Re: [gentoo-project] Gentoo as a team effort

[Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org>]

On Sat, Jun 15, 2013 at 4:00 PM, William Hubbs <williamh@gentoo.org> wrote:
> This is a tough one. If the council does start to become more proactive,
> there would need to be a way to guard against the council stepping into
> a project and dictating how that project will do things without fully
> understanding the implications of their decision.
>

Honestly, I think the solution to this is to make sure that the
council is staffed with individuals who can be trusted not to do this.

However, there really is no difference between a council that needs to
have matters brought before it, and one which can act proactively.  If
ANYBODY can bring a matter to the council, then it will one way or
another end up looking into anything it wants to.

I think that issues are best solved by individuals first and foremost.
 However, it doesn't make sense to have battles going on for months
where there simply isn't agreement.  There are many situations where
almost any decision is better than no decision (an example comes to
mind but I won't bring it up as a distraction).

However, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I do think the council should be
a little more active.  If council members have an opinion they can
state it on the lists, and allow themselves to be engaged a little on
it.  Likewise, the council doesn't HAVE to wait until a meeting to
make a decision, though if a matter can afford to wait doing so might
be wise.  Getting involved in discussion early isn't about fanning
flames/etc, but it is about letting everybody know where they stand,
and also letting arguments mature to a reasonable level before making
a decision (rather than putting them on hold for a few weeks, and then
restarting them when there is a request for more info).  Also, council
members can use their position to try to influence direction absent a
formal decision, and that need not be on-list.

One other thing - I don't intend to suggest that I'm not sympathetic
to the concerns of individuals as well.  I really hate that the online
thing often tends to depersonalize everything.  I just don't think we
can operate in a state of perpetual paralysis either - we'll never
reach 100% consensus on any decision.  There isn't a single Gentoo
developer I don't have respect for - all have given of their time and
energy and we're all better for it.

Rich