🤔 Who are the biggest contributors to Linux? Companies like Google, Redhat, Oracle, IBM, etc. Do those companies have managers? Yes. Linux has hundreds of managers. People managers, product managers, project managers and HR managers. We just can't see them, because they're paid for by companies.🤷🏿‍♂️ - ThreadSky

mekka.mekka-tech.com • 7 days ago

🤔 Who are the biggest contributors to Linux?

Companies like Google, Redhat, Oracle, IBM, etc.

Do those companies have managers? Yes.

Linux has hundreds of managers. People managers, product managers, project managers and HR managers. We just can't see them, because they're paid for by companies.🤷🏿‍♂️

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Comments

dhruvpilania.bsky.social•7 days ago

There is also Linus and the kernel working group, with people who manage each subsystem

madamehardy.bsky.social•7 days ago

Well said.

saeedwkhan.bsky.social•7 days ago

Great point!!!

amuse.bsky.social•7 days ago

This is a common mistake. You see, Linux is just the code, the full package of code plus project management and security stuff is actually GNU/Linux.....

neilforreal.bsky.social•7 days ago

Exactly right. I work at a company that contributes to Linux and can tell you that "there are no managers and everything gets done and people are happy" is an absolute steaming crock.

stephenjudkins.bsky.social•7 days ago

Linus, Ted Tso and Greg KH are also absolutely "project managers" in addition to what you've said

chbarts.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yes, IBM has been contributing to Linux since the end of the 1990s at least. IBM ported Linux to their mainframes:

leftoblique.bsky.social•7 days ago

The quoted post also discounts the many, many people who contribute voluntarily to the project who act as product and project managers and UX designers - many of whom likely have formal training in those areas, and whose contributions go largely unrecognized.

leftoblique.bsky.social•7 days ago

Though the fact that in either case - corporate contributions or volunteer work - one only recognizes and credits the coders and not the organizers is itself a serious problem for open source.

And when we do notice an organizer, we make fun of them (cf. "Website Boy").

marypcbuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

I honestly think one of the reasons Kubernetes is so successful is never mind the technology, they have a full formal structure and literal awards for people who 'chop wood and carry water' aka the boring important stuff

mekka.mekka-tech.com•7 days ago

Facts.

jasenko.bsky.social•7 days ago

...interesting you're mentioning Google. They had a long-time standing practice of not hiring non-technical managers, not sure what's the status now. I think Gergely is referring more to the increasingly detrimental role that non-tech team members play in software development.

mekka.mekka-tech.com•7 days ago

🤦🏿‍♂️ "increasingly detrimental role that non-tech team members play in software development."

That's the kind of DOGE-brained, Twitter takeover fail train type thinking that I don't even debate anymore. 🤷🏿‍♂️

mekka.mekka-tech.com•7 days ago

If you don't value the non-technical contributors to your product, it might be because you're not good at hiring them, or you disempower them, because you don't value them.

But a good manager, or a good UX Designer or Researcher or Product Manager, is worth more than their weight in gold.

mekka.mekka-tech.com•7 days ago

But like I said, I really don't debate this anymore. Build your companies how you want.

And good luck! Sincerely.

You will need it.

jasenko.bsky.social•7 days ago

Wow, you got offended fast. What's with the DOGE reference, I don't get that at all. Look, yes there are solid Product Managers here and there, but a lot of them just push JIRA tickets. You see most engineers can be trained to do that sort of job, the other way round is hardly ever the case.

marypcbuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

soft skills don't matter, anyone can teach themselves to be a manager - do you have any other absolute antipatterns to building a healthy team?

aurelius.quest•7 days ago

It seems like your open contempt for a whole segment of the development process probably contributes to your experiences with non-technical parts of the workforce.

ojojon.bsky.social•7 days ago

Is this bait? What kind of experience do you have? I've been in the industry since the nineties and you'll never make great things without good cross functional teams and skilled PMs.

mekka.mekka-tech.com•7 days ago

"Product Managers can't become engineers!" He declares confidently to an executive sponsor of the Google Developer Academy, the program that trains roles like Product Manager to career switch and become Google engineers.

Most PMs can become SWEs, and they outperform new SWEs that weren't PMs before

mekka.mekka-tech.com•7 days ago

Eg
Imagine a basketball team that can beat every single NBA team.🤯

How much salary would players need? How many non-coach + non-player employees would that organization need?

Usually: quite a few!

One interesting exception is the US Olympic team: $0 in player salary, only 4 coaches.

Fascinating.

lakeeffectsnow.bsky.social•7 days ago

You're describing the Harlem Globetrotters in 1948 who beat the NBL champion Minnesota Lakers. They started clowning during their games as a way to keep the audience interested while they were blowing out teams. They only committed full time to that act after segregation ended in 1950.

One coach.

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