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Hi, I have a small question for you all. Nothing technical, for now .
I was wondering if there are any people here who worked on an OS in a team. I'm curious about this because it seems to me that you can learn quicker if you team up with someone more experienced (or with complementary experience). You can learn new tricks and knowledge. If you talk about things with someone you understand them much quicker, in my experience.
So, for those of you who worked together: did it work out, or do you prefer to work alone? Did you learn much?
I have some experience with other (hobby) programming projects, just no OS-related team work experience. Thus, I think I can share some experiences I have:
Motivation is an issue: you may have a great idea but if part of the idea/project depends on someone who rather does something (anything) else, the project will fail. You may of course motivate each other but make sure it's long term motivation, rather than very-short term motivation. A team member may also have no time available for the project, possibly demotivating others to work on the project.
Having said that, working in a team and spending a dedicated X amount of days (aka "hackathons") is a great way to make progress and motivate yourselves. Especially in the beginning of a project. A good hackathon requires a lot of preparation though, e.g. location, food supplies, pre-hackathon discussions, planning, etc.
Everyone has a certain way to do things and everyone has an idea how it should be designed and implemented. Make sure you agree on this. Otherwise you'll essentially deadlock on this.
Also make sure the discussions you have with other team members are short and to the point. It's very easy to get side tracked by minor issues and small differences of opinion. It will aggravate some/all people and then you have a huge problem with regards to the project.
If you do decide to work as a team make sure to have fun. And also, don't forget about Brooks's law.
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