[WikiEN-l] Process is evil

[Gregory Maxwell]

On 8/19/06, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> And I see someone has added a beautiful and oh so apposite quote to
> [[m:instruction creep]]:
[snip]
>     - Wikis, Grafitti, and Process, Clay Shirky, 2003-08-01

Although I'm very much a part of the anti-process-bound crowd, I must ask:
How many people were in Mr. Shirky's group?

Until it is demonstrated otherwise, it would be wise to assume that
there is a difference between a group of a dozen carefully selected
likeminded folks who are making a living doing something,  and a
project of thousands of constantly changing, self-selecting, unequally
skilled people, who are largely just fooling around on the Internet.

I enjoy process when it quickly helps me figure out how to do
something without reinventing the wheel on my own, and when it helps
my work be more consistent with the rest of the project.  I dislike it
when it's used as a bludgeoning device by the weak minded to produce
an easy attack against someone whos actions taken with deep
understanding and careful consideration.