4 ms·

Instead of a single BDFL, you could also have a board of e.g. 3 BDFLs. Those 3 people would have the final word, but they rank equal, and have to come to a comm

Instead of a single BDFL, you could also have a board of e.g. 3 BDFLs. Those 3 people would have the final word, but they rank equal, and have to come to a common conclusion, e.g. by discussing internally. That only works if the board is not too big, and the people are somewhat compatible to each other. But in that case, I think it works much better, because there is less pressure on a single person, also less work (they can distribute it somewhat), and probably more reasonable and consistent conclusions. It seems that this model is not so common? At least the list on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator_for_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator_for_life) only lists Django as an example with 2 BDFLs. I was active in a smaller open source project (http://www.openlierox.net http://www.openlierox.net) where it mostly was like that, i.e. we were 3 main developers, and all major design questions were discussed among us. But this example is probably not so representative, as there rarely were further contributions by other people. But anyway, I was very happy with this model, that there is not a single leader, but 3 people.

philwelch 6y ago
I think the mixed historical record of consul republics might be relevant to why a single leader is often a better idea than 2-3.
- KajMagnus 6y ago
  I'm thinking that a project that starts out with 3 BDFLs (like yours, @albertzeyer) and works fine & builds sth people "love" — it'll continue working fine with those 3 BDFLs. And a project that starts with just 1 BDFL, and works fine & builds sth people "love", it'll continue working fine with that 1 BDFL. If, however, replacing one of those 3, or adding another BDLF to a one person project — I'd think that by default, that won't work. ... Unless the new person has worked next to the earlier BDFLs for years, so the previous BDFLs can be ok certain s/he is "the right one"? Whatever works fine, works fine — the risky thing, is introducing a change (a new person)?
  - philwelch 6y ago
    Thing is, with a consul or triumvirate system (you can’t have more than one “dictator”; all of these terms are from Ancient Rome anyway so let’s use them properly), if any disagreement arises between the 2 or 3 leaders, it will develop a new instability where there wasn’t one before. Or else, one of the 2-3 leaders will start to dominate the others. Even without turnover the dictator system is more stable. In fact the only benefit of a consul or triumvirate system might be the stability and continuity under turnover.

philwelch 6y ago

I think the mixed historical record of consul republics might be relevant to why a single leader is often a better idea than 2-3.

KajMagnus 6y ago
I'm thinking that a project that starts out with 3 BDFLs (like yours, @albertzeyer) and works fine & builds sth people "love" — it'll continue working fine with those 3 BDFLs. And a project that starts with just 1 BDFL, and works fine & builds sth people "love", it'll continue working fine with that 1 BDFL. If, however, replacing one of those 3, or adding another BDLF to a one person project — I'd think that by default, that won't work. ... Unless the new person has worked next to the earlier BDFLs for years, so the previous BDFLs can be ok certain s/he is "the right one"? Whatever works fine, works fine — the risky thing, is introducing a change (a new person)?
- philwelch 6y ago
  Thing is, with a consul or triumvirate system (you can’t have more than one “dictator”; all of these terms are from Ancient Rome anyway so let’s use them properly), if any disagreement arises between the 2 or 3 leaders, it will develop a new instability where there wasn’t one before. Or else, one of the 2-3 leaders will start to dominate the others. Even without turnover the dictator system is more stable. In fact the only benefit of a consul or triumvirate system might be the stability and continuity under turnover.