Re: Open source : race or teamwork ?

[Pierre Phaneuf <pp@ludusdesign.com>]

Pierre Phaneuf wrote:

> > In any project there should be a parcel'ing of the work load and
> > this should become as public as the code,so people don't duplicate
> > efforts. but, maybe I'm just blowing smoke.
> 
> Personally, I see many open source projects stating on their page "if
> you want to work on something, just tell me so I know who's doing what",
> or some other comment to the same effect... Other times, you're just
> expected to read the mailing list and notice when somebody says "I'll do
> this".
> 
> If you want to take a random shot and make a patch without telling the
> maintainer, you're taking a chance. Not a really big chance IMHO, it
> happens very often that for small contributions (like small bug fixes)
> that you just make a patch and send-and-forget, because it didn't take
> much time to do.
> 
> But before coding a big thing that will require more than a few hours of
> programming and testing, you should look around for a maintainer...

BTW, maybe this should go in the "General Management Tips" tutorial (in
the "Set Up Rules" section maybe) and/or in the "How To Start A New Game
Project" tutorial...

I think that for open source development, one very important thing is to
take care of your developers, because they're just about the most
important asset your project may have. If Linus would still be by
himself because he was a jackass, I wouldn't be writing this using Linux
(and maybe I wouldn't even be writing this at all).

Developers' time is important to them and if they feel they are wasting
their time, either because the project is badly coordinated and their
work goes to waste or because you downright ignore their patch
submissions, don't worry, they'll disappear real quick.

-- 
Pierre Phaneuf
Ludus Design, http://ludusdesign.com/
"First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you.
Then they fight you. Then you win." -- Gandhi