2011 NASA Open Source Summit - Pascal Finette

Lessons from MozillaNASA Open Source SummitMarch 30th, Ames Research Center

Seven InsightsTwo Problems & Some Thoughts

Hello.

Caution: Your results may vary

SomeContext

Mozilla is…

FOX News thinks differently

PromoteChoice and Innovation on the Internet

Seriously.

That’s it.

The Web istoo important!

• Mozilla project started in 1998 within Netscape• Mozilla Foundation started in 2003• approximately 350 paid staff in 20 countries• 40% of code contributed by volunteers• Testing community of 60,000+• More than 400 million users• Global browser market share ~30%Factoids

Open Source

Wishful thinking

Reality

Hone your MacGuyver-Skills

Seven Insights

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Superior Products Matter

Withoutexcellent experience & utility, the rest is meaningless

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Push (most) Decision Making to the Edges

Build Dee Hock’s Chaords

1. Distributed Decision-Making2. Nodal Authority3. Ways to Route Around

1. high agreement on core values2. decision-making rests with module owners3. groups have distinct ways of working4. many decision-makers outside the “official” org5. communication is central Mozilla is a Chaord

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Communication will happen in every possible way * so make sure it’s reusable

People will communicate in every useful way possible

Twitter

Our main channels: Bugzilla, IRC & newsgroups

More: Video, Audio, Chat (and Robots)

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Make it easy for yourCommunity to do the Important Things

Firefox ships in 80 languages;79 of them localized by volunteers Making it easy is a huge priority

Our focus now (increasingly) is onmaking it easier to help others do more

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Surprise is overrated

Surprise is the ETISOPPOof Engagement

Grow the Circle of Participation

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Communities are not Markets: Members are Citizens

Citizens are more than consumers, are more than bystanders, are more than stakeholders

THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEMTHEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM – THEY ARE US – WE ARE THEM

The best citizens challenge thestatus quo, propose improvementsand make the conversation richer

They don’t just make products better.They make them what they are.

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The key is the art of figuringout whether & how to apply each of these ideas

1. Superior Products Matter2. Push (most) decision-making to the edges3. Communication will happen - make it reusable4. Make it easy to do the important things5. Surprise is overrated6. Communities are not Markets7. Figure out whether & how to apply these ideas

Two Problems

noisyEngaged citizens are #1

“Fitts’ says bigger “The URL bar should buttons are better.” be removed.” “What’s with the dirty house?” “There should be “My mom doesn’t a preference setting.” “Nobody uses the “Add support for understand tabs.” ‘Go’ button.” BitTorrent.” “OpenID is the future!” “Everyone uses tags, “That’s great!” not bookmarks.” “I love tabs!” “The proﬁle manager should be redesigned.” “Add support for Ogg Vorbis.” “That’s awful”“Closebuttons are better at the end of the tabstrip.”

Demanding

Contradictory

They help products, technology &organizations make hard decisionsin the right way.

NOThere are maps… #2

Actually… there are maps.They just aren’t yours.

Dragons

Key is to define what you care about,how to measure it and how tocommunicate a litmus tests.

…and some Thoughts

buildCommunity alongside your tool-chain

Planning Project Mgmt Dev & Build wiki.mozilla.org bugzilla.mozilla.org Tinderbox , etc QA Crash Stats Automationquality.mozilla.org crash-stats.mozilla.org Nightly / TestingFeedback …input.mozilla.org

matterTools

pfinette@ – @pfinette

http://paper.li	6
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http://www.blogger.com	1
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2011 NASA Open Source Summit - Pascal Finette

by NASA Open Government Initiative

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