[development] taking a break

[Bill Fitzgerald]

A couple things here, and I also don't want to make this long:

Dries started the project, Dries has grown the project, and Dries 
continues to make choices that allow Drupal to flourish. Dries isn't a 
bottleneck, he's a big part of the reason we can all spend our time on 
this list debating the merits of these different approaches.

RE: "If this doesn't sound convincing enough then just imagine how 
things will become once the core developers double in number!  Without a 
sub-Dries things will look twice as bad for core developers as they are 
now. This is flagging a warning that we should heed."

The number of developers has more than doubled over the last few years 
-- we don't need to imagine this.

This thread strikes me as one of the discussions that arises -- like a 
weed or a phoenix or a hangover that won't go away -- periodically -- 
threads like "Why is Drupal so hard for noobs", or "Drupal usability is 
terrible" -- while it is good to revisit topics like these on occasion, 
I don't think we should kid ourselves that we are breaking new ground here.

Cheers,

Bill

Ashraf Amayreh wrote:
> I really won't make it long, but with another person to give final 
> decisions the RTBC queues would deplete faster, the workload on Dries 
> would lessen, the patches going in to core would almost double, and 
> everything will be swell for everyone.
>
> Real leaders delegate and I have faith that Dries has or will in fact 
> do that when he finds someone who can share this load. Unfortunately, 
> Dries is the current bottleneck, not because he's not doing a splendid 
> job but because he's a human who can't take the load no matter how 
> hard he tries to prioritize.
>
> Dries, why don't you choose a person and hold the right to revoke that 
> authority from him if he goes off track? You'll really have to choose 
> wisely but you will speed things by about the double. And just keep a 
> close eye on him or any complaints that you may get.
>
> If this doesn't sound convincing enough then just imagine how things 
> will become once the core developers double in number!  Without a 
> sub-Dries things will look twice as bad for core developers as they 
> are now. This is flagging a warning that we should heed.
>
> On 7/1/07, *Fernando Silva* <fsilva.pt at gmail.com 
> <mailto:fsilva.pt at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     On 7/1/07, Chad Phillips -- Apartment Lines
>     <chad at apartmentlines.com <mailto:chad at apartmentlines.com>> wrote:
>     > Nedjo wrote:
>     >
>     >> There are very few members of our community who consistently
>     meet these
>     >> measures. Dries is one of them, and Drupal's success is due
>     insignificant
>     >> measure to that fact.
>     >
>     > i agree.  but let me suggest that there's a bit of a self-fulfilling
>     > prophecy going on here.  i think more members of the community
>     could
>     > meet the measures you outlined, if they were given the chance to
>     > assume the responsibility, make some mistakes, and learn.
>
>     Just to name a few:
>     * more chx involvement
>     * Bèr being taken more seriously
>     * more support for decision made by robertDouglass and Kjartan
>
>     Anyway, the problem taking more people into core development is that
>     there is not a "clear roadmap" to accept new core developers. The
>     current situation can be resumed in some steps:
>     * a developer starts using and developing drupal
>     * until that developer makes some real good module (that should be in
>     core) or "extraordinary something" it will not be "accepted" into
>     core
>     even if he lives to patch bugs
>     * after acception based in meritocracy, there exists a small democracy
>     based on "influence"
>     * finally there is a monarchy to "rule them all"
>
>     These are the facts and, before anything else, one thing must be
>     said:
>     in this exact moment Drupal lives well, has fantastic developers and a
>     guy that knows how to rule.
>
>     So where is the problem? Nowhere! There is no problem... yet. And is
>     this small "yet" that should make some of the more influent guys
>     around here think about.
>
>     Will Drupal community wait for a real problem, to solve it, or prepare
>     the vaccine before the disease comes?
>
>


-- 
Bill Fitzgerald
http://www.funnymonkey.com
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