[chef] Community Summit and some personal thoughts

["Eric G. Wolfe" < >]

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I had a frank discussion with a Chef employee following the community
summit about ideology and attitudes between community (Open Source)
and company (Chef, Inc.).  Sharing this is deeply personal, and I am
not trying to single out any one person, or company of doing something
that might be wrong.

Let me preface by saying, I personally think it is great that Chef
(the company) recruits from within its own community of stakeholders.
 We have a brilliant and awesome community of users and developers.
Many of the new Chef, Inc. recruits have bettered my life and work as
community forces, and I am glad to see them get the opportunity to
move projects forward from within.

The question was posed if there was an increasing tendency in
introducing one's self at Chef events, such as the summit, by asking
"Do you work for Chef?".  I was also asked, "How do you feel about
that being repeatedly asked of you?" and "Do you think this attitude
makes people uncomfortable?".

Even at the first summit, this question was asked frequently, and I
never thought of it as having malicious intent when asked.  A more
common icebreaker at earlier events might have been "What are you
doing with Chef (the solution)?", or "Where are you from?/What do you
do?".  There just happens to be more voices asking the question, and
there is more to a person than where they happen to work.

This has sometimes, albeit infrequently, made me uncomfortable.
Especially when someone is aggressively projecting the notion that I
need to come work for Chef (the company) for whatever their personal
reason or agenda.  I have always felt that myself, and others in the
community, bring unique perspectives and problems as outside voices.
I believe this diversity and collective spirit makes us special.

It is my opinion that it is okay to be passionate about this project,
or one's own company.  At the same time, there might be a problem if a
person is marginalized because of their circumstantial corporate
association.  Put yourself in the shoes of someone who came to share
their awesome ideas or unique problems, and is then asked 200 times if
they work for Chef?

Would anyone else like to share opinions or thoughts on this phenomena?

- -- 
Eric G. Wolfe
email: 

 
cell: 304.942.3970
twitter: @atomic_penguin

Cycle Computing
Leader in Utility HPC Software

http://www.cyclecomputing.com
twitter: @cyclecomputing
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