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by cousin_it 2737 days ago
Individual initiative is maximized when people have sole responsibility for their tasks, not when every decision needs to be approved by ten committees.

https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/03/19/two-stories/

2 comments

> Individual initiative is maximized when people have sole responsibility for their tasks, not when every decision needs to be approved by ten committees.

> https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/03/19/two-stories/

But there's a big gap between "Option A has worked better than Option B [Spolsky, anecdote]" and even "Option A is always better than Option B", much less "Option A maximises the desired outcome."

But who sets the goal? What's Python's goal? Etc.

Maybe it can be as simple as a benevolent-dictator election. Or it can be as complex as direct democracy (voting on PEPs) - but then who can vote becomes the issue, etc.

Why election? If you create an organization to pursue some goal, you're the dictator.
And the Python project now sees that it wants to transition away from that model. Guido represented Python, was the ideal dictator, but probably there was no good candidate to replace him, hence the complications.