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Re: [stem-dev] Nomination of Stefan Edlund to co-Project Lead, for STEM


-1

Stefan is a great programmer and a great guy, but adding him as yet another project lead, making three, would not be good for the project or Eclipse.

These are the issues as I see them:

1) There is no apparent pressing need for additional project leadership; there are already two Project Leads. There is no crushing workload or leadership tasks that require more people to accomplish. The nomination makes no mention of the motivation for adding yet another Project Lead, Stefan, or otherwise.

2) Ideally, if there are multiple Project Leads on an open source project, they should have some kind independence from each other. Meaning, that they should not have some other kind of relationship, outside the bounds of the project, that would constrain them from constructively voicing their opinion or taking actions that would benefit the project. This is a fundamental requirement for a Project Lead in my opinion. In the case of Stefan, the other Project Lead of STEM, Jamie Kaufman, is his direct manager at his place of employment. It is not credible that Stefan would be able to sustain serious objections to his employer's plans without facing consequences, financial, or otherwise. If it is argued that there are no such disagreements, then one of them is redundant. If Jamie wished to resign, to be replaced by Stefan, that might be acceptable.

3) The project has suffered from a lack of diversity. Until this week, all of the committers and Project Leads worked for the same employer. Letting one group dominate the leadership of the project, which would happen if Stefan became a Project Lead, would undermine the requirement specified in the EDP that "Projects must have diversity goals to ensure diversity of thought and avoid relying on any one company or organization." In my role as STEM Project Lead, I acknowledge that Eclipse expects "the project leadership to help the diversity evolve organically." In my opinion, adding Stefan as a Project Lead would violate the trust, that underlays that expectation, that Eclipse has given the current Project Leads.

Dan Ford
STEM Project Lead


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