John Garbutt wrote:
[...] Agreed that with a shared language, the ML is more effective. [...] I think some IRC meeting work, in a standup like way, for those with a previously established shared context.
Actually shared context / shared understanding / common culture is a prerequisite for any form of communication. The ML discussions are more effective, the IRC meetings can be effective, the reviews are more effective etc.
This shared understanding was simpler to generate in the early days of OpenStack where developers were a smaller group. We assumed that most of this shared understanding would naturally transmit to newcomers, so we overlooked documenting it and did not actively rebuild it as we went. We diluted the Design Summit into the gigantic Summit event, further preventing this cross-project culture to emerge in our group.
Over the past cycle(s) we worked on the project team guide to document the shared culture. But it's not finished, and that's not enough. We also need time (as a cultural group) to discuss and reach this common culture, without distractions and without people external to the group disrupting the discussion (yes you see where I'm going).
[...] Synchronous vs Asynchronous (and in-between), high vs low bandwidth communication tools all have their place. None of those replace having curated content for new/returning folks to gain the current shared context
+1000 -- this is not about choosing between MLs vs. face-to-face meetings. You can't have a global community and rely only on meetings without excluding someone. You can't build the shared understanding and make quick progress on specific issues using only MLs.
Global and virtual communities face three challenges: confusion, isolation, and fragmentation. They need to make use of the full spectrum of synchronous/asynchronous and simple-collaboration/complex-collaboration communication tools to address those challenges and actively generate transparency (fighting confusion), engagement (fighting isolation) and cohesion (fighting fragmentation).
I hate management speak, but I love the way these issues are described in this book: https://www.kenblanchard.com/Store/Books/Gung-Ho!
I also highly recommend reading "Where in the world is my team?" from Terence Brake about the need for a range of tools to fight confusion/isolation/fragmentation in global/virtual communities.
-- Thierry Carrez (ttx) __________________________________________________________________________ OpenStack Development Mailing List (not for usage questions) Unsubscribe: [email protected]?subject:unsubscribe http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev
