[boost] Re: Re: FORMAL review process not working well?

From: Andreas Huber (ahd6974-spamgroupstrap_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-10-29 15:54:25

Johan Nilsson wrote:
> Could the NIH syndrome be diminished by easier accepting more people
> into the actual development process for a particular library? Ok, so

For me the NIH syndrome always implies a good amount of non-technical 
arguments, which are almost absent here. So, I don't think that the 
boost community actually suffers from NIH. It might suffer from 
over-perfectionism. However, I believe this is exactly the reason for 
the exceptional quality of the libraries and would therefore not want to 
change anything.

> I'm mostly a lurker here, but even so I believe I've seen people from
> time to time declaring their willingness to participate in developing
> a new library, without getting some real response. Take them in, let
> them be a part of the effort, and maybe the NIH problem will be
> lessened.

I'm rather skeptical about that approach. Groups of similarly capable 
people are usually not very good at *designing* a library (unless 
there's a boss who has the last word on all the decisions). However, I 
think groups are unbeatable at uncovering design-flaws. So the best 
designs are initially often invented by an individual and the input 
later given by a group (users, boost-members, etc.) should then be used 
to refine until both sides are satisfied. Unfortunately, this puts most 
of the burden on the library submitter but I think it is the best 
process if you aim for high quality.

Regards,

-- 
Andreas Huber
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