On Aug 3, 2011, at 7:25 AM, Ian Lynch wrote:

> To be fair, an overly aggressive tone can do just as much poisoning as a
> defensive one. I think it is also worth bearing in mind that a lot of people
> here are not native English speakers and so it is easy to read things into
> posts that were either not intended or were a subset of the entire situation
> simply because it just takes too long to type reams in a foreign language
> explaining every aspect of everything. Apart from the language issue, what
> is considered bad form varies with culture so we should be wary of brute
> logic from our own perspective as a tool for progress. We have to work
> together and respect other people's position especially when most are doing
> this for love rather than for money. It's not like in a company where you
> can sack and replace people. We have lost good people in the past because
> that wasn't understood and it's easier to keep people and their knowledge
> resource than replace and retrain them.

+1 - In my 10 years of managing a small group of Russian developers I 
discovered that the more I wrote the less was comprehended. We do best when I 
point and wait for the answer including the likelihood that my direction was 
not the best or only answer.

I think we all need to use our listening skills and tone down the compulsion to 
have all the answers immediately available.

Regards,
Dave

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