Moving forward: How we can unblock the situation together

Hello,

with this message, I would like to share some thoughts how we all together can unblock the situation at TDF.

Status quo

Some described our current status quo as stagnation. I would not use this word, as a lot of things actually did and do happen. We have regular releases, we just had our LibreOffice Conference, the Luxemburg Open Source Conference with several LibreOffice talks is coming up, so is the LibreOffice Asia Conference and the Latin American (LATAM) Conference.

Our annual report 2024 has been published and we’re hiring!

It’s not stagnation, because so many of you are contributing so much every day - so thank you very much to everyone who drives this project!

All the little pieces fall into place

This board has also remedied several problematic situations from the past (see here or here or here or here).

Some might think this is crying over spilled milk. However, first of all, wrong decisions from the past that could have a problematic impact in the future must be remedied, so they won’t fall on our feet.

Second, on our very own website, we advertise that we are about “Fantastic People” and that “LibreOffice is about more than software. It’s about people, culture, creation, sharing and collaboration.” That is not compatible with people leaving the project frustrated, people close to tears, people being burned out and people close to leave or writing about “heart breaking” situations they had to endure.

It is not nice to be publicly accused of secrecy, when literally one has spent hour over hour to make many documents public. It is not nice to find yourself in a conference meeting, explaining the situation, being welcomed and said goodbye with a complaint that no one wants to talk, when you’ve literally just did that. It is not nice to be silenced and retaliated when you voice concerns, even more so if all of the concerns turned out to be entirely valid.

Such behaviour is not the kind of community we want to be in. This must stop. Our community is only as good as its community members, and we need to treasure them and treat them well.

Also many other things have been decided and have or will be done. Lots of previously unpublished minutes and decisions have been made public, the infamous “community” tagline has been removed, a new procurement policy has been put in place as a first step to restart tendering, the whistleblowing policy has been finalized, an educational movie has been co-funded, we’ve become members of the Eclipse Foundation and many howtos and trainimg materials have been published in the meantime and we’re working to catch up with our graphics design needs.

Can we do more? Yes! Should we do more? Yes! Does it mean everything is bad and nothing is moving? No.

Tough times

When this board came into office, they were faced with an unexpected amount of legal documents, a very complex situation and many tensions between individuals. Like for other board terms, we have seen resignations - some for personal reasons, some for other reasons.

The board works purely as volunteers, in their spare time. Many of them in a legal system they do not have routine with, and for many of them in a language they don’t speak. Many people started in this community with great ambitions, but the reality was much harder than any of them could have imagined.

It is easy to point at board, team or membership committee, complaining about transparency or that things are not moving. It is easy to randomly point at anything one doesn’t like. However, please then ask yourself this question:

Would you be able to serve in such a role, in a foreign legal system, in a foreign language, with a responsibility for way more than one million € per year, a growing team of 15, with the need to make tax and legal declarations over the past board terms, but with a personal liability in case things go wrong? Leading a community can be tough, always keep that in mind - it’s even one of the talks I’ve been literally giving at conferences for years.

Where we’re coming from

On July 25, I’ve shared information to our members mailing list with further details on the legal situation. Additionally, I’ve published two articles about the administrative strucutre at TDF, which you can find here and here.

I am aware that administration is one of the most boring parts of an organization. It is not glamorous, it does not create anything beautiful by itself - yet, it is needed. If you build a house, maybe the most exciting eyecatcher is the decoration and the furniture. However, without the invisible work of plumbers, electricians or structural engineers, the beautiful lights you’ve bought will stay dark, and the sink in the fancy new kitchen will have no water.

The administration part is necessary, it literally is a part of our foundation. You can design the most exciting website, if no one does the work on the (for some probably most boring) web server configuration, no one will see it.

There is no magic wand, there is no such single thing, that will magically resolve the situation by itself. I know it is a tempting promise - just do this and that, and then everything magically falls into places. That’s a false assumption. Things are more complex.

Evolving

While we might not have stagnation, for sure TDF is not evolving as it could, we are not growing.

In the past, we had new initiatives started frequently, we participated in lots of events, we organized our own events like Hackfests, we experimented, we were creative and had wild ideas. For sure, with an organization maturing and growing, that “magic of the beginning” fades away a bit, but we’ve lost that spirit too much and too soon.

I am aware that complaining about administrative overhead does not solve any actual problem, neither does mourning over the time lost already due to certain issues. However, neither of those should be hidden under the carpet either, because they are a part of our current identity, they are a significant part of the reason why things are as they are.

When people are burned out, are stressed, have too many things on their desk, when they are not happy with the situation, it does have an impact on what they can and will achieve. This is the very reality that affects all we do, it affects all of TDF and all of the community.

