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Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller hns at goldelico.com
Sat Apr 18 19:21:15 CEST 2009


Am 11.04.2009 um 22:09 schrieb Gerald A:

> Wow, project planning? Sounds more like a cathedral then a bazaar.  
> But maybe that's the way hardware has to be? I dunno, I'm a software  
> guy. :)

This appears to me the biggest mis-conception of the Openmoko  
community. That an unirganized an-archy, i.e. missing planning and  
organization, helps to successfully complete projects, especially for  
FOSS in the long run.

When I look around I see many successful FOSS projects: GNU, Linux,  
Debian, etc. If you dig into the details, there is always an  
organization and a roadmap (other wording for "plan") behind. And,  
there are people proposing something (e.g. patches) and others  
deciding ("maintainers").

Team building theory (Harvard) shows that a successful team has 4  
phases:
1. forming
2. storming
3. norming
4. performing

In phase 1 everyone is happy to be part of the idea. People decide to  
participate or not.
In phase 2 everyone runs in the direction he thinks it must go. In  
this phase many great things are achieved by individuals - but they  
don't fit together
Phase 3 typically starts with desillusionment. People find that they  
have to negotiate many aspects that things fit together
Finally, in phase 4 (mature project) it is clear how to reach the  
goals in an efficient way

N.



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