[Cryptech Core] Tools and strategies for communication during development

[Leif Johansson]

On 2014-05-17 12:19, Randy Bush wrote:
> 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.

I do do but I'm not religious.

I propose we use a permanent jabber chatroom either at psg.com or at
groupchat.nordu.net. We can turn on logging for it and publish those
online for super-duper transparency.

The expectations should be something like...

- if you see folks online, talk
- if you don't - try typing your thing and hope somebody picks it up
- if you need to be sure to reach somebody, send email

> 
> 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.
> 

Right but that doesn't necessarily have to be done the same way the eng.
team talks to each other.

	Cheers Leif