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SIG Observability: Accusations during OpenTelemetry Incubation Recommendations

Bartłomiej Płotka
 

Dear Liz,


I am cc-ing TOC, SIG Observability, Alolita, Constance, Priyanka, Richi and Chris for transparency.


During the last SIG Observability call on 2021-03-16, when I was recommending against the OpenTelemetry incubation, it was stated that I had “conflict of interest”, “bias”, “subjective opinion” and “rude behavior”.

I take those things very seriously. I am afraid that this accusation not only impacts me personally and professionally. Such accusation potentially silences any diverse, opposite opinions in the SIG Observability community. I already saw this during the calls with OpenTelemetry when many SIG members did not have enough safety to speak up and were contacting me privately to agree instead.

To be clear, I am not offended. I just want to find a positive resolution and finish my work. At this point, I don’t know how and I’m asking for help. I would like to ask for an outside review of all my actions, documents and calls as the Tech Lead SIG Observability, doing Due Diligence for the OpenTelemetry. My honest belief is that I performed the assessment thoroughly and objectively to my best ability. I looked at all aspects of OpenTelemetry in the context of the CNCF Principles and Incubation requirements. I did an investigation and interviewed developers and users and listened to the advantages of OpenTelemetry.


These accusations should be proven or disproven. I would love to improve my work if I did it wrong. I would love the feedback.


We can discuss my assessment on the technical level, but last SIG Observability calls were less about the technical aspect, more about attempts to adjust Tech Lead opinion, make it sound softer, mask it (e.g put it out of the DD document), or even disregard completely from the TOC eyes due to accusations. I am not a decision-maker, I would be happy with any decision CNCF will make in the end. I only want my assessment to be registered as I take my duties as the Tech Lead seriously.


Relevant SIG Observability calls:


Relevant documents: 


I would greatly appreciate your feedback.


Kind Regards,

Bartek Plotka, SIG Observability Tech Lead
Chris Aniszczyk
 

Hey all, thanks for the candid email here, I know that it can be a challenge as we don't timebox due diligence periods and that sometimes it can be hard to give and take feedback, especially as projects have expectations on how fast things can move (along with a mix of different technical opinions).

As the due diligence is just about complete, I'd like to get us to a resolution by inviting everyone involved in the DD + on the OTel side to a private TOC meeting next week. I do want to remind everyone that the decision always rests with the TOC on a project moving maturity levels with expert opinion from relevant SIGs. I also want to remind folks that we have a code of conduct and set of principles we expect everyone to abide by, outside of the expectation of being kind.

+Amye Scavarda Perrin will coordinate schedules with everyone on this thread and invite you to the meeting next week.


On Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 9:12 AM Bartłomiej Płotka <bwplotka@...> wrote:

Dear Liz,


I am cc-ing TOC, SIG Observability, Alolita, Constance, Priyanka, Richi and Chris for transparency.


During the last SIG Observability call on 2021-03-16, when I was recommending against the OpenTelemetry incubation, it was stated that I had “conflict of interest”, “bias”, “subjective opinion” and “rude behavior”.

I take those things very seriously. I am afraid that this accusation not only impacts me personally and professionally. Such accusation potentially silences any diverse, opposite opinions in the SIG Observability community. I already saw this during the calls with OpenTelemetry when many SIG members did not have enough safety to speak up and were contacting me privately to agree instead.

To be clear, I am not offended. I just want to find a positive resolution and finish my work. At this point, I don’t know how and I’m asking for help. I would like to ask for an outside review of all my actions, documents and calls as the Tech Lead SIG Observability, doing Due Diligence for the OpenTelemetry. My honest belief is that I performed the assessment thoroughly and objectively to my best ability. I looked at all aspects of OpenTelemetry in the context of the CNCF Principles and Incubation requirements. I did an investigation and interviewed developers and users and listened to the advantages of OpenTelemetry.


These accusations should be proven or disproven. I would love to improve my work if I did it wrong. I would love the feedback.


We can discuss my assessment on the technical level, but last SIG Observability calls were less about the technical aspect, more about attempts to adjust Tech Lead opinion, make it sound softer, mask it (e.g put it out of the DD document), or even disregard completely from the TOC eyes due to accusations. I am not a decision-maker, I would be happy with any decision CNCF will make in the end. I only want my assessment to be registered as I take my duties as the Tech Lead seriously.


Relevant SIG Observability calls:


Relevant documents: 


I would greatly appreciate your feedback.


Kind Regards,

Bartek Plotka, SIG Observability Tech Lead




--
Chris Aniszczyk (@cra)

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