[Python-Dev] Democracy (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Wed, 23 Apr 2003 21:14:26 -0400

On Wed, Apr 23, 2003 at 02:31:53PM -0400, Guido van Rossum wrote: > I read this interview in ACM's Ubiquity which reminded me of the > Python developer community. Seems we are doing some things right. > Maybe we can learn from it in cases where we aren't.

He seems to be talking more about Governments (and treating companies as governments b/c the people can't or don't want to leave) and knowledge workers broadly.

Well, he specifically points out that the US government is an inappropriate model, and suggests instead to use the government of ancient Athens as a model. Then he goes on to point out several properties of that community that I think match our community pretty well:

(1) Shared communal values, including moral reciprocity; you get professional or personal growth in return for your contributions. I think many developers contribute and learn something from the review of their code by others.

(2) Structure, a body for debate, dialogue, and decision-making. "The organization is the people." In our case: mailing lists, PEPs, SourceForge, CVS.

(3) Specific practices: the right and expectation of participation; consequence or accountability: if you decide something, you have to do the work; deliberation: resist partisanship; merit as the basis for decisions; and closure: debates shouldn't go on forever and once a decision is made, everyone is supposed to get on board.

I think all those things match our way of working pretty well!

A better comparison would be Habitat for Humanity (and voluntary associations in general). [...]

Maybe. I get lots of junk mail asking for contributions from HforH and frankly I've always thought of them as yet another charity: there are lots of these, and most of them are so much larger than our community that comparison is difficult. IMO these large charities in general (maybe not HforH, I don't know anything about them because on principle I never open unsolicited mail) are too much like modern-day massive governments already: they typically have a leadership who, like politicians, would do anything to keep or improve their personal position. I hope that's not true for the Python developer community. Certainly my own motivation is the fun I have here and not personal gain!!!

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)