[boost] Process discussions

Subject: [boost] Process discussions
From: Vladimir Prus (vladimir_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-01-31 03:31:35

As of recent, we had quite a lot of discussion about process. In true
open-source spirit, it was a fairly open discussion, with everybody
offering their perspectives and experience. However, while we surely
learned many things, it does not seem like we're going anywhere.

For a quick experiment, I tried to assess whether the discussion actually
reflects the needs of Boost developers, so I created a table of Boost
developers sorted by the number of commits in 2010. It is here:

        http://tinyurl.com/5suwfbn

It seems that 5 top Boost comitters did not participate much in recent
discussions. And going down the list, it seems like many of active developers
did not say anything, while most of discussions is fueled by folks who
don't commit much. 

Of course, everybody can offer valuable thoughts, but if the goal is to fix
things for Boost developers, it would make sense if developers say that needs
fixing, as opposed to other people doing it for them.

Maybe I suggest that for some time, we outright ban freeform discussion about
process, and instead, we restrict them to threads started by a Boost developers
and saying this: "I am maintainer of X, and had N commits and M trac changes
in the last year. I most hate P1, P2 and P3. I would propose that we use T1,
T2, and T3 to fix that". Then, everybody could join to suggest better
way of fixing P1, P2 and P3 -- without making up other supposed problems.

Thoughts?

-- 
Vladimir Prus
Mentor Graphics
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