openstack team mailing list archive

[Lloyd Dewolf <lloydostack@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 8:03 AM, Soren Hansen <soren@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:> 2011/11/24 Lloyd Dewolf <lloydostack@xxxxxxxxx>:>> A. As my
former boss, as of this week, Matt Mullenweg [1] would so>> often
remind us, "don't be so negative" -- he literally reminded my>> VIP
Services sub-team of that last week -- it's natural when you are>>
deep in the trenches. Instead use "Words that Work". [2]>> This is not
marketing material. It's not meant to sell anything or> convince
anyone of anything. It's supposed to accurately convey what> this team
is and what it isn't. If you want to rephrase it, knock> yourself out,
but being unambiguous trumps "sounding good". You don't> see
legislation being rephrased to make it sound better either :)
Hi Soren,
I may be misreading, but both your response and part of ttx's reads to
me as a straw man argument -- you give back a single unrelated phrase
as opposed to demonstrating the value of all three phrases.
I'm frustrating by your mention of "marketing material" and ttx's
posslbe fallback of "technical page". What is the context of that? If
I were to guess where you are coming from, which I hate doing, my
response would good communication is accessible to many audiences,
encourages participation (is positive!), translates well (hard!), and
still meets the needs of us pendantic fools. As I said I'm very
sensitive to all communications around security, and always have been.
Second, unambiguous? That doesn't ring true to me. One sentence, the
first sentence, is about what the list is, followed by a whole
paragraph on what it isn't? Maybe, let's start with fleshing out that
first paragraph.

Three times a lady? [1] I think there is an opportunity to be concise,
eliminate the seeding of fear of immaturity and unprofessionalism,
(translate better), and get on with focusing that OpenStack has
dedicated, profession participants.

Future-me will be proud that we have a robust solution (which I feel
like you guys are challenging me to brainstorm on) and that we've
never had a premature disclosure.

How can we get your fantastic expertises humoring me by exploring
solutions rather than throwing down spike strips. Nothing is worse
than the new guy also offering "solutions" [3] when the relevant
issues have already been well considered, often multiple times, and
where the participants likely already have some other solutions that
might be voted up by the context of additional considerations.

Sure though I've thought on this and will make a proposal... another
email to follow shortly.

Thank you,Lloyd
1. I need a list archive that is up to date!2. The opportunity to be
absurd was too tempting. I need to get some sleep.
3. I will always try to articulate a problem first and not provide
solutions much to your possible frustration. Once we have a solution
in our head, we often find the problem to match the solution. By
separating out the possible solutions we will write a stronger report,
create space for alternate solution proposals by other people, and
hopefully reduce the subconscious repulsion experienced by the people
who worked so hard on the current solutions. For my favorite
presentation of this read Chapter 9 “Problems and Solutions” in The
Myths of Innovation by Scott Berkun.