7 Components: the Function Pages - Developers

Broad
involvement
Conviction
Hierarchy?
Moderation:
accompany,
don't direct!
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Thus, make sure that the participants have the opportunity to get to
know each other personally, insofar as possible. The assignments,
requirements and work pressure limitations must be clarified. The
project requires simple but clear rules that are acceptable to all.
We began by mentioning the significance of flat hierarchies for
successful self-organized group processes. In the preliminary stages,
the individuals in charge of implementing the project or whose participation
is necessary should be included in the processes of determining
goals and structure. Such individuals include project team
members and their respective superiors. However, it is also advisable
to include external individuals who are directly affected by the
project or have marginal roles in it, a step which frequently supplies
new perspectives.
For the dynamics of self-organized group processes, it remains
decisive that the individuals be truly convinced of the sense of the
project's goal and see the result as a type of personal gain. 6 The participants
must be familiar with the goal, ideally having worked it out
together. This cannot be forced or demanded. Regarding the development
of a project culture in open software projects, Stefan Meretz
explains: “Whether or not a project truly results in a community
cannot be manipulated. In contrast to prescribed projects in private
enterprise, open projects are based on a strong degree of participant
interest, specifically in that of good, usable software.” 7
The more people that are involved in a project, the more urgent is
the question of coordination, supervision, but also the division of
power, authority and hierarchy. This is not only related to the project
itself; existential dependency relationships are often inhibitory, such
as when superiors are integrated into projects as “watchdogs.”
The extent to which hierarchies are functionally necessary was
also contentious in the history of the emancipation movement. Ultimately,
it depends on how the respective roles are filled and what
real intervention options exist for the participants, in order to counteract
any tendencies toward bureaucratization.
If the group is responsible for the goal and the result of the project,
someone will need to take on the role of moderator. The moderator
serves as a sort of midwife, so to speak. That is to say, he or
she provides assistance in maintaining the organizational environment
and the communicative process. At the same time, he or she
must make sure that stipulated conventions and discussion rules are
observed. However, it is the group that stands in the foreground, not
6 This is where non-democratic economic orders reach insurmountable
limits. That, however, is a subject all its own.
7 Meretz 2003, 106.
17 Preliminary Thoughts