Conflict and Resolution

Conflict and Resolution

mark.johnson@it.ox.ac.uk@marxjohnson

In this session

Why does conflict happen in a community?

Avoiding Conflict

Resolving Conflict

Activity

3 People in your group take a piece of paper from the envelope, read the instruction but don't tell the rest of your group.

Throughout the following discussion, stick to your instruction unless you can be convinced not to.

If you don't have a piece of paper, just be yourself, and try to work out what is on each person's paper.

Activity

Discussion:

Your project is going to start using “codenames” for releases. Decide on a naming scheme for these code names.

(e.g. Ubuntu uses “Adjective, Animal”. Fedora's names must relate to the name of the previous release. Mac OSX used breeds of big cat, and now uses places in California)

Reasons for conflict

● Clash of personalities

● Disenfranchisement

● Arseholes

Clash of personalities

Age

Culture

Opinion

Experience

Personality

Miscommunication

Age

Clash of personalities

I remember when all thiswas punch cards OMG NOSQL FTW!

Culture

Clash of personalities

Let's discuss this over a beer!

Um...

Clash of personalities

Opinion

Git is better than Subversion!Python is bettter than Ruby!Iron Maiden are better than Metallica!

Meh.

Clash of personalities

Personality

Clash of personalities

Miscommunication

Let's eat, grandma! Let's eat grandma!

!

Disenfranchisement

● Not listening to everyone's views

● Putting commercial sponsor's needs first

● Volunteers vs. Employees

“Poisonous People”

● Someone decides to be intentionally disruptive● This other people are convinced, and follow the pattern● This may lead to splits or forks● Must be countered with evidence – Don't feed the troll!

“Arseholes”

Resolving Conflict

● Participant-driven resolution● Principled Negotiation● Restorative Justice

Conflict Example 1

Project Banana● Polly stated that, as far as Project Banana is concerned, the

Strawberry Consortium's policy is fine● Barry had personal objections, and presented these in a manner that

suggested they represented the official position of Project Banana.● Polly felt undermined, Barry questioned her competance as a leader● A flame war ensued among Project Banana's board, with some

contributors expressing an intention to leave the project

Conflict Example 2

Project Pineapple● Project Pineapple is part of the Strawberry Consortium● Consortium rules state releases must be voted on● As no-one ever voted against a release, Project Pineapple started

releasing without a vote● The Strawberry Consortium made it clear this is unnacceptable● The Project board accused the Consortium of being too restrictive to

modern practices, in turn the Consortium accused the Project of being careless

● How could the conflict have been avoided? How can it be resolved?

Conflict Example 2

Summary

● Conflicts can arise for a number of reasons – Understanding these is key to avoiding and diffusing them

● Dont be quick to label people as poisonous just because they're antagonistic – counter them with evidence

● If a conflict is allowed to escalate, a project can stall completely. At this point unblocking becomes the issue, not the original disagreement.

Questions?

Resources• Bacon, Jono. (2009). Art of Community O'Reilly

• Fisher, R. and William, U. (1983). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In Penguin Books

• Lambert, J and Myers, S. (1999). 50 Activities for Conflict Resolution – 2 Activities HRD Press

• Elliott, M., & Scacchi, W. (2004). Free software development: Cooperation and conflict in a virtual organizational culture. Free/Open Source Software Development, 152-172.