[ANN][IMPORTANT] New leadership formed!
Phil Hargett
hargettp at mindspring.com
Wed Feb 16 12:19:18 UTC 2005
Göran, Cees, Doug, Marcus, and Michael:
Don't give up. You are doing the right thing, a much needed thing.
As is true of others on this list, I'm sure, I manage a department of
programmers at my current employer. One thing that you learn through
years as a manager (and if you have a knack for it, you learn it
quickly), is that:
* A human collective does not automatically unify its direction and
mission. A human collective does automatically respond to a leader.
And its the managers job (in business) to either supply that function
or find someone who will. Funny, one of the things you notice when you
first become a manager is that each person on that team has their own
direction, their own world-view. They are not being contrary, they are
just individuals. If left to their own devices (which a new manager
might be inclined to do, to avoid conflict or the perception of
heavy-handedness), some consensus will emerge, but other issues will
boil over into disagreements that never resolve, lingering over time.
Once a leader does step in, what the leader actually does is enter the
world-view of each member of the team, have a dialog with that person
in their own language about the possibility of a common vision. Many
times those conversations introduce new ideas that influence the common
vision. At that point, world-views start to merge, and a team forms.
A strong team.
Watching our processes play out on squeak-dev and elsewhere in the
Squeakverse, it is clear that our collective has not had enough
leadership. I can see that from my years as a manager; not so much
because of my time in business, but because of what I have learned
about human behavior--especially humans in a collective. Disagreements
have started to fester in the Squeakverse, and the collective is
weakening.
So, Göran/Cees/Doug/Marcus/Michael: although I do not have experience
with the leadership qualities of all of you, I do have experience with
enough of you to believe in the strength and wisdom all of you bring to
the table. Go do it; go save the thing we all love. I for one will
help.
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