Hi guys, Sorry for my lack of involvement lately, I've been very busy. I've been thinking about our team lately and I'd really like to rethink the way we work. I feel like we don't have the basics down, and that's a gigantic issue that also reflects on our work. Part of the problem is that the team doesn't have a clear structure -- we need leads to resolve controversies and bring consistency to the whole of LibreOffice. As Theodor Nelson writes (and Jan Borchardt reiterates [1]), "The integration of software cannot be achieved by committee, where everyone has to put in their own additions (featuritis again). It must be controlled by dictatorial artists with full say on the final cut. " Not only that -- having leads means having clear go-to people for design-related problems and allows more effective communication -- the communication chaos that we currently have would be reduced.
I'm thinking we could have these positions: * UX lead * Visual design lead * User testing lead The *user testing lead* would see to it that whatever needs to be tested gets tested and that the tests are carried out well. The lead wouldn't have to personally take part in tests -- as we have volunteers all over the world, that would sometimes be impossible -- but they would have to make sure that the tests get done and are sufficiently accurate to be useful. The *visual design lead* would oversee all visual design related work. That means making sure that all graphical elements that are needed get made and follow a certain style. It also means creating visual design and branding guidelines and style guides when they're needed. The *UX lead* would care for the general UX of LibreOffice. That means bringing attention to important UX bugs, watching over their progress, and cooperating with the user testing lead, the visual design lead, and developers based on what each bug requires. It also involves refining the design process, from the bug report stage all the way to implementation. It should be noted that these positions would pertain only to the software, not to related projects such as the websites, social networks, branding material, etc., to keep the workload lighter. However, rules and guidelines for the software would apply to these projects when relevant. To further lighten the workload, larger projects (e.g. Android remote, color management, etc.) could have their own lead as well. The project lead would report to the three leads listed above. Having these three positions would change only the way we work within the design team. The relationship of the team with other teams would not change -- devs would still get the final say and leads would have no special roles or privileges within TDF. Anyway, chime in with your thoughts -- in order to work well, we really need to get the core structure down. Also, if you'd like to be a lead, please speak up. We have a shortage of volunteers, so anyone interested is greatly appreciated. [1] http://jancborchardt.net/usability-in-free-software -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: design+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
