Open Stack

Hi Liz and Jarda,

Very happy to see this discussion happen! We regularly have people show
up who are interested in helping to improve the Horizon UX and it's good
to know where to direct them for more information. Great job with the wiki!

On 23/04/14 15:46, Liz Blanchard wrote:
> On Apr 23, 2014, at 8:13 AM, Jaromir Coufal <jcoufal at redhat.com>
> wrote:
>> Mailing list - [UX] ------------------- = discussions about various
>> issues = openstack-dev mailing list, using [UX] tag in the subject 
>> "+" brings more attention to the UX issues "+" not separated from
>> other OpenStack's projects "+" threading is already there (e-mail
>> clients) "+" no need for setting up and maintaining additional
>> server to run our own forum "-" requires to store attachments
>> somewhere else (some other server) ... similar case with current
>> askbot anyway "-" requires contributors to register to the
>> openstack-dev mailing list ... each contributor should do that
>> anyway
> 
> A big +1 to this. Currently there is a mailing list called
> openstack-personas that has been meant just for the persona effort,
> but I’ve been trying to get folks who have been involved in that
> effort to be sure to subscribe to this list and start generating any
> conversations that are pure UX here on the dev list instead of that
> personas mailing list. The personas mailing list was really just
> meant to kick off all of the work that would be done and then we’d
> bring high level details to this list anyways. Having more or less
> all UX conversations in one place makes way more sense to me.

I also think it would be good to have the discussions on the dev list to
help with the problem of "much less visibility when taking the
conversation elsewhere". Could the personas list perhaps be deleted now
and the work around it continue on the dev list as well? (Probably at
the same time as providing advice on filtering!)

>> Discussion forum - (terminate) ------------------------------ "+"
>> more interactive "+" easier for newcomers "-" separating UX outside
>> the OpenStack world "-" we haven't found any other suitable tool
>> for discussions yet (current AskBot is not doing very well) -> in
>> order not to fragment discussions into multiple places, I am
>> suggesting termination of current AskBot and keeping discussions in
>> mailing list
> 
> Another idea would be to use the general OpenStack Askbot, but I
> agree it is yet another place to go to review things and the current
> way of using Askbot has been difficult to keep up with and follow
> active discussions. +1 to finding a way to use the mailing list
> efficiently for design reviews.

I don't think the general AskBot would be appropriate to use for this,
it has a very different goal (user troubleshooting) as opposed to being
a tool to help with future development.

On Ask UX, I found it difficult to understand the status of older
questions that seem resolved (but actually aren't) and not implemented
yet, I would welcome a better way to understand e.g. the current status
of the Horizon IA work. Perhaps a wiki page that summarises a discussion
would help, at the end of a ML conversation...? Definitely the Launchpad
blueprints / bugs around UX issues should include a reference to the
related ML discussion.

>> IRC meetings ------------ = regular meetings, each 2-3 weeks, short
>> meeting, mostly dealing with organizational stuff and bringing
>> attention on hot topics "+" brings people together "+" helps with
>> UX organization "-" requires people to make a time for it ...
>> should be short though, so it shouldn't be big deal
> 
> Again, a huge +1 from me. I think this is the biggest thing that we
> are missing as a UX community. It will definitely help with
> organization and communication on who is actively working on what.
> Agreed they should be short and shouldn’t be a big time commitment to
> those who are active in UX in the community.

I agree this would be very helpful. When Horizon started having regular
meetings, it really helped with building a stronger sense of community.
Definitely worth experimenting with!

>> Wishlist (currently Launchpad) ------------------------------ =
>> list of areas where other projects need a help from UX and UX
>> person can take tasks "+" easy way of other teams how to interact
>> with UX team when they look for a help "+" easy way for UXers to
>> see areas where is a need for help
> 
> +1. There could also be a section on the wiki describing the process
> of contacting the UX team around work that is needed for components
> and adding items to the launchpad list.

+1 to clearly defining how to ask for UX help and advice, whatever it
ends up being :)

>> Storage place (GitHUb) ---------------------- = server where we can
>> store temporary materials as well as final solutions -> github for
>> permanent solutions (guidelines, final designs, …)?
> 
> I like this idea. I think we just need to try it out like we did with
> AskBot and see how it goes. How will GitHub handle the large files
> that designs produce? Will pure designers be able to fit Git into
> their workflow naturally? Where does UX fit into the larger OpenStack
> GitHub space if at all? These aren’t questions we need to answer now,
> just things I think we will discover by using it.

FWIW there's generally a reluctance to rely on external, proprietary
services (this is why we host our own repos at
https://git.openstack.org/cgit/ and github is only a mirror). I'm not
sure git is best for dealing with large binary files though I don't have
a better idea to offer at this point.

>> I am looking forward to hearing back from you with your feedback
>> and opinions. If it seems to you like a good overview of how things
>> can work, I will be happy to break it down into smaller pieces and
>> make it happen so that we can start using all these tools as soon
>> as possible.
>> 
> Thanks again!! Liz

Many thanks indeed!

Julie