Some now might be tempted to do everything at the same time. Run new events, hire more people, have the new website released at the same time as we have fancy new graphics, attend many conferences, run townhalls in many languages, restart tendering, grow the ecosystem, go to schools and universities etc. All of that is worthwhile, all of that is important and all of that would bring us forward.

The reality is, there is only so much you can do at the same time (if you want to do it properly), in particular if the “preconditions” are as they are at TDF right now. Take a moment to look for the “Sharpen the Axe” fable, and you know what I mean.

Action plan

For sure, there is room for improvement. Striking the proper balance between administration, dealing with the past, and doing new and exciting things is not easy - in particular in a community like ours, which is active 24/7/365, which is active worldwide, in dozens of languages. As said earlier, we are a mid-sized organisation, not a local sports club anymore, and that takes its toll.

So, what do we need to do?

  • We need to improve on the administrative side. Either by restructuring, or hiring, or being stricer on some community requests, or all of that. Being constantly stretched thin will make us run just in circles. We could do less, but better, or we can scale up.

  • We need the engagement of the community. Talk is cheap and complaining is easy. Lots of things do happen, but most feedback that is visible in public is when people are unhappy about something. Many of you asked for the missing meeting minutes. Publishing them took a lot of time. Reactions? Few. Did you like it? Was it useful? Is it too much? Let us know!

  • We need to talk with each other. Language barriers, timezones and personal lifes are a challenge and it will be impossible to get all members in one meeting. We should look into public townhall sessions with translators, in different timezones, so each of you has a chance to talk with board, membership committee and team.

  • We need more face to face time. Traveling can be a burden and is exhausting and people’s vacation time is not unlimited. However, after every conference, after every in-person meeting I feel inspired and enlivened, having had personal interactions with so many of you. We need more of that. Local events, community gatherings, hackfests, workshops - this is what brings a community together.

  • We need to learn to do constructive criticism. It is okay to cricitize someone. Only this way we can exchange thoughts and ideas and learn from our mistakes. However, criticism must be constructive, not aggressive. Pointing at someone and complaining will solve no problem, it will just make matters worse.

  • We should not forget to give positive feedback. Sometimes there is nothing to be discussed, so it’s easy to read a message, but ignore it. However, for the sender it is hard to understand if their message was well received. Personally, I spent a lot of time to publish minutes and decisions, explain the structure at TDF, shared onboarding howtos and many more. However, I have no idea if people care, if they read it, if they understand, and whether they welcome what I write, or if I annoy them. Reply, give feedback, and if only by clicking that little heart icon below the post. It cost so little, but it is valuable so very much.

  • Don’t be shy! Not everyone is eager to speak out in public, and not everyone is able to speak in English. Don’t be shy! If you don’t want to disclose your name, use a nickname. If you don’t speak English, use DeepL or Google Translate. You can even reply in your very own language. We have the tools - nowadays even headphones can do live translations. Whenever there’s a will, there will be a way. And, if you still don’t want to write in public, reach out to people in private. Don’t be shy.

  • Don’t stay silent! When discussions get heated and individuals get verbally attacked, it is rarely the attacker who is the actual problem. It is not the bully. It is all the others, watching in silence. This is what is painful and what hurts. Just because someone is mature and has been around for a long time in the project does not mean they are not hurt by words. Nobody is asking you to run around with forks and torches, but please do speak out, support one another. Don’t watch silently and let undue attacks happen. I know it is not pleasing to draw yourself into a dispute, but don’t let people alone. This way we will eventually lose them.

  • Be passionate! This community is passionate - when there was the discussion to have LibreOffice only as a “Personal Edition”, many of you voiced their concerns - rightfully so, because LibreOffice is intended to be free and open source, and also free of charge, available to anyone, as it is even outlined in our manifesto. When the Online version was “temporarily frozen”, there was even an open letter to revive it. This commuity can be passionate - be passionate!

  • We need to put behaviour over roles and contributions. Our very own statutes say that “All members are required to treat other members and end users with courtesy, indulgence, objectivity, open-mindedness, friendliness, understanding and goodwill.” This is the standard we need to adhere to. It does not matter if you are a founder, a board member, a big code contributor or a first-time contributor. Everyone has the same rights and the same duties, and we ought to treat everyone with respect. We cannot trade in great contributions for bad behaviour.

  • We need to trust each other. We have people who have been doing their job for a decade, who have a lot of experience in their field. They are the experts, and they do care. Trust them. Scrutiny is fine, but you are unlikely knowing everything better than people who have been literally doing their job since this project exists. Sometimes it is good to be on the shoulders of giants - but sometimes we are the giant ourselves. We all managed to setup one of the most known free and open source organizations in the world, and we work on one of the most important projects worldwide, used by hundreds of millions of people, including governments and big enterprises. We can be proud and confident, and rely on our instincts.

Only if we all work together, we can turn this community back into what it was supposed to be:
A fun project with fantastic people.

Let’s become fantastic again!

Florian

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