[libreoffice-design] Respecting the UX community

(Sorry for cross-posting - for answers: I am only subscribed to the design 
list)

Dear fellow UX community & board of directors!

I have to write this mail, because I feel very unhappy about the result of the 
LO-Android Tender [1].

First, I was very pleased to see how the tender addresses the interface (Part 
3 of the tender), even giving an explicit reference to "jointly working with 
our volunteer UX and design team for design considerations". Setting upon 
this, we (User Prompt) decided to bid (together with Collabora) on the tender.

After a couple of weeks we got the result and in there Florian stated:

"ii. Refrain from ordering work package 3 (basis touch UI), so no bidder will 
be awarded that part of the tender for the moment".

For various reasons this is unfortunate (to stay mild in my words). 

First this was decided without communication of any reasons, so this sentence 
stands for its own. As such it strongly communicates that UX / Design is of no 
importance for the BoD. This - for me - is a wrong signal for the design 
community and is extremely discouraging for future voluntary participation. 

Also it shows a fundamental misconception within the BoD of which role UX 
plays (not just for LibreOffice, but for projects in general). Stating "for the 
moment" might be a hint that some time later something will be done here. 
Unfortunately there is nothing like LibreOffice on Android without an Interface 
in the first place. If the result of the tender was just code optimization and 
general frameworking to make it possible to run LO on Android, ok. But instead 
there are interfaces and their actual design will set the reference for adding 
new features. So, the dropped work package will have to be done anyhow in 
order to be able to present something - with the decision of the board just 
without involving the UX community and without explicit UX expertise. 

Generally UX work should be done early in a project, because it defines what 
features are needed, how they are related to each other and how the interface 
should look like. Doing this after implementation either creates massive 
unneeded work to change the existing to what is needed or - more likely - it 
will actually never be done, as things have established (most likely in a sub 
optimal manner).

The UX / design group currently is not in a good shape and this kind of 
decision and the communication of it discourages volunteer work even further. 
To keep the existing and attract new people to this group, we need to be shown 
more respect. Please, Board of Directors, do so with your future decisions and 
communication.

Thanks for your attention.

Björn

[1] 
http://blog.documentfoundation.org/2014/09/04/tender-for-base-framework-for-an-android-version-of-libreoffice-with-basic-editing-capabilities-201409-01/

-- 
To unsubscribe e-mail to: design+unsubscribe@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