This presentation was given at DevConf.cz 2013 and borrows heavily from a negotiation seminar led by David Eaves that I participated in prior to OSCON 2011, with slides adapted from a presentation (unpublished) on this same topic by Dave Neary. Abstract: The best Open Source hackers are great at the "soft skills" related to hacking - resolving conflict, gathering support around a direction for the project, and understanding what the user *really* wants in a bug report. Every feature request and implementation discussion, bug report and mailing list thread is a negotiation. There is a well established, common sense, very effective way to think of negotiations which will help you improve as a developer, and make your project better at the same time, from the Harvard Negotiation Project. Using this theory, you will be able to get better outcomes when dealing with frustrated users, colleagues and bosses. You can even apply the principles to domestic debates, wage negotiations and dealing with used car salesmen.

1. Negotiation Theory for Geeks
Leslie Hawthorn
Red Hat
@lhawthorn
devconf.cz 2013

2. “The projects that
have been the
most successful...
are good at all
sorts of ‘soft
skills’”
David Eaves
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/5348068433/

3. Negotiations in FOSS Projects
a.k.a. “Why we’re all here today”
● Mailing list discussions
● Bugs marked as “won’t fix” then reopened
● Patch reviews
● Bug triage
● Roadmap creation / feature prioritization
● Personal grievances

4. Harvard Negotiation Project
Several books in
this ‘series’
including
● Getting to Maybe
● Getting Past No
● Getting Together:
Building
Relationships as
We Negotiate
Image Source: amazon.com

5. Having conversations with
your friends is easy
See http://hawthornlandings.org/2011/08/02/negotiation-avoiding-the-vale-of-suck-starts-with-you/

6. We needlessly assume other
conversations must be painful
See http://hawthornlandings.org/2011/08/02/negotiation-avoiding-the-vale-of-suck-starts-with-you/

7. Be Willing to
Ask
for What
You Need

8. ● Ask the other party what they
need
to be successful
● Find common ground
● Reach agreement
● If you cannot reach agreement,
find the most optimal solution
for both parties
● It is OK to not reach agreement

9. Practice Radical Honesty
Radical honesty
!=
being a tactless jerk

10. Behaving Diplomatically
…is not the fine art
of being disingenuous.

11. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnygoldstein/4564003386/

12. http://www.flickr.com/photos/63158617@N07/7388188784/
Focusing on outcomes instead of goals
precludes finding more optimal results

13. Do you want
to be right?
~ or ~
Do you want
to win?

14. Ways to Win
Using Objective Criteria to Reach Agreement
● “Health and safety standard requirements
require that we build in at least two drains ....”
● “The Kelly Blue Book listed value for this car is
10000 USD less than the price quoted ....”
● “We may be too close to this topic to effectively
understand each other’s point of view. A
mediator would be helpful ....”

15. Your Project: Creating Ways to Win
Objective Criteria for Software
● Conforms to style guide
● Passes unit tests
● Provides full test coverage
● Modding up feature requests / bugs in the issue
queue

16. Effective Communication
Builds Relationships
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83665349@N00/5260961635/

17. Having conversations with
your friends is easy
See http://hawthornlandings.org/2011/08/02/negotiation-avoiding-the-vale-of-suck-starts-with-you/

18. When You Cannot Reach Agreement
a.k.a. The Power of a Positive No
BATNA:
Best Alternative to No
Agreement
● What compromise
can be effective for
both parties?
● How can the
relationship be
preserved?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maureendidde/4898190424/

19. Solicit Commitment
● State explicitly
planned next steps
● Ensure both parties
understand what is
expected of them
● Call people on it –
gently – when they
don’t follow through.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/toolstop/4546008967/

20. http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/8043812614/
Practice
Radical
Empathy

21. How To:
Communicating Successfully
● Listen to Other’s Viewpoints
● Mirror / Paraphrase Their View
● Acknowledge Their Interests
● Affirm Their Goals
● Create Agreement or BATNA

22. The Only
Secret
You Need

23. The secret to being an
effective community leader is
genuinely caring about the health
and well being of your project,
your community members, and
your fellow human beings.

24. …even especially when they
annoy the crap out of you.

25. Thank you!
Questions?
Leslie Hawthorn — @lhawthorn
hawthornlandings.org

26. Resources
● Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture:
http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/
● David Eaves’ Blog:
http://eaves.ca/
● The Center for Non-Violent Communication:
http://www.cnvc.org/
● The Harvard Negotation Project:
http://www.pon.harvard.edu/category/resear
ch_projects/harvard-negotiation-project/

27. The Legal Bits
All images in this presentation are copyright their
individual owners and are used under a Creative
Commons license or considered fair use.
This presentation is licensed CC-BY SA-3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Please use, remix and share widely!