measure. As a matter of fact, only after I started the sort of heated debate that some are chastising me for here did I get the attention of the admins. And some of the points that I made in the course of that debate even generated some hostility towards me, so the "we welcome you with open arms as long as you want to do hard work" is not necessarily true.

I think the problem is that it is not easy for developers to measure who can be worth for the project for areas other than development. Not having the yardstick of committed code quantity and quality, I believe that at the moment of deciding whether an individual should be admitted to the group or not, the developers end up using a set of criteria that may not necessarily be objective.

A coder can prove his worth by coding alone in his/her house and submitting either full chunks of code or patches. After a while, if his code is good, the coder may get commit rights or even be invited to become an admin (that criteria is no even clear), as a recognition for his contributions. So there is a clear and transparent process that coders can follow (and that everyone can openly see and scrutinize) to become engaged and be recognized for contributions that can potentially lead to a decision-making position. What is the equivalent process for, say, a marketing person? I don't think there is one.

Axel, contrary to what you say, being part of the admin team did not work for me; it's dynamics hindered my productivity and motivation. Hopefully it is just me. But it seems that others have also tried and failed in the past, so it may well be fair to say that something in Haiku makes it difficult for non-devs to make it to the higher ranks and be productive, and that unless something is done, that is most likely not going to change.

Cheers,

Koki


Other related posts: