Imagine that you are a child -- and you decide to build a sand castle because you think it will be fun. You start by building a rough outline of the castle with nothing but a stick and your two hands. Then, another kid comes along with a bucket, and together you build a sand castle that can have a tower. And then someone arrives with a shovel -- and you now can have a moat around your castle.

Now build the sand castle by yourself. Sure, it occurred to you to bring your own bucket and shovel, and you already know how to design a decent sand castle. However, you will not benefit from the other children's ideas, or the tools that they might bring that you would never have thought of using.

The Linux sand castle (I mean kernel) is a project that is developed by a bunch of kids (I mean programmers) who think it's fun to go out and play in the sand with all the other kids and see what kind of awesome castle they can build. So, if we decide we are going to play in the Linux sand, we have to play by the rules. And that means learning to share and play well with others. Yes, Computer Nerds, you must have good social skills in order to work successfully with the Linux kernel community.

This talk presents tips and techniques for managing the less technical aspects of developing for the Linux kernel.