The Cathedral and the Bazaar

The Cathedral and the Bazaar

I've just read this fascinating account of a software development program. Ok, i'm not THAT much of a nerd, it gets deeper. It compared diffrent management styles, known as, "Cathedral" or "Bazaar".

The former is typical microsoft, heirarchecal, structured, ordered, with a master mason controlling every aspect. The latter is more like a middle eastern bazaar, with everyone on equal terms, jostling and shouting and throwing their share in. In effect what Linux is.

A very interesting commentary on teamwork, and how to get the best results for a project. I can say little more than "read it", but i'd like to include a quote from the paper, from 19th-century Russian anarchist Pyotr Alexeyvich Kropotkin's Memoirs of a Revolutionist:

"Having been brought up in a serf-owner's family, I entered active life, like all young men of my time, with a great deal of confidence in the necessity of commanding, ordering, scolding, punishing and the like. But when, at an early stage, I had to manage serious enterprises and to deal with [free] men, and when each mistake would lead at once to heavy consequences, I began to appreciate the difference between acting on the principle of command and discipline and acting on the principle of common understanding. The former works admirably in a military parade, but it is worth nothing where real life is concerned, and the aim can be achieved only through the severe effort of many converging wills."