Re: [libreoffice-design] Team organization

Hi Mirek, all,

good to see your initiative!

Personally I think there are indeed two problems you try to solve:

1. Responsibility:
It is good to have people taking responsibility, e.g. who can be asked 
concerning certain topics, who organize that work is been done within the team 
and who can identify and promote points that need to be changed in order to 
enhance usability as a whole. So I fully agree with your idea on assigning 
responsibilities.

2. Direction:
The 'dictatorial artists' on the other hand I think is not such a good idea. 
Large projects like LibreOffice are slow tankers - it takes time to change 
things substantially. Direction should hence not be given by a (possibly 
frequently changing) person in charge, but by some kind of directing 
documentation (Styleguides, Visions, Personas, ...). This documentation of 
course has to be constantly updated, but decisions should always be taken in 
reference to this documentation - providing a constant direction in the 
development. I assume this is what you mean by 

> I feel like we don't have the basics down

Just my 2 cents. Perhaps it helps to structure your thoughts.

Keep up the good work!

Björn

Am Donnerstag, 19. Juni 2014, 14:48:35 schrieb Mirek M.:
> 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+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