How to Develop in the Open
Ross Gardler
OSS Watch Service Manager
info@oss-watch.ac.uk
http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk
http://www.slideshare.net/rgardler
Topic Tags: ossw_community
Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this presentation are © 2008 University of Oxford
and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 England & Wales licence.

About Ross Gardler
Open Source user since 1989
Open Source contributor since 1995
Income from open source since 2002
Member of the Apache Software
Foundation since 2001
Manager of OSS Watch since 2007

About OSS Watch
Open Source advisory service
Consultancy
Events
Strategic Projects
Content
Free to UK Higher and Further Education
www.oss-watch.ac.uk
info@oss-watch.ac.uk

Content
(approx. 35 mins + questions)
What is Open Development?
How to reach sustainability
The Social system
The Environment
The Economy
Reality

Open development is...
A way for distributed team members to
collaboratively develop a shared resource
in a managed and sustainable way.
Perfected in open source projects.

Key Attributes of
Open Development
User engagement
Transparency
Collaboration
Agility

What is sustainability?
The ongoing process of achieving
development or redevelopment that does
not undermine its physical or social
systems of support.
http://www.smarte.org/smarte/resource/sn-glossary.xml
The economy
The environment
The Social System

The Social System
Courtesy of Aristocrat http://www.flickr.com/photos/netphotography/2167896895/

Who are the community?
In order of importance:
Disengaged users who may become...
Engaged users who may become...
Contributors who may become...
Developers who may become...
Managers

\"The real value of open source
software is that it allows
communities to work together and
solve problems\"
- Irving W ladawsky-Berger,
H ead of IBM's e-business on demand initiative
http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail495.html

Action Points
Identify areas of common interest
Identify areas of expertise within and
beyond current project team
Operate in the open
show what you have to offer, and why
Welcome and acknowledge all input

“I think that innovation happens
when you encounter other people
and also when you step over some
boundary and you combine ideas
that haven't been combined
before.”
Marten Mickos, (Sold MySQL for $1B)

Action Points
Define the boundaries of your project
Allow others to explore beyond/through
those boundaries
Welcome active third parties
Different boundaries
Own resources

The $1b community
“You need a good user base
before you start getting
contributions.”
Marten Mickos, (Sold MySQL for $1B)

Action Points
Understand who your users are
End users of products?
Developers of related products?
Researchers?
Probably all of the above
Look after all users
they are tomorrows contributors

The Environment
Courtesy of amymyou http://www.flickr.com/photos/65806584@N00/518271146/

Join an Existing Community
Raise awareness of your own work
Attract users from connected communities
Learn from successful communities
Stay abreast of current thinking
Lose independence?

Build a New Community
Limited visibility – fewer users
Retain full independence
Do you really need it?
What will it bring you?
More recognition for initiators
Little opportunity to learn from others

Build a Sub-community
“Best” of both worlds
Benefit from experience of some
Maintain some independence
A sensible compromise?
Little fish in a big pond
Is there a suitable parent?

Action Points
Explore existing communities
Are they similar enough to you
Engage with existing communities
Are they responsive?
Are they accommodating?
Join or build?
Join and build?

4 Essential Community Tools
Web site
Archived mailing list
Issue tracker
Version control
That's it! No other essential tools
all others may cause fragmentation

4 Essential Processes
Decision making
Conflict Resolution
Meritocracy of contribution
Benevolent dictator
Transparency
Recognition & Reward

Action Points
Document an open governance model
Create your community environment
Four essential simple tools
Raise awareness
“Talk to yourself”
Welcome and mentor newcomers

The Economy
Courtesy of thefuturistics - http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefuturistics/2905639419/

Selfish Motivations?
“Those who contribute to us are as
selfish as anybody else. There's
rarely any charitable aspect of
this.”
Marten Mickos, (Sold MySQL for $1B)

Facilitate Exchange
Give as much as you can
Take as much as you can
Give everything
Expect nothing
Do it all in the open

Barter and Monetisation
Barter is a form of monetisation
User feedback (market research)
Evangelism (marketing)
Code (product development)
Most people won't or can't offer anything
These people will pay for support
Accept payment in kind or in cash

Action Points
Identify what you can give
Identify what you need
Acknowledge that exchange is for mutual
benefit
selfishness is allowed even encouraged
Be transparent
Adhere to your open governance model

Managing Forks
“Forking” is the splitting of the project and
community into two
Forks are usually damaging
Whole is no longer greater than the sum of
its parts
Sometimes forks are necessary
Threat of fork keeps community “true”

Action Points
Maintain transparency at all times
No “closed doors” decisions
Prevent “Chinese whispers”
Represent the community as a whole
All members are individuals
Focussed on common objectives
Facilitate out of scope “linking”

Courtesty of Perrenque http://www.flickr.com/photos/perrenque/2945816430/

Be Realistic, Be Sensible
Building an open development project
takes time
“they” won't come flocking
you will talk to yourself in the early days
Start as you mean to go on
Lead by example, others will follow
Encourage everyone to help new users

Action Points
Get management buy-in
Community building has up-front costs
Report value of community engagement
e.g. what is a small contribution worth?
Keep the “lurking” community engaged
Communicate progress and issues

OSS Watch Strategic Projects
Open Development (community led)
Sustainability planning (from bid stage)
Community development effort
Project communities
Inter-project communities
We are community members

Thank you for listening,
For more information...
info@oss-watch.ac.uk
www.oss-watch.ac.uk
Ross Gardler
http://www.slideshare.net/rgardler
Image: Some Rights Reserved http://www.flickr.com/photos/ksaad/152579107/