Hi!

A few answers - at least about how it works *today*. That doesn't mean
it is how it should work tomorrow though:

"Peter Crowther" <Peter at ozzard.org> wrote:
> 1) Where possible, teams should be composed of team players.

Well, not much to say about that. :) But this is open source and it *is*
different from commercial projects.

> 2) The team leader should be able to ask team members to leave - this
> should be made clear from the outset, and it should be made clear that
> it is not a reflection on an individual's ability.

This is already so in the Team model. The Leader is King. But should of
course care about people too, the community is the most precious thing
we have.

> 3) The team leader should be a leader.

Yes, but mostly we don't have tons of people to pick from. :)

> > And are there other things in the model we can improve?
> 
> Who selects team leaders?

Today the Coordinator group does. As I wrote (I think), the current Team
model is described at this page:

	http://swiki.krampe.se/castaways/6

> Why them?

Hehe. Well, that is a long story. :) Suffice it to say that the
Coordinator group is in place today and that we are a temporary group
that will step down early 2006 (don't recall the exact date right now,
it is noted somewhere) and then something else will have to replace us.

The important things right now are:
	- There is *some* kind of group actually trying to lead.
	- We have to get something else in place before early 2006.

>  How are the leaders selected?

That process is non existent today. See above. That is what we need to
get in place before 2006.

> Do / should teams operate by consensus?  If so, how is it determined
> when consensus is reached?  If not, how are decisions made?  Is the
> decision as to how the team operates up to the team leader?

Currently it is all up to the Team leader. KISS principle. Team leader
is king.

> Is it up to
> the team?  If it's up to the team, how is the decision made as to how
> the decision is made as to the team operates?  [And so on to infinite
> regression :-)]

It is up to the Team leader. Period.

> What are the teams trying to do?

Very different things. :)

> Do teams have realistic targets given
> the effort that's available from the team members?

It varies. Some do, some possibly don't. If a team fails it isn't the
end of the world though.

> How many teams know
> what their targets are?  How many teams know what effort is available
> from their members?

I think most teams know their targets reasonably well. But the knowledge
about efforts within the team may be low in some teams.

> Is the lack of progress now simply a reflection of
> unreasonable targets that the team members didn't buy into?

No, the team members have joined the teams after the targets have been
described - so I don't think the "buy in" is low. But there is always a
gap between what you *want* to do, and what you are *able* to do.

My current view on the current "stalling" of some of the Teams (it
varies) is not clear. Most teams suffer from the simple fact that most
of us are pretty busy privately. All in all we have to keep in mind that
this is voluntary free time work (at least 99% of it). And free time is
hard to predict for people. :)
 
> All textbook stuff, I know - but textbooks contain this stuff for good
> reason.  If we haven't thought about our team structures, the textbook
> may be a good place to start.

We *have* thought about the Team model. I was perhaps the one who wrote
it down and probably influenced it the most though. The idea was to
follow the KISS principle and delegate as much as possibly to the Team
leader and the team itself. I think that is the correct way to go.

What we might need to do though is to put a bit more pressure on the
leaders, at least to report more often. I am not sure, I am thinking
loud here.

> If we *have*, the discussion about where
> we've moved away from textbook models, and why, could be illuminating.

I can't really comment on that because I am not sure what "the textbook
models" in this respect are. If you ask more concretely I can try to
come up with the motivations. :)

IMHO textbook models don't really apply here, at least not "out of the
box". This is an open source community with its own culture and various
informal structures. But of course, all ideas and insights are welcome.

> Oh - and if you want one textbook to read in this area, I'd suggest
> Steve McConnell, "Rapid Development", Microsoft Press, for a broad and
> entertaining treatment of the subject.  It's ten years old, but the
> problems haven't changed much in that time.
> 
> 		- Peter

regards, Göran