[lkrubner]

I think this is very true:

"There were a bunch of old devs opposed to adding this documented "processes", saying that "open source is about fun and processes kill the fun". But to me that was always shining through that argument was that there is always an implicit process and that process is usually ideal for the current people "in power"."

Jo Freeman has an essay called "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" which focused on how this issue (lack of explicit process) played out in left-wing political movements in the 1970s, and she does a great job of explaining how the lack of explicit process allows those with implicit power to keep control of things.

http://www.bopsecrets.org/CF/structurelessness.htm

"Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is no such thing as a “structureless” group. Any group of people of whatever nature that comes together for any length of time for any purpose will inevitably structure itself in some fashion. The structure may be flexible; it may vary over time; it may evenly or unevenly distribute tasks, power and resources over the members of the group. But it will be formed regardless of the abilities, personalities, or intentions of the people involved. The very fact that we are individuals, with different talents, predispositions, and backgrounds, makes this inevitable. Only if we refused to relate or interact on any basis whatsoever could we approximate structurelessness — and that is not the nature of a human group."