Python post-Guido

Posted Jul 18, 2018 14:44 UTC (Wed) by rgmoore (✭ supporter ✭, #75)
In reply to: Python post-Guido by Tara_Li
Parent article: Python post-Guido

BDFL worked *wonderfully* for the community for a long time, as far as I can see. It's working pretty darned well for the Kernel community as well. I seem to remember Perl used (or maybe still uses) something similar - the Patch Pumpkin.

Projects that start life with BDFL-style leadership can do really well with it because their leader has a chance to establish their reputation for competence while the project is small and the cost of failure is low. They also have the opportunity to learn management incrementally as the project grows around them. Finding a replacement BDFL is going to be really hard because they'll have all the management responsibilities the old BDFL without the experience and goodwill the founder had by the time they left.

I think that's why projects tend to move away from the BDFL model when the founder leaves. Having a committee instead of a single leader provides some redundancy and protection against making a bad choice in their replacement. Even projects that have a single leader rather than a committee tend to give their new leader a limited term, which at least limits the potential damage from making an unfortunate choice.