Glenn,
In addition to Bruce's good advice for working with people, I'll add
+ Understand that people may have different goals than you, and that
their goals may be just as valid as what you have on your agenda.
This is part of why it's good to participate in a group for a long time
before trying barge in with suggestions which you *know* must be better
than what we've spent years working on. You may come to understand that
in fact this is a very tightly constrained problem, where issues like
backwards compatibility, compatibility with other Unix systems,
technical requirements of system administrators, and aesthetic
cleanliness of the design all compete to come to a compromise solution.
Flip suggestions like "Let's break it :)" betray a lack of understanding
of the many concerns that drive this process. It says, "I don't think
your concerns are important" and that's not a way to win friends and
influence people.
- Ted
