Self-organization

Only mankind seems to be too dumb to make use of this principle. The whole mankind? No, not all of them. Tribes that we dare to call "primitive" are using this - they don't follow a leader (in case of a dispute the council of elders is asked, and only if the quarreller won't agree on a compromise this council has the right to make a decision).

Yes, we think we're so smart, but we aren't. Except... there are a few people out there in our business who use that principle. Of course, when they started, nearly everybody laughed at them. But people have stopped laughing, though they still (occasionally) call their ideas "communistic".
 

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And "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" will tell you about other ways to create software. "The Magic Cauldron" is about making money with free software (or about free software as a business model).

Yes, I know that in the free software community there are leaders like Linus Torvald. What is different: they are chosen as leaders (free software teaches us a lesson about choice). And free software shows us that software developers are not motivated by money alone. They are motivated by a goal (the goal to create software which gives you freedom - the freedom to gain control about what you're doing). The existence of GNU/Linux assures us that my writings about motivation can't be totally wrong.

It is essential to notice that leaders are not bad per se. But some people are chosen leaders, and the majority (in companies) are not. If you are a project manager it is crucial to ask yourself: if the team had a choice of their leader, would it be me? If you answer no to this question, then ask yourself why wouldn't they choose me? What am I doing wrong? And if your answer is yes then ask yourself why you assume this. Can you justify being a leader aside from being put into the place by a decision maker who is not a member of the team?

I won't propose that all project managers should be chosen in a democratic process. This wouldn't work (at least: it would not work in a company, but it works in the free software community). I just want you to question your own role in the team to gain a better understanding of the people that are working for you and to improve your quality (or your qualification) as a project manager.