At 10:46 AM 7/11/2009, Siddhesh Poyarekar wrote:
On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 4:22 AM, Mani Aa.mani.cms@gmail.com wrote:
I do not think the strategy is sufficiently perfect. Such people should be made to write complete developer-level documentation under a mentor preferably as well (in the FOSS project). Language skills cannot be handled properly in a FOSS development environment without special mentoring.
... And as for language skills -- if you're talking about the mere ability to speak in English or write perfect grammar then no, FOSS is not the place to learn that. In fact I haven't seen to many grammar pedants in the FOSS programming scenario -- you have to be if you're contributing to documentation though :)
...
Siddhesh, please see the original post. The objective of improving communication skills is so that one can understand and convey specs etc. If a person is skilled enough that he can convey ideas in imperfect english mixed with mumbaiya lingo ('kya baap, khali pili pointer ko null pe set karta hai. Runtime pe lafda ho jayenga.'), that is fine, as long as the person on the receiving end understands it. If you're working in a team, the team members must understand this too :P
Of course, once we are past that stage, we'll understand that the best way to communicate is the most concise and precise way, so that most of the people reading it get the message. And that's where grammar comes in.
The big point is that lack of communication skills is one of the big obstacles because of which deserving people do not achieve their potential. People must have enough communication skills to be effective in their work. Mentoring, as Mani points out could be an effective way of improving communication skills, but responsibility also lies with the mentee. I'm reminded of this old joke:
Q: How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? A: Just one, but the bulb has to want to change.