Thanks

Anne-Marie

Also doubly important to follow those rules in terms of what is recorded in the bug tracking system. VITAL there to stick to the facts, don’t get emotional etc.

The other thing to consider is cultural dfferences, which can sometimes come into play. This can range from differences in what is considered ‘comfortable’ personal space, to machismo and bravado on the order of two ‘alpha’ animals taking each other’s measure.

I’ve run into a few cases where (and I truely think this was cultural) the person in question would ‘bully’ all around them as long as those people allowed it to happen. It literally took standing up to the person to gain their respect and then their attitude changed 180 degrees. (it was weird)

There have been a few (thankfully isolated) cases where I had to walk into the person’s office, close the door, and say ‘do you have a problem with me personally?’ to ‘clear the air’ as it were get them to actually see how their behavior looked from my perspective. In that case, it turned out they were not mad at me, but at the situation (which traced back to a bad spec).

Ultimately I think rules 1 and 5 can be the most important when it comes to defusing the ‘test vs dev’ adversarial relationships that exist in some bad company cultures. The enemy is the bugs, not each other. The goal is the best possible software for the customer.

The other rule I would add is to resolve conflicts like this face to face. It’s easy to misunderstand what someone is saying or take things wrong when it’s a comment on a bug report, and something in email. The thing you think is a slight may have just been sarcasm that didn’t come across right without tone of voice. It’s also faster to talk than type, so when in doubt, walk down to the other person’s office or desk, or call them on the phone instead of continuing a misunderstanding in a textual medium such as e-mail.

Able