[TriLUG] A sad comment on our culture

[Scott Chilcote via TriLUG]

On 10/12/2015 12:02 PM, Matt Whitlow via TriLUG wrote:
> I get that their are other ways it can work, for me I can't work in a
> environment that isn't brutally honest, I don't improve and don't preform
> to my best. But I can only speak for myself.
>

I've often wondered the fabled boiler room / pressure cooker environment
that the kernel developers have is the Open Source answer to Quality
Assurance.  Q/A has played an essential role in the larger and more
critical software projects I've worked on over the years.  Q/A also does
not appear to be, IMHO, the kind of skill that is well represented in
the Open Source world.  It takes a very dedicated and meticulous mindset
to test and evaluate the effects of code changes for more than a short
period of time.

I've worked for people who thought that the answer to thorough testing
was "Don't put the bugs into the code in the first place" and left it at
that.  But when you have a team of developers working overtime week
after week and the project is overdue, the error count always goes up
instead of down.  So maybe it's time for the open source community to
take a closer look at how to handle Q/A and testing.

After over 25 years in software (and some hardware) development, I
personally have discovered that the temper tantrums are
counterproductive.  I've seen the red faced swearing, holes punched in
walls, and a couple of fistfights.  I've been told repeatedly that it
goes with the territory.  But over and over, I have seen good people
bail out of those environments.  Some of those who left were among the
best. 

I'm not saying that the people having tantrums were not deeply committed
to producing a quality product.  They were doing excellent work, because
if they hadn't no one would have put up with their grandstanding.  But
were they the best?  Heck no!  Being very good and behaving reasonably
professionally is many times better than being very good, but creating a
corrosive work environment for everyone who has to deal with you.  I've
seen it proved repeatedly.

I believe that there is an open source solution to creating a high
quality Linux kernel in an environment that talented engineers find
rewarding, but I think that people are just beginning to realize the
need.  As humans, our processes tend to grow and mature very much the
way we grow physically and organically.  The Linux kernel is too
important to limit its development to only those talented people who
thrive in a highly emotional and immature social environment. 

Now that some much needed light is being aimed at this problem, I think
that people will start to look at it analytically rather than
emotionally.  It's one of the awesome, self correcting features that has
made open source amazingly successful.

  Scott C.


-- 
Scott Chilcote
scottchilcote at ncrrbiz.com
Cary, NC USA