On 2/27/16 12:15 AM, Brion Vibber wrote:
When it comes to your employees, setting the bozo bit is a *really* bad antipattern. Doubly so when they're coming out of a bad situation and have a lot to tell you.
I completely agree with this - let me remind the context of my remark.
For employees dealing with the community, particularly new employees, there can be a lot of WMF-bashing and employee bashing that really hurts. People who have been around for a long time tend to come to an understanding about people's ways of communicating and personality styles. This means that it's possible to understand that person A (a person who habitually makes accusations and doesn't assume good faith) screaming about something means something very different from person A (a person who generally doesn't make drama and who tries to see the best in things and people).
We had some disastrous rollouts of bad software in recent years. This has led, in my view, to a kind of vicious cycle - a loss of trust in the Foundation means that people view new developments with a hostility that is often excessive. Employees who get beaten up over such things tend to find it very unpleasant, particularly in those cases (we've all seen examples) where the attacks get personal. ("This software is buggy" not easy to hear, but is an ok and honest remark. "These developers are idiots and the WMF is yet again trying to attack and destroy the community" is very likely to give rise to a fear and also a disinterest in engaging. That's not good.
I'm pretty sure that's not something you'll disagree with, but it's one of those things that we easily find ourselves doing wrong, and have to watch out for.
You are right on both points!
--Jimbo