Marcel<br><br>You mentioned something more than once in two contexts: having requirements and planning beforehand saves time in the long run, and your professor in a quality course.<br><br>Let me point out again that this is open source and not a corporate environment, and hence the difference. Basically everything we assumed about how corporate shops work does not work at all, or not as well in open source.<br>
<br>Several years ago, when I was with a corporation, we got a professor from the top Canadian university to present on requirements. He made the point that the more time you spend on requirements the less time you will spend on implementation. As an aside, the same concept was being touted in the business arena in the 80s as "the Japanese way" of management.<br>
<br>When I asked him how does this apply to open source, and the success it had without this lengthy centralized planning. He did not have an answer.<br><br clear="all">Once you have hundreds and thousands of contributors who never met each other, spread across the globe, each scratching their own (or their client/employer's) itch, we have a new paradigm (yeah, another buzzword). You have organized chaos.<br>
<br>This is also why Agile/Scrum is showing success, as opposed to the traditional waterfall method tried and tested for more than half a century.<br><br>For us who came from a corporate, or those like you who are still in academia, it may be hard to adjust at first. But once you "get it", it is a wonderful thing to watch and join.<br>
<br>So, jump in and "Do". Write about it 6 and 12 months from now and see if you have changed your mind, and what you learned.<br>-- <br>Khalid M. Baheyeldin<br><a href="http://2bits.com">2bits.com</a>, Inc.<br>
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