Free Software, internal politics, and governance

There is a thread of opinion in some Free Software communities, that we shouldn’t be doing “politics”, and instead should just focus on technology.

But that’s impossible. This approach is naive, harmful, and, ultimately, self-defeating, even on its own narrow terms.

• Today I’m talking about small-p politics
• Many people working together always entails politics
  • Consensus is great but always requiring it is harmful
  • Governance is like backups: we need to practice it
  • Governance should usually be routine and boring
  • Governance means deciding, not just mediating
  • On the autonomy of the programmer
  • Mitigate the consequences of decisions — retain flexibility
  • But don’t do decisionmaking like a corporation
• If you won’t do politics, politics will do you
  • If you don’t see the politics, it’s still happening
• Conclusions

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