On Jan 20, 2022, at 10:05, Peter Murray-Rust via Blueobelisk-discuss
<blueobelisk-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:
>
> I think it's wonderful that we have an un-organization that is still going
> strong.
What would it look like if the organization were not going strong, but existed
mostly from inertia and a lack of a better alternative?
> I highlight the great work done voluntarily by many people, without central
> management, in tackling the log4j problem.
Do you highlight how people were not compensated for taking time off during the
Christmas holidays? Egon writes "It totally messed up my schedule." I wonder
how many people thanked him for his work.
Do you highlight the urgent need for organizations to set aside budget to
support these projects, either through direct financial support, or by paying
people to maintain the software and assure its continued fitness for purpose?
Since Egon took care of the log4j problem for CDK, and Egon is one of the core
CDK developers, doesn't that make him part of central management of CDK?
Jo Freeman long ago pointed out in "The Tyranny of Structurelessness": "once
the movement no longer clings tenaciously to the ideology of structurelessness,
it will be free to develop those forms of organisation best suited to its
healthy functioning. This does not mean that we should go to the other extreme
and blindly imitate the traditional forms of organisation. But neither should
we blindly reject them all. Some traditional techniques will prove useful,
albeit not perfect; some will give us insights into what we should not do to
obtain certain ends with minimal costs to the individuals in the movement.
Mostly, we will have to experiment with different kinds of structuring and
develop a variety of techniques to use for different situations."
I submit that Blue Obelisk *has a structure*. It's exactly the informal
structure Freeman described, that happens even when its members assert there is
no structure.
Here's how I know there's an informal structure - who decides who gets a Blue
Obelisk award? If I award one to myself, do I get to update the Wikipedia
entry? For that matter, who gets to decide that Blue Obelisk is an
un-organization without central management?
I assert that Blue Obelisk as an organization is moribund. Its existence,
combined with the informal structure which dictates it must have no formal
centralized authority, prevents more effective organizations from forming. Look
at our cousin, the Open Bioinformatics Foundation, to see what a more effective
organization looks like, with yearly meetings on FOSS in bioinformatics and
acting as a contact point for Google Summer of Code and other projects.
To emphasize by repetition: "This does not mean that we should go to the other
extreme and blindly imitate the traditional forms of organisation".
Regards,
Andrew
da...@dalkescientific.com
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