Editing Open Sourcing the Virtues of a Perl Programmer (section)

=== Good Order Between Neglect and Stagnation ===

Good Order fails through deficiency when there is no dependable structure to inherit: code is clever but opaque, release practices live only in memory, documentation is stale, ownership is unclear, and useful conventions exist only as oral tradition. Such disorder eventually makes contribution harder even for talented people.

Good Order goes mad when structure protects itself. Processes multiply because processes already exist; stylistic purity outweighs usefulness; governance becomes inaccessible to newcomers; experimentation is treated as a threat. What began as an attempt to make collaboration easier can become a barrier to collaboration. The right kind of order is therefore ordered again toward people and useful work.