Re: Rotating leadership

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

In message <19980304215230.2707.qmail@sidney.remcomp.fr>, jfm2@club-internet.fr writes:
>I have clear ideas: SEUL is going in the wrong direction.  Of course
>Earth is round... And about will of power I intend than in
>Independence the project leader (me) mandate be three months only.
>After that we will have something like elections.  I have to find a
>formula but one thing is clear in my mind: no life long leadership.
>
>-- 
>			Jean Francois Martinez

A very interesting idea. One thing we've had the biggest problem here is
with finding good people to be project leaders. If more people came along
that seemed "suitable", then we'd love to take them on as project leaders.
If they were better than us, then we'd probably even let them lead. (*)

Problem one: if we have mandatory "I step down after three months" rules,
then (in most cases) we'd end up with inferior, or at least inexperienced,
leadership. If a better leader had been around, he should have jumped in
earlier. In either case, it's really useful to have the old leaders around,
to guide/etc.

Problem two: our definition of "suitable". The current leaders have a goal
in mind, where we think Seul should go. If later leaders have a different
direction in mind, then Seul would go in a different direction. This isn't
necessarily bad. Furthermore, the current leaders might be close-minded
enough not to recognize a better leader when one shows up. Or the better
leader might not realize that he's supposed to jump in and steal the reins.

But I'm rambling. My real question is...did you solve the leadership
problem, Jean? You propose picking a new set of leaders every three months;
we can't find enough of them. Is this because we haven't really gotten the
project started yet? Or is there some other magic? Is there anybody here who
actually knows how to lead a big project?

--Roger

(*) Many of you probably aren't convinced that this is the case with Omega,
    especially with his recent postings about hoping to earn a salary off
    of seul (heh). But this is an anarchy. Good will prevail. :)

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