Interview of SVN developer

Requires registration (I used "fuckhead/fuckhead" as provided by a slasdotter; probably a 14-year-old) YMMV
http://www.technologyevaluation.com/Research/ResearchHighlights/FreeOpenSource/2005/07/research_notes/RN_FS_JC_07_27_05_1.asp

I’ve noticed a lot of this in this project!

It?s hard to put my finger on it exactly but when you have a bunch of volunteers, the main currency that?s going on is attention. If one of them does something, does somebody notice? They?re going to do more things if somebody notices. The main part of my job that isn?t coding, it?s noticing. When someone makes a change I always review it, even if there is nothing, no negative comments to make about it. I?m talking about the commit e-mails now, when somebody makes a change, an e-mail gets sent out to all the developers showing the change. So usually to review it, you respond to that e-mail quoting positive things, why did you code this way, etc. and the real point of that review is partly code quality but it?s also partially so that people know that attention is being paid to what they do. I?m pretty sure that if we didn?t do that consistently, there would be fewer developers and they wouldn?t be as active.

Do you think that?s critical? Other people have said paying attention to developers? contributions is at least at the top of the list of things to do to maintain their interest. Would you agree?

Totally. If you ever talk to some open source developer and they say, ?well I just want to get a working piece of software out there, that?s what I?m in this for,? don?t believe them. That?s not human nature. People working in groups want reinforcement from the group and from particular members of the group.

Another good point:

And make the license clear. Make the commitment to open source clear very early. If people get the sense that the company is dithering around about whether they really want to open source it or, you know, if the license is such that the company could take everything in-house after getting a lot of contributions and it looks like they might do that, then people will be wary of contributing. But if you make it clear that the stuff is really going to be developed out in the open that comforts people.

Great stuff Susan... I hope we keep a great environment for the entire team and the entire community. Everyone is free to contribute and I really appreciate everyone tremendously! And if anyone ever notices me getting out of line, please feel free to bring it to my attention and snap me back into line!

For the record. MODx and it’s ultimate 1.0-release (whatever it’s named) will always be open source (GPL). Perhaps there will be commercial support services or modules in the future, but that would be for some very specialized vertical market applications. The core and all its robust capabilities and modules to date (both public and still in development) will be free for everyone’s use.

You could quote that on the main site to come!

I also read some where that a good manager (ie, Henry Ford), owner, CEO, what ever pretty name to insert should really be detached from the "work" side and more into the "thinking" side. Ford was pretty much a basket case in regards to "education" but I really believe that he was an "educated" man since he knew how to lead and think.

I find myself as a person who Robert Kiyosaki would state as being a "self employed" person. The main problem is that you never have enough time to make it big. You are also so involved with a skill that you can’t let go, ie, a lone dentist running a good business. However, if you stay this way the business will never grow.

You have to let go of your "child" a one point or another and let "younger" folks pick from where you let go. You then should proceed as mentioned above "manage" your staff. Have faith in them, provide guidance, be strong with repimands and swift with signs of approval and praise.

I have been fighting this position of holding rather than releasing. And I have to admit that it’s not easy. I still hog certain jobs to myself (doh, why do I have a staff then?) and my body is starting to protest. I wish that my wife could understand this

I’ve been waiting to post this and this seems a good as place as any.
http://www.omnigroup.com/company/whatisomni/content.html

It’s from the omni group which is pretty famous for their NEXT aka OSX browser and a few other nifty bits of software. Maybe, some of their ideas would be useful too!

Cheers!

lol !!

strange user name/password !!

............

... but ... Susan posted it

It wasn’t me!

http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=157196&cid=13183447

ok, ok, but you did post it here