[Cryptech Core] Tools and strategies for communication during development

[Randy Bush]

joachim, thanks for trying to organize this

> - The ability to keep a trace (an archive) of what has been
>   communicated. To allow us involved in the project to backtrack and
>   see what has been said and by whom, what was decided upon etc. But
>   also by external observers that want to know why Cryptech works the
>   way it does, if it (and we) can be trusted etc.

my impression is that this was the purpose of the 'core' list.

> - Time zone issues and a globally diversified development team. If I'm
>   correct we are currently spanning from Eastern USA to Japan in terms
>   of possible time zones. Being able to have near synchronous
>   communication within the whole team will be a challenge.

i am used to this with the similarly distributed research crews with
whom i work.  we tend to
  o keep an always-open skype, jabber, jitsi, or mumble chat room
  o have weekly short and focused calls

as i travel too much and am up at odd hours anyway, do not take the
asian timezone too seriously.

> - For issues that need fast turn around (i.e. detailed discussions,
>   problem solving) emails will probably not be efficient.

use the open chat to negotiate an unscheduled voice conference

> Given this, what are suitable methods and what specific tools should
> we use. Do we trust proprietary and centrally controlled tools (Skype
> for example), or do we need to use only open tools - tools we can
> control?

i prefer open tools.

there is also meeting leif's need for regular, but light, reporting for
the administrative record.  i kind of like a progress&needs email some
hours before the weekly (or whatever) call.  it leaves a good trail and
helps keep the call short and focused.

randy