Fedora Board Recap 2008-JAN-29

[Russell Harrison]

On Feb 2, 2008 10:59 AM, Karsten 'quaid' Wade <kwade at redhat.com> wrote:
> > Technical hurdles such as what?  Every other SIG/Committee gets by with
> > public IRC meetings just fine...
>
> For example, we discussed having an audio call that people could listen
> in on (live) and record for later.  IRC is an obvious fall-back, but it
> is definitely a lower resolution format than teleconference.  IME, a
> rough estimate is that an IRC meeting can only address 30% of the
> material that you can cover in a voice call.  This would reduce the
> amount of business that can be handled by ~16% month-over-month.
> Teleconferences also give room for going over the allotted time without
> bumping against someone else waiting to use the meeting channel; the
> Board calls occasionally go over 1 hour in order to fit in all business.

+1

Another problem I discovered while I was trying to attend the
marketing meeting this we was that people would keep coming over to my
desk and  asking for stuff during the chat.  Even though I said I  was
attending a meeting people would still ask their questions.  I assume
expecting that I would be able to read the backlog and catch up.  For
a normal conversation that started randomly in any of the SIG channels
they'd be right.  In #fedora-meeting two screens behind and you might
as well just give up.  I only figured out at the very end of the
meeting I should just put my headset on even though I wasn't using it.
 It would be nice if it wasn't a prop... ;-)

> One of the reasons I am excited about Fedora using VoIP for contributors
> is the increased amount of business that can be done while forming
> stronger social bonds.  The risk is the increased difficulty in others
> listening in, participating, and catching up later for meetings.
> Resolving this better for Board calls should help everyone who uses
> teleconf for meetings.

There's an awful lot that is conveyed in a person's voice.  Being able
to tell that someone was teasing you rather than actually criticizing
is a good example.  I know at my work I often leave things out of
emails or chats that I'll go ahead and say in a conference call.
-- 
Russell Harrison
Systems Administrator -- Linux Desktops
Cisco Systems, Inc.

Note:  The positions or opinions expressed in this email are my own.
They are not necessarily those of my employer.