Of OSS bosses and teachers

We need more teachers and less bosses.”
Lee Cockerell
.

The quote from Lee could be bordering on condescending to some people. Hmmm…. Sorry about that.

But let me ask you a couple of questions:

  1. Of all your years in OSS (or in industry in general), who are the 5 people who have been the most valuable to you (and your customers)?
  2. Of those 5 people, which of the following three tags would you assign to them:- a) teacher, b) boss, c) implementer

From my experiences and list of top five, I would only classify one as a boss. The other four are dual-tagged as teachers and implementers. That makes me wonder whether they go hand-in-glove? ie is the ability to implement vital to being a good teacher as much as being a good communicator / teacher makes for better implementers.

Based on my list (a tiny sample size I admit), it seems we need four times as many OSS teacher/implementers as we need bosses. 🙂

Another question. Do you aspire to be (or already are) a boss, a teacher or an implementer?

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