Creating Leadership Structure¶
Projects without structure require some basic form of rules or governance to avoid what Jo Freeman calls the tyranny of structurelessness.
This term denominate the authoritarism that results in human groups due to the lack of structure and rules. A way to fix this structurelessness is by bringing in some structure, governance, policies, and/or rules in writing that are accessible to everyone.
Governance helps open source projects function, particularly during times of change. This tutorial by Carol Willing on Open-source governance and leadership (supplementary video) is a great starter for learning more about forms and models of governance.
Creating inclusive pathways for participation¶
Acknowledging all contributors fairly¶
Leadership comes with enhanced visibility thanks to the work of other persons.
This not only implies a leader must give appropriate credit to the work of those that make them visible, but also to those who bear extra and often invisible responsibilities for the overall project.
For example, in The Turing Way we have developed a detailed account of how we acknowledge different contributors, and how contributors can highlight their work in a way that is meaningful for them (see Acknowledging Contributors).