Classic Debian problem

[Xavier Vello]

On Friday 04 July 2008 00:40:03 Ana Guerrero wrote:
> So, we have in the Qt/Debian team the classic Debian problem of 2
> developers not getting along. It started on IRC some time ago and lately
> has spilled on this mailing list. It has been there for some time now, but
> it grow a lot with the past KDE3/KDE4 in lenny issue.
> It is killing my fun of working in KDE stuff, and I am sure it is killing
> the motivation of others, because it is not nice being around when you see
> this ugly enviroment in a team.
>
> Does somebody have a idea of how to handle this? I have been trying to
> handle this on my best way, but every time I give some ground with the goal
> of trying to find some common ground it does not work from the other side.

I have only been around for a week or so, but I think I have seen enough to 
make my point. I have worked in three different associations at my engineer 
school, and being president of a 20-members one I saw that collaboration isn't 
easy when there are no procedures.

When I first came on the IRC channel, I asked what workflow was in place, how 
decisions were taken and I was astonished by the answer : none. The "the one 
who makes decides" system is very good ... as soon as there is no clash. 

Today, two people here disagree about a technical point (because it's only 
this, not a big matter) and engage in a revert war, each standing on his 
ground. This situation is of course non-productive and harmful for the team. I 
started it finding the missing dependency and feel uncomfortable seeing how it 
degenerated into this revert war.

Ana feels sorry that the conflict  gets into the mailing-list, I think it is a 
good thing, as email is for me a better way to understand each other than IRC 
because :
  - stating one's position by email requires one to think about his arguments
  - you always have the whole thread archived, so it's easy to see when you 
are out of arguments, or incoherent. On IRC, I saw the same arguments repeated 
infinitely without making a point
  - on IRC, it's hard to get into a thread when two people argue. I think it 
is easier to be listened on a email thread

In a perfect world, I'd want this type of issues to be raised objectively on 
the ML and everyone to give his opinion. I don't think voting is a good thing, 
but consensus is. Getting other people in a discussion often de-escalates 
conflicts and can bring new arguments. But beware, it's not about bringing 
personal conflicts in public but stating technical disagreements.

Hence, I'd like you all to make your point on the "Re: rev 11376 - in 
branches/kde4/packages/kdebase-workspace/debian: . patches"  thread (just 
saying "I agree with this argument" helps) so that we can take a decision 
together.

Thanks and sorry for the long email.
-- 
Xavier Vello