Code Ownership

I just finished Producing Open Source Software by Karl Fogel. As the name would suggest, most of the time is spent on issues specifically relevant to open source. Often not at all relevant to teams that are not distributed and don’t communicate primarily via email and irc. For instance, it spends a decent amount of time on how to “manage” the mailing list. As in, coordinate your efforts behind the scenes and then present a consistent and unified face to the rest of the team on the mailing list. Interesting and reasonable for open source development, especially with corporate sponsorship, but not particularly applicable outside of that context.

I did find one particular piece of advice interesting. The suggestion that code ownership is detrimental, and that ‘author’ tags in the source should be discouraged. Most of us have probably struggled with this in the past; certainly I have. The obvious question, which Karl brings up, is related to when you add or remove author tags based on the amount of ‘ownership’ said author has maintained. The code usually changes quite a bit over time & the changes are made by many people other than the original author. How or when an author gets added or removed is not at all clear. Removing the issue entirely, by getting rid of the ‘author’ tags, would also foster more of a group ownership mentality. The only downside is that sometimes the code documentation isn’t sufficient to understand what is going on. (i know, i know, bad…. but it happens) In those types of cases it’s nice to have some sort of contact who can clear up any confusion. This is also a case where the balance between the pros and cons may be different for distributed teams working on open source software versus centralized teams working on proprietary software. But even for centralized teams SCCS logs may give you enough to go on to find the right contact. I think I will try this suggestion for my next project and see how it works out.

Overall a good book: Well written, an easy read, and some ideas to think about. What more could you ask for?

laptop vs desktop

Historically i’ve been a desktop computer guy. Until recently, I rarely traveled and wanted the extra power & lower cost of a desktop. But i’ve been spoiled by a nice fast laptop and I doubt I will ever go back. It’s so nice being able to haul it outside on nice days, write blog posts in front of the tv @ night, and otherwise be mobile. I whole heartedly agree w/ this computer world article. Laptops are going to replace desktops for nearly everything except servers in the next few years.