[libreoffice-design] Re: new features page ...

Hi David, Ivan & co.

        So, first - I think it is worth saying that conflict is normal; -and-
it is particularly normal in teams that are just changed / formed. A
so-called "Forming / Storming / Norming / Performing" phase change :-)
it would be nice to skip stage two, and three - and jump to stage four -
but its not going to happen.

        So - what do we do ? in stage two we have to bear with each other, not
burn bridges, communicate clearly (preferably not by E-mail - which is
no way to resolve conflict), and there is some level of learning and
teeth gritting by all required.

        By not burning bridges, I am concerned by this "my way or the highway"
attitude that we all seem to have swallowed; this is not going to help I
think - it just escalates the situation.

        Just FWIW, the SC itself went through this Storming phase itself only a
month or so ago, and - well, I think we're well into a Norming /
Performing phase now; so it is -absolutely-nothing- to do with egos,
characters, especially 'hard to work with' people - it is just totally
normal :-)

        Anyhow, with that under our belts:

On Mon, 2011-01-17 at 21:39 +0800, David Nelson wrote:
> First of all, let's not get mad at each other. ;-)

        I assume this is some sort of apology ? :-) if so, it could perhaps be
lengthier[1] ;-)

> David Nelson wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 Ivan M. <ivanm@patentpending.co.nz> wrote:
> > +1. There is another picture that looks like an image generated by
> > some other piece of software thrown into Draw. Please correct me if
> > I'm wrong, but this image suggests functionality (the creation of
> > such graphics) that (as far as I am aware) is not actually present
> > in Draw:
> > http://www.libreoffice.org/assets/Shuffler/Screenshot-09.png

        Personally - I love that screenshot in particular; because it looks
cool, and (in part) makes LibreOffice look rather good - as such, it
seems like great marketing collateral. It is common to use rich artwork,
and imported content to make things look richer than perhaps they are.
eg. the 'draw' screenshots tend to show some CAD/CAM type image that
(clearly!) was never drawn in the product; or some SVG straight out of
inkscape (or whatever).

        Surely this is just normal marketing ? :-)

        Now - of course, that is my view, irrelevant as it is - hopefully it
persuasive :-) but you guys are empowered, and need to sort this (minor)
issue out together; preferably by friendly, rational discussion and
bearing with each other.

> This is not a design issue. This is content. if you disagree then
> maybe we'd better take this back to the SC *again* to get things
> clarified.

        But this is is not a good response I think; Who actually cares to split
this semantic hair ? the SC I strongly suspect is not going to get
involved in this kind of detail adjudicating whether a screenshot is
content or not - simply because you can split hairs infinitely: is the
theme graphical, and the text content ? what about the font ? what about
the font size ? what about the zoom level ? what about the number of
pixels in the screenshots ? what about ? ... by the time we get here -
it is obvious that the problem is elsewhere :-)

        In my view, it is far better to reason as winsomely as possible about
the issue.

>  Let's just push LibreOffice forward in a positive way. Let's be a good team.

        Agreed.

> I want very much to talk voice to voice with you all. In my
> collaboration with Ivan and Christian, i found that voice contact is
> important in establishing good rapports. So I feel our discussions
> will be better when we sit down and bash things out during a confcall.

        There is much wisdom in this. There is more wisdom, in not writing
E-mail when angry; and if you must - then expressing your feelings
(privately, not on-list) to the person in a neutral way - so you can
work it out together. I don't think anyone gets involved in this great
work to make people annoyed - but to try to get a good result.

        Anyhow - so, the rest I think is nonsense: lets not step back or
threaten this; four people took this commitment on - please guys, can
you get through the Storming phase as fast as possible & into the
smooth, friendly fun phase ? :-)

        I'm sorry to prod the hornets nest - but ...

        All the best,

                Michael.

[1] - learning to apologise for things you didn't think you did is a
most wonderful and gratifying skill to acquire :-)
-- 
 michael.meeks@novell.com  <><, Pseudo Engineer, itinerant idiot


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