On 3/7/2014 1:56 PM, Kurt Griffiths wrote:
Folks,
I’m sure that I’m not the first person to bring this up, but I’d like to
get everyone’s thoughts on what concrete actions we, as a community, can
take to improve the status quo.
There have been a variety of instances where community members have
expressed their ideas and concerns via email or at a summit, or simply
submitted a patch that perhaps challenges someone’s opinion of The Right
Way to Do It, and responses to that person have been far less
constructive than they could have been[1]. In an open community, I don’t
expect every person who comments on a ML post or a patch to be
congenial, but I do expect community leaders to lead by example when it
comes to creating an environment where every person’s voice is valued
and respected.
What if every time someone shared an idea, they could do so without fear
of backlash and bullying? What if people could raise their concerns
without being summarily dismissed? What if “seeking first to
understand”[2] were a core value in our culture? It would not only
accelerate our pace of innovation, but also help us better understand
the needs of our cloud users, helping ensure we aren’t just building
OpenStack in the right way, but also building /the right OpenStack/.
We need open minds to build an open cloud.
Many times, we /do/ have wonderful, constructive discussions, but the
times we don’t cause wounds in the community that take a long time to
heal. Psychologists tell us that it takes a lot of good experiences to
make up for one bad one. I will be the first to admit I’m not perfect.
Communication is hard. But I’m convinced we can do better. We /must/ do
better.
How can we build on what is already working, and make the bad
experiences as rare as possible?
A few ideas to seed the discussion:
* Identify a set of core values that the community already embraces
for the most part, and put them down “on paper.”[3] Leaders can keep
these values fresh in everyone’s minds by (1) leading by example,
and (2) referring to them regularly in conversations and talks.
* PTLs can add mentoring skills and a mindset of "seeking first to
understand” to their list of criteria for evaluating proposals to
add a community member to a core team.
* Get people together in person, early and often. Mid-cycle meetups
and mini-summits provide much higher-resolution communication
channels than email and IRC, and are great ways to clear up
misunderstandings, build relationships of trust, and generally get
everyone pulling in the same direction.
What else can we do?
Kurt
[1] There are plenty of examples, going back years. Anyone who has been
in the community very long will be able to recall some to mind. Recent
ones I thought of include Barbican’s initial request for incubation on
the ML, dismissive and disrespectful exchanges in some of the design
sessions in Hong Kong (bordering on personal attacks), and the
occasional “WTF?! This is the dumbest idea ever!” patch comment.
[2] https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit5.php
[3] We already have a code of conduct
<https://www.openstack.org/legal/community-code-of-conduct/> but I think
a list of core values would be easier to remember and allude to in
day-to-day discussions. I’m trying to think of ways to make this idea
practical. We need to stand up for our values, not just /say/ we have them.
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Not to detract from what you're saying, but this is 'meh' to me. My
company has some different kind of values thing every 6 months it seems
and maybe it's just me but I never really pay attention to any of it. I
think I have to put something on my annual goals/results about it, but
it's just fluffy wording.
To me this is a self-policing community, if someone is being a dick, the
others should call them on it, or the PTL for the project should stand
up against it and set the tone for the community and culture his project
wants to have. That's been my experience at least.
Maybe some people would find codifying this helpful, but there are
already lots of wikis and things that people can't remember on a daily
basis so adding another isn't probably going to help the problem.
Bully's don't tend to care about codes, but if people stand up against
them in public they should be outcast.
--
Thanks,
Matt Riedemann
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