On Thu, 31 May 2007, Ghee Teo wrote:
[ ... ]
> Processes can be defined for a good intent, but it should be refined as
> things developes, otherwise, we ends up putting unnecessary blocks along
> the way, ...
Given the benefit of doubt (and not attributing things to malice which can
be explained otherwise), _all_ processes are defined with good intent ...
It's just that _some_ people have a very hard time fitting themselves into
a process corset. For these folks, even a single process is too much of a
process already. Think:
"Why do I have to ask [ for more than webspace ] if I want to
create a project ?"
A lot of opensource developers are highly attracted to OSS for precisely
that reason - because it is perceived to have no processes. To aspire to
such people (many of whom are really bright guys, just allergic to all
sorts of 'bureaucracy'), things need to be lightweight.
On the other side, there are people who take comfort out of the existance
of a process. They feel lost and disoriented if there's no checklist to
validate their status/progress against, but really flourish if they can.
I'm sometimes getting the impression that the Solaris development
processes have been tailored to aspire to these people. That's no
critizism, pls. don't mistake me there. The documentation in OpenSolaris
is great, a shining example of how things should be. But it also seconds
the point I've just been trying to make. Check the first sentence at:
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/on/devref_toc/
Quote:
"The Developers Reference is big. Really, really big. I mean,
you just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly
big it is."
Two options on that sentence:
It's scary to you because it means you'll have to read through all this
stuff, understand it all, memorize it all, and then follow all these rules
- for nothing more than just to get started ?
==> You're a "process hater".
It's comforting to you because it means you'll be able to quickly ramp up,
gain insight fast and contribute efficiently once you've read and
understood it because its sheer size makes sure all your questions on "how
to do it" are answered ?
==> You're a "process lover".
We want both sorts of people to contribute, don't we ?
FrankH.
