To establish the full extent of the range opinions here: Personally I think=
 the VDG has been working very well lately, and I want to thank its members=
 for being some of the most hard-working and motivated contributors to Plas=
ma today=2E They've made my work better many times=2E

I also disagree that this has lead to sacrificing "product work at the alt=
ar of usability"=2E Rather I believe the past 2-3 releases have finally bro=
ught us back to a strong focus precisely on product work, thanks in no smal=
l part to initiatives driven by the VDG communication hub=2E I think we've =
found a nice rhythm of the VDG generating actionable work items for code co=
ntributors to jump on and implement, and especially in the course of the Sy=
stem Settings work, the forth-and-back style of iterating together has lead=
 to dramatically better results every time=2E The results are visible in ou=
r release announcements=2E

I believe the solution to any remaining woes lies in engagement, not in th=
rowing hands up in the air and complaining=2E It's normal for coding and de=
sign teams to have some push-and-pull between them, that's how they complem=
ent and course-correct each other=2E It's also worth keeping in mind how fr=
ustrating it must be for design contributors if code contributors let them =
constantly feel that they are the final arbiters and gate-keepers, and reso=
rt to arguments from authority constantly=2E This is not what "common owner=
ship" in the Manifesto is about=2E I urge code contributors to be aware of =
this harmful messaging, which sets us back on our quest to grow our talent =
mix, which has been paying dividends=2E This goes doubly so for maintainers=
, whose primary function is to enable the work of other - any - contributor=
s=2E Let's keep in mind onboarding is one of our chosen community goals=2E

Finally, I want to say that I think it's not in good form to have started =
this discussion in this thread=2E Putting an entire set of contributors on =
trial under the mantle of someone's disgruntled exit announcement, biasing =
the burden of proof from the get-go? What are we doing here?


Cheers,
Eike
--=20
Plasma, apps developer
KDE e=2EV=2E vice president, treasurer
Seoul, South Korea