[kde-guidelines] [kde-promo] [kde-artists] We need a Vision!

[Mario Fux KDE ML]

Am Mittwoch, 12. März 2014, 11.26:48 schrieb Björn Balazs:

Morning guys

Now finally in the train home I found the time to read all (or almost all I 
just didn't fully read the current vision in our wiki but will do it when I'm 
home or in the next days).

One of my conclusions of reading this thread, the blog post and its comments 
is that there is (still) a misunderstanding or a slight disagreement. If some 
people talk about "KDE", they mean our software or even "just" our desktop 
environment (which is now called Plasma (by KDE)). If other people then answer 
they think about "KDE" as the community that we are. So I think and to avoid 
some confusion it's important to underline what meaning of "KDE" one is 
talking about. (At least as long as the meaning of "KDE as the community" is 
not completely absorbed ;-)

[snip]

> > > UX always serves a certain purpose. There is no universal good or bad.
> > > In order to provide consistency and hence a smooth experience for the
> > > user,
> > > the definition of what is desired and what not has to be made on a high
> > > level. We call this a Vision.
> > 
> > It would help me to understand how the UX driven by the current vision
> > (altered as suggested above) is different from one that would include
> > the pieces missing in the current vision?
> 
> Most of the time there are different ways to do things. As consistency is
> the by far most important aspect for a good user experience, UX has to
> define which of these possible ways should be taken in which situation. So
> users experience a consistent behaviour across different parts of KDE.
> 
> One example:
> To activate a single setting, you can at least use a check box, a slider or
> a toggle button. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages. Currently
> the decision which to use is usually taken by the application developer.
> Consistency across KDE will hence automatically be harmed.
> 
> To be able to formulate rules about the use of 'single settings elements',
> UX needs to know which goals should be reached. A good vision does not
> formulate goals for every interaction element, but should allow us to
> derive the rules out of it.

Thanks for explaining this and writting it down. Although I think our software 
is already quite consistent I think this is very important and would like and 
love to see more work on this. And if a vision (of some scope) for this work 
is useful than we should definitely work on it.

[snip]

> > > Next, within the group of vision-volunteers, we want to create a
> > > suggestion
> > > for the vision. During this process, we plan to also again ask users
> > > about the importance of different aspects if possible. Then we want to
> > > discuss the Vision with you before we start a discussion with the
> > > broader community.
> > > 
> > > Do you have any better suggestion how to proceed?
> > 
> > I am skeptical of the value of asking users about the vision. As Jos
> > wrote, KDE users are a diverse bunch. There are millions of people who
> > use KDE. They like what they've got, or they would tweak a couple of
> > things, or they are looking forward to the next surprises from KDE, or
> > it's better than Brand X, or they like questionnaires and want to be
> > helpful, or (fill in the blank). For the most part, they are not vision
> > people.
> 
> I am a true believer in involving users.

That's great to hear! I think it's very important to involve users (and as I 
read in the comments of your blog post I didn't succeed in this in my diploma 
thesis survey :-(.

> I do not claim to have the final
> answer on excactly how users need to be involved into the vision creation
> process - but I believe they need to be in order to gain final acceptance.
> So we have to try & error it out. And in the end - despite of all the
> diverse wishes - we can only deliver one product.

There I don't agree. As I deeply think (and feel) that "KDE" is the community 
I think we (and more so in the future) offer more than one product. in fact 
many quite diverse products (which is absolutely ok).

In the end and what I've read so far this vision we search for seems to be 
mostly for Plasma atm (and I think that's a broad enough scope for the 
moment).

> > Some online equivalent to a walk&talk or get together over a beer with
> > committed talented people would be nice.
> 
> +1
> 
> Björn

So I wrote this email just before reading Aarons email which includes a lot of 
the above mentioned and probably even clearer.

Best regards
Mario