On Fri, 2005-03-11 at 06:01, Jacqueline McNally wrote:
Hopefully we can learn to live together both of you, and all volunteers can be useful and helpful to OOo. If you don't like something, fix it. OOo is a doocracy.
My initial post to the MP list was with the subject "do-ocracy", see: http://marketing.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=16702
[snip]
The difficulty for OpenOffice.org is that its a big project with roles that bestow power and influence on the incumbents. It is in fact a role culture and we need to recognise that. There are elements of task culture about it too, and it is more democratic than a corporate would be and certainly less coersive. But its a bit of a strange mixture so perhaps understanding the nature of the organisation is important. I don't think just declaring ourselves a do-ocracy or anythng else means that we are one. Establishing cooperative psychological contracts is the only way to manage a project like OOo. Coersion won't work because the coersed will just go elsewhere or do something else.
That was very informative, and I agree to a point, but doesn't us being volunteers change the whole picture of business models. I a corporation if someone else makes me upset, I have to keep working with them.
In OOo world, if I get upset, I can just quit helping and just use OOo. Also, in OOo world, I can do whatever I want and I don't need permission. I can make my own little OOo world, make my own little OOo documentation and no one can stop me. After I have done this (this is NOT a dig at GRS since the documentation project is an official project, it is just a useful example) I can call myself the OOo documentation Director or something like this.
I think the best example of perhaps how OOo is different is how Daniel created the OOoAuthors group. He say a need and he made it. This I guess is a task culture, but we also have a role culture at the same time (as I think you said.) However, everyone could just quit at once at their would be no culture.
I have lost my train of thought. I guess a cooperative psychological contract would be good, but that seems like it would be difficult to establish over the net. Or, maybe it is easier.
The only point I was trying to make, is that in many ways, the more you do in OOo world, the power/influence you have. If GRS wrote documentation, then GRS is the documentation co-lead. If Daniel makes up OOoAuthors, he is the lead for that. If I don't like the file name in the title bar, I can go into the code and change it and post a patch that anyone else can download.
Having said all that, I guess my real question/comment is does the fact that we are volunteers change the cultures you listed?
-- Peter T. Kupfer [EMAIL PROTECTED]
