[openbeos] Re: The importance of good communications

  • From: "Niels Reedijk" <niels.reedijk@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 08:52:25 +0000

Hi guys,

I can't help but feel that this discussion is caused by the way the
'project' is organized. I feel that some kind of structure has
developed over the years that might have it's backlash right now.

Warning: long post, there is a summary in the last paragraph but
please don't respond without reading the argumentation.


I'd like to start off with what lead me to the conclusions:

Ever since I started watching the project, back in the days where
there were more Spice Girls than coders, there seemed to be two
different communication channels. This one, as general development
list, and the admin-list. (Yes, there are others, but apart from the
app_server nothing was really very active...) This list was pretty
quiet, but then again, so was the cvs commit list.

I noticed sometimes, whenever I tried to get into the project, that
some of my ideas were short-circuited with a message sort of like 'has
been discussed on the admin list'. At other times, threads from the
admin list were continued here, as they were for general interest.

But recently I asked a developer what the status of the USB was. He
quoted from an e-mail on the admin list. The information had hardly an
administrative nature, and with the current discussion I realize that
this might have been a symptom of the current problem.

Since a long time the project starts to gain momentum, which I think
can be pinpointed to the new website, and the fact that the
'makeimage' (or something like that) existed to easily create a
bootable haiku installation. However, ever since activity has been
rising, it struck me that the amount of e-mail traffic - especially on
this list - didn't quite rise linearly. It also strikes me that
whenever something big is happening (like the USB thing), every core
developer (which is a small group) seems to know things. I can't help
but feel that the admin list has evoluted into a core-developer list.

Whether it's via this invisible list (literally: I don't think there's
an accessible emailadress of it on the web page), or via other
communication means, I just can't help to conclude that while Haiku
may be open source, the development is closed. There's so much going
on, and we hear so little. Michael, as a project lead, how come we
hardly ever see messages from you besides the newsletters?

That has it's backlash on community initiative, which is happening
right now with the icon contest. I have seen many people send in
e-mails with enthousiasm, but rarely I've seen posts from the core
developers. With the icon contest it's no different, finally there is
an aspect of haiku that doesn't include coding and that can be
discussed here freely, but at the same time it misses something like
official blessing.

It's time whether to decide if Haiku is an Open Source Project or not.
Mind you, I don't care what the outcome is, but in any case a clear
decision has to be made - in fairness to all people that are sitting
here hoping to contribute one day.

If Haiku is an open source project, than realize that it means that
you need to have a level of transparency. This means that it  should
be visible what's on the minds of the people that can be considered
'core developers'. I sense that in some ways the admin list has become
the hangout for the core developers. I would suggest, to separate the
administrative things (tax status, hosting - things not in general
interest or things that need not be discussed in general), from the
development issues. Perhaps - to the concept of the KDE project - open
up a core-developers list, of which the archives are publicly
available. You probably should choose to let the core developers post
freely, but everyone should have the possibility to send e-mails which
will be looked at by a moderator. This also really opens up the
possibilities for us outsiders that want to contribute, because it
means that our ideas and our work is considered in public channels.
Plus there will be a communication channel that is publicly blessed.

The other form of being Open Source is by replacing the transparency
with a set of rigid procedures on how to contribute. Perhaps it's time
to have the return of the recruiter. Perhaps it's time to have a
contact that connects people to core developers that can help. Anyway,
it should be clear for anyone that want to get involved, how they
should be. The 'just start' method is terrible. I'm a person that
wants a lot of feedback on the work I'm doing, because I'm insecure
due to the fact that I'm a self-taught coder. I'm not bearing any
grudge (well - actually, I am, but that's a different matter), but I
had to abandon my USB attempts because I got stuck at a certain point,
and despite all the community help, there was no one from the core
team that could help me. Michael Lotz fixed the issue and - frankly -
it seemed like a superficial one. We new guys need feedback and help
from people that matter.

Or perhaps I'm all wrong, and this isn't an Open source project at
all. This is just a group of people releasing source code. If that
really is the case - which I find rather hard to accept due to the
mission statement - please be frank and open about that. It will save
a lot of us a lot of time and effort trying to pry into something that
is completely closed.

In short: I'm trying to turn something that started out as a
discussion on icons, which turned into a discussion on the nature of
communications into a discussion on the nature of the project.
Communication of the project is spread out over IRC, web forums and
several mailing lists, and still I feel that any official form of
communication, or communication on core development, is missing. This
sort of closes the development process for people that aren't on the
elite communication medium. And it causes a lot of frustration. The
Icon contest discussion shows the value of community input, but it
also shows the brick wall that's between the core developers and the
community. I hope we can turn it into glass.

That about wraps up what I wanted to say. I'm back to getting ohci to
work now...

Niels

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