Re: [Gdbheads] Trust

[Christopher Faylor]

On Fri, Mar 26, 2004 at 11:37:18AM -0800, Stan Shebs wrote:
>So where does all this lack of trust come from? Well, I suspect there
>is some internal politics at Red Hat, so that while the engineers are
>honest, their management *is* telling lies about projects or
>priorities whatever, and that puts the engineers in a tough spot.
>Some of it I know is history; some of the suspicions I've heard
>expressed recently have their origins in Cygnus days, when as mgmt I
>got to witness some of the lying firsthand, and saw the corrosive
>effect it had on engineers. Especially for persons prone to feelings
>of insecurity or self-doubt, the scars last a long time. Some lack of
>trust comes from personality; some people just naturally tend to be
>suspicious and distrustful of others.

Stan,
Except for this paragraph, I was shaking my head in agreement over your
message.  I hemmed and hawed about responding but I can't let the slurs
to Red Hat management go without remark.

I think you know and have worked with everyone in Red Hat management.
I'm not sure who you think is doing the lying.  While they may arguably
not have managed this situation well, their involvement really was with
good intentions and without hidden agendas.  There was apparently a
certain amount of coverup about the "cabal" meetings but that brand of
"lying" was shared by everyone involved in the phone meetings and email
discussion which got us into this mess.  You could say that Red Hat
management was slightly more duplicitious for having set up a conference
call but then I guess whomever set up the mailing list would have to be
tarred with the same brush.

Also, IMO, and as long as I am responding, offering general assessments
of your take on people's personalities is guaranteed to be met with
resentment by anyone who thinks you're talking about them and, IMO, that
greatly detracts from your otherwise excellent message.

I don't think we're going to get very far in this process if we get
bogged down in ascribing psychological motives or evil corporations
behind the problems.  Can't we just deal with the actual issues?

cgf