Wonder what KDE (and other linux projects) would look like if it implemented more of this type of philosphy? Some might not be possible. But some of it clearly could apply.

From an article on smartplanet:
10 leadership principles that never go out of style, from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos:

1. Base your strategy on service, not gadgets. Products and technologies will always change. What never goes out of style is a commitment to “wider selection, lower prices and fast, reliable delivery.”

2. Obsess over customers.

3. Be willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time. Bezos tends to take a long-term view on innovations that don’t pay off right away.

4. Work to charge less. Many companies try to charge as much as they can, when they can — Amazon’s culture emphasizes frugality.

5. Determine what your customers need, and work backwards. “Specs for Amazon’s big new projects such as its Kindle tablets and e-book readers have been defined by customers’ desires rather than engineers’ tastes,” says Anders.

6. “Our culture is friendly and intense, but if push comes to shove we’ll settle for intense.” Data — not social cohesion — rules Amazon.

7. Be willing to fail — often. Amazon recognizes that failure is a natural part of the innovation process.

8. “In the old world, you devoted 30% of your time to building a great service and 70% of your time to shouting about it. In the new world, that inverts.”

9. “Everyone has to be able to work in a call center.” Perhaps a page borrowed from the US Marine manual, in which every marine, regardless of rank or specialty, is a rifleman first. All Amazon managers are expected to be trained as call center representatives.

10. “This is Day 1 for the Internet. We still have so much to learn.” Bezos first said that in 1997, and still believes it.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/busines ... ezos/23386

Thank you for sharing but since this is the Discussions & Opinions forum I cannot but add my 2 cents' worth: Those principles are alarmingly Amazon-centric and it is no secret that Amazon treats its workers like ****. If that equates to leadership then all such leaders ought to be culled, simple as that.

I'd add #11:
All the value in a company lies in its workforce. Share the spoils.

Being kind of naive I hope that Open Source is a way forward on this.

toad wrote:Thank you for sharing but since this is the Discussions & Opinions forum I cannot but add my 2 cents' worth: Those principles are alarmingly Amazon-centric and it is no secret that Amazon treats its workers like ****. If that equates to leadership then all such leaders ought to be culled, simple as that.

I'd add #11:
All the value in a company lies in its workforce. Share the spoils.

Being kind of naive I hope that Open Source is a way forward on this.

My post wasn't an endorsement of the company, only the principles. And I do believe that a company shares the spoils every time they cut me a paycheck.

I don't work for Amazon, by the way, and I am not a programmer so I don't live in that mindset. It's different, I know.