communicating transparently around challenges

“Communication isn’t just about communicating around the good things, the shiny things. Right. It’s also communicating transparently around challenges. So challenging things can be saying to someone clearly and transparently and empathetically: this isn’t happening now and that’s important. You can’t leave people hanging, also around security issues, which hopefully none of us ever have, but you know, we do and thank God we haven’t had anything major for quite a while actually.

But when we have had… I actually got involved around the communication side of things. I felt like we could do better, and creating processes around how we own the issue, say we are aware and that we’re on it and we’re fixing it, and then how did we fix it and why did it happen. And all of that stuff needs to be communicated, like brutally, transparently. Everyone has issues. So like what the question is, do we sweep it under the carpet or do we own it? And so owning it in the long run, rather than trying to hide it, is a much better strategy. It’s better for everyone. It’s more straightforward, it’s more transparent, it’s more in the spirit of open source. And I know it’s hard, but in general it’s worth doing.”

— Miriam Schwab, Open Channels FM Episode 667