Discussion of Drupal's Leadership

In late 2014 the Drupal community began discussing its leadership problems in earnest. The discussion, though, really goes back further than that. In an effort to document the discussion, including some of its non-recent origins, I am collecting a list of links to articles, blogs, presentaions, and so forth on the topic. In most cases the comment thread is worth reading in addition to the original article.

Note: I am of course an active participant and therefore a biased party in this conversation. While I am trying to capture any major installment in this discussion I may miss some. If you think there's another blog, presentation, etc. that should be included please let me know, especially if it's an older one!

Meritocracy vs Do-ocracy by Owen Winkler - 21 March 2009
A critique of the concept of "do-ocracy" and how it lacks the "merit" part of "meritocracy".
Diaries of a Core Developer by Jimmy Berry - 28 October 2009
Original testing infrastructure developer Jimmy Berry talks about the problem of "responsibility without authority", including some choice quotes from others.
Improving Drupal core development workflow by Daniel Kudwein - 30 October 2009
A response to Jimmy Berry's post from one of the top contributors to Drupal 7 advocating for a hierarchy of different roles with different levels of authority and commit access.
Experts vs. Opinions by Larry Garfield - 24 January 2010
Blog post highlighting the problem of assuming all opinions are created equal, and not seeking out and emowering those with demonstrated expertise in a given domain area (such as letting IA experts decide IA, not issue queue polls).
We're not an underground success anymore by Larry Garfield - 8 February 2010
Larry compares Drupal to indy film making, and how success inherently means... not being indy anymore. That implies changes and structures and evolution as we grow that we cannot avoid.
Who Rules Drupal? by Matt Farina - 24 January 2011
An expansion on the issues with "do-ocracy" and how it ignores (variable) expertise. Also the origin of the phrase "Rule by those with nothing better to do with their time". There was also some very telling discussion in the comment thread that has sadly since been lost.
Problem Solving in the Drupal Community by George DeMet - 23 September 2011
Palantir.net's George DeMet weighs in, talking about bottom-up structures in some early rural communities and how sometimes structure is needed anyway (e.g., the sorts of work the Drupal Association is doing).
The Future of Drupal Governance by Randy Fay - 21 March 2012
Core Conversation at DrupalCon Denver on how Drupal needs to flesh out its governance structure more. Also see his blog series leading up to the presentation.
Stepping down from core development by Jacine Luisi - 7 June 2012
HTML5 initiative lead Jacine Luisi's resignation as an initiative lead, mentioned in some of the discussion that follows.
Open Source, The Religion by Steven Wittens - 26 May 2013
Former Drupal #2 man Steven Wittens reappears to charge Drupal with being an unsustainable cult a la Scientology. Most people I've talked to felt that the inflamatory and hyperbolic language hindered what was otherwise a very accurate and cutting critique of Drupal's community and development process.
The Paradox of Open Growth by Lisa Welchman - 25 September 2013
Keynote at DrupalCon Prague on how groth needs controls in order to grow in a healthy fashion in a stable environment.
Keeping it simple, Sam Boyer - 19 September 2014
Long-time core developer Sam Boyer's reflections on time away from Drupal to think, including a call for an explicit "simplifier" role.
Managing Complexity by Larry Garfield - 1 October 2014
Core Conversation presentation at DrupalCon Amsterdam by Web Services Initiative Lead Larry Garfield. As part of the talk, Larry referenced a number of prior and outside sources not otherwise listed here, including
On authority in Drupal and/or Open Source in general by Gábor Hojtsy - 17 October 2014
Internationalization Initiative Lead Gábor's response to Larry's presentation, discussing the concepts of "hard power" vs "soft power".
On Drupal's Leadership by Larry Garfield - 25 October 2014
Larry's response to the discussion since his presentation, and Gabor's post in particular, discussing the need to balance hard and soft power, formal and informal structure.
2 Years Later: My Experience as a Drupal Initiative Lead by Jacine Luisi - 30 October 2014
Jacine pops in again to give a retrospective of the challenges she faced as an intiative lead, with 2 years reflection.
My thoughts on core process and roadmaps by Lee Rowland - 10 October 2014
Core developer Lee Rowland offers a proposal for subsystem maintainers forming a leadership committee that can vote on actual roadmap decisions.
Stay for the Community by Greg Dunlap - 29 October 2014
Blog post version of Greg's keynote at Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit 2014 (which was sadly not recorded). Discusses his experience as Configuration Management Initiative Lead and the frustrations of being railroaded by code volume, as well as a call to focus on people's quality of life when contibuting.
The Job of a Drupal Initiative Lead by Dries Buytaert - 5 November 2014
Dries' first entrance into the discussion, calling initiave leading very hard, time consuming, but rewarding. (Of note, Dries has never been an initiative lead himself, just project lead.)
Drupal, Follow the leader! by Carlos Ospina - 10 November 2014
DrupalCon Bogota Lead Carlos Ospina weighs in, referencing his experience as a martial arts instructor. He calls out the concept of "necessary but not sufficient", that is, "soft power" may be necessary to be a successful leader but in most cases it is not sufficient.
How do we scale leadership? on Drupalize.me - 28 November 2014
Addi Berry hosts a podcast conversation with Drupal 8 initiative leads Greg Dunlap, Larry Garfield, and Gabor Hojtsy to discuss the ongoing conversation around leadership.