Conflict sucks! The FOSS community is full of passionate people with many, many differing ideas on how to achieve our shared goals. Disagreements seem inevitable, but what if they could be handled rationally, in a way that left everyone feeling at least OK about the outcome? It's possible. You can learn to cut to the heart of the disagreement, mediate and move forward.

1. Handle Conflict, Like a Boss!
Abstractions, August 19th, 2016
Deb Nicholson
@baconandcoconut

3. Why conflict happens and needs to be handled
Identify the obvious and less obvious causes
Resolution strategies for individuals & groups

4. It's natural

5. Conflict Happens and
it Needs to be Handled

6. Mismatched goals

10. Try to understand the other
person

11. Passion

12. Identity

13. Go deep

14. Could we just... not?

15. Conflict lovers

17. Weigh your investment

18. “There are many FOSS projects,
but only one me.” - @sarahsharp

20. Identify the obvious
and less obvious causes

21. Three styles of
handling conflict

22. Avoidance

23. Accommodation

24. Assertion

28. Find out what you can about
the history

30. “What's the worst
that could happen?”

32. Ask about the
other person's motivations

33. Missed connections

34. What do you do with
all this information?

35. Help everyone get perspective

37. Find alignment

38. A word about who
is doing this work

39. ...and what work we value

40. Planning for
Future Conflicts

41. Assuming the best

42. Set expectations

44. No ad hominem

45. Conflict Resolution
Amongst Groups

46. Set an example

48. Face-to-Face

49. Conflict happens
Build a shared perspective
Set great expectations!

51. Picture Credits
CC.BY: Untitled by Jarek Zok, Texture Green No.40 by Elne, Lucy! by Cristina Bejarano,
Hello Ilene by John Fischer, Dog sitting in the 1952 Chevrolet Bel-Air by GPS_56,
Painted Turtle By David Shane, super by istolethetv, parrot by swallowswan, Mime in
Guanajuato Mexico by Scott Clark, Green Light by Erich Ferdinand, Splash by
downing.amanda, Unruly Females by USFWS Mountain Prairie, Funny Sign by Mikey,
countryfield by Edward Musiak
CC.BY.SA: City post-its: Wall by Sarah Joy, Orange by Christian Heindel, Two Roads
Diverged in a Wood by Aia Fernandez, funnysigns, march 2015 by bertknot, Car Wash!
by Ben+Sam, Rattlesnake by Richard Fraley, Battle of Borodino by 3off, Red shoes by
Solarisgirl, Green Light GO! by Kolin Toney
Fair Use: Kate Bush event from theargus.com, The More You Know meme, Thing on a
Rollerskate from The Addams Family
Public Domain: green way to..? by anika, Kudzu on trees in Atlanta, GA from Wikipedia
by Scott Ehardt
Font: Isserely, SIL Open Font License

52. The True Story of Kudzu,
the Vine That Never Truly Ate the South
by Bill Finch, Smithsonian Magazine, September 2015

53. Questions?
deb@openinventionnetwork.com
@baconandcoconut