[Strategic] User feedback or What does the community want / miss / annoy

[TimSC]

On 27/05/11 18:26, Steve Coast wrote:
> On 5/27/2011 1:02 AM, Kai Krueger wrote:
>> On 05/27/2011 12:55 AM, SteveC wrote:
>>> Sounds like design by committee to me :-(
>> How exactly is "knowing what your users / the community wants" design 
>> by committee? How can having more information be bad in any decision 
>> process?
>
> Pretty simple - you don't get any consensus therefore the data is 
> pretty meaningless. If you get 50% of people saying there should be a 
> big map on the front page and 50% say no map. What are you supposed to 
> do? It will just randomize you.
How do you know you won't get consensus? I'd be interested in hearing 
your justification. Usually there is some common ground even in the most 
violent disagreements.

I think we might agree that openstreetmap is run by consensus - or that 
could just be my imagination. Where does this consensus seeking happen 
except on the mailing lists? Or is decision by committee the de facto 
method for OSM decisions?

On 27/05/11 18:54, Steve Coast wrote:
> What we have to get away from (and what will stop you) is the list 
> permission culture. The lists will never agree to anything and we have 
> to stop treating them as the place to get permission to do anything. 
How exactly is OSMF accountable to the non-OSMF member contributors, if 
you just ignore the lists?

Tim