Each of us has a storied past. What else could the past be? Selecting salient episodes for retelling as an illustrative or explanatory tool dramatically highlights current and future motivations, commitments and ideals. These stories say a lot about you. I don’t think that I am alone in being fascinated by such stories. There is a subset of these that I find particularly interesting: origin stories told by serious participants in the free and open source software community. These are surprisingly rare. I think it’s because serious FOSS folks know it isn’t about them, it’s about the community. As a result you are more likely to spot one of these origin stories showing up in passing when such a person is writing about something else. One such origin story can be found in Ross Gardler’s post on the demise of the Java Community Process.
I was struck by Ross’ description of how he learned the value of commitment, teamwork, and collaboration through sport. I wasn’t surprised. Nor was I surprised that he has other tales to tell, other experiences that shaded his understanding and provide him with a rich and subtle appreciation of community.
On another day perhaps he would select two completely different episodes as salient in his moral forensics. That too is something each of tends to do. Today I think it was the way my father coached a hockey team I was on as a boy that stands out. Tomorrow I’ll think that it was the way he faced and accepted the consequences of each of his decisions. Next week I’ll come back to the camaraderie he cultivated in the crew that worked in the bakery. (Not all origin stories are father stories, but mine mostly are.)
The Java Community Process may indeed be dead. I’m not a direct participant in that community so I have to rely on people like Ross to get the straight story. Fortunately I feel like I now have a bit of insight into what drives him, and that convinces me that I was right to trust his lead on this all along.
Still, I wish I’d known him in his Dub Reggae days 🙂