[Python-ideas] Iterative development

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

anatoly techtonik writes:

 > Yes. A lot of if you read "agile methodology" as "flexible set of
 > practices to organize a team work".

You're missing the point.  Agile methodology is about *reducing*
flexibility in interaction and *increasing* organization, by imposing
practices that increase productive contacts among developers without
(hopefully) imposing much "bureaucracy."  That works extremely well if
the community needs more structured workflows, not least because the
lack of hierarchical bureacracy appeals to programmers used to working
in chaotic environments.

However, Python long ago developed structured cooperation that seems
to me to be working very well for the existing developer community.
What you are suggesting is not just introducing an "option" to use
agile methodologies, but a proposal to *change* the workflow.  This
will almost certainly be inconvenient and reduce participation by
existing contributors.  In other words, increasing bureaucracy.

I really don't see any benefit to Python in adopting your proposals.
The "bureaucracy" involved in Python processes is both minimal and
useful -- it directly contributes to the extremely high quality of
successive Python releases.