Re: Q: communication and discussions with developers

On 18/03/26 22:46, Lucas Nussbaum wrote:

> Hi Sruthi,
>
> Debian Constitution paragraph 5.1.9 says the following about the project leader:
>
>> 9. Lead discussions amongst Developers.
>>
>> The Project Leader should attempt to participate in discussions
>> amongst the Developers in a helpful way which seeks to bring the
>> discussion to bear on the key issues at hand. The Project Leader
>> should not use the Leadership position to promote their own personal
>> views.
> In practice, I don't think that we rely that much on the DPL's ability
> to organize discussions. But it has certainly be helpful for several
> DPLs to use mailing list discussions to test and refine ideas. And there
> are many developers who contribute to those discussions.
>
> But you have not been very active in mailing list discussions, so I'm
> wondering:
Yes, I was not very active on mailing lists. Let me be very honest here, 
I did not want to fuel or be part of flame wars wherever possible. Most 
of the time, by the time I read the complete thread, what I wanted to 
say would have be said already by someone else and I did not want to 
participate just for the sake of it. I have participated in instances 
where I felt very strongly about something and I had entirely different 
things to say than already discussed. But as a DPL, I would be following 
the discussions more closely wherever possible and respond more often.
> 1/ As DPL, do you plan to help "seek to bring the discussions to bear on
> the key issues at hand"?
Yes, definitely I would be facilitating discussions to find solutions 
for the issues at hand. I am a good listener and I plan to listen to all 
the stakeholders involved. I would try to make these discussions as 
productive as possible by minimizing misunderstanding by being a catalyst.
>
> 2/ And probably more importantly, what communication means do you plan to
> use to test and refine your own ideas?
While we all know, mails are our primary means of communication, but 
mails does lead to a lot of misunderstandings and result in unnecessary 
flame wars. Depending on how volatile the situation is, I would try to 
have some online meetings of the stakeholders wherever possible. I think 
short online meetings would be far productive than spending hours on 
flame wars on mailing lists with no result. But I do know this is not 
feasible always, sometimes we would have to have input from the larger 
community and then, we would have to rely on mailing lists. Even then, I 
would try to my best to minimize the misunderstandings.
>
> Lucas
>

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