On Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:15:52 -0400 Rob Weir <[email protected]> wrote:
><snip> > By my count we have 72 committers right now, almost all of them also > PPMC members. With the new IBMers coming on board, as well as > possibly forum admins/moderators/volunteers (at least according to one > draft proposal), we could shortly have 120+ committers/ppmc members. > > This is not just quantitatively different. This is qualitatively > different. It is no longer a committee. It doesn't work like a > committee. It doesn't think like a committee. It is not necessarily > a bad thing, but it is qualitatively a different thing. It is more > like a congress, where factions form and individual voices are less > heard. The voice of reason is less often heard in a "committee" of > 120 people. It doesn't cut through the noise. > Without wishing to engage in this discussion in any depth, I point out that the accepted wisdom is that the optimum size of a decision making body is between 6 and 12; our ancestors felt twelve to be optimum (hence the traditional jury size). My own experience is that about seven to nine is good, if one accepts a majority vote rather than unanimity. -- Rory O'Farrell <[email protected]>
