Driving grass roots innovation at a large company is never easy. This is particularly true when the company is unfamiliar with the customer segment This presentation takes you through the history of Project Sputnik, a skunkworks effort to create a community-driven Linux laptop. In this talk you will learn how the effort succeeded by involving the developer community, maintaining transparency and contributing back. The presentation concludes with the 5 key lessons learned that are critical to driving underfunded and out-of-process innovation

1. Project Sputnik and the
Five Lessons Learned
Leveraging the power of the community to drive Innovation
(at a large company)
All Things Open
Barton George
October 17, 2023

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Why should they care?
Photo source: marissa anderson http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
@barton808
How can we make Dell relevant to developers?

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+
A great idea
@barton808
(but…we’d never get support for a “niche” effort )

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Serendipity strikes!
Dell Innovation Fund!

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But…
• I don’t know how laptops are made
• I don’t know how to build a business case
• I’m not a developer…
@barton808
There’s no way I can pull this off

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• High end developer system
• Change perceptions
• Guiding principles
• Involve the community
• Be transparent
• Contribute back
Photo source: Mickey Thurman http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
The Pitch*
*The presentation contained
• No revenue projections
• No cost estimates
• No timeline
@barton808

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$100,000
($40,000)
+
Let’s see if it will fly
@barton808

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(all part-time)
Step 1: form a team
@barton808
Month one

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Step 2: make sure we don’t look stupid
Photo source (map): Giles Clark; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
@barton808
Month one

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Going Public
1. Rough plan
2. Rough image
3. Request
Photo source: Takumi Tsutayak; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
@barton808
The project is exploratory and the touchpad’s a mess

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Going public – using a non-Dell property
~15,000
~9,000
~6,000
Unique visitors to bartongeorge.io
Photo source: Takumi Tsutayak; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
@barton808
bartongeorge.io -- average unique visitors, May 1– May 6 = 60

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~15,000
~9,000
~6,000
Unique visitors to bartongeorge.io
Photo source: Takumi Tsutayak; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
@barton808
bartongeorge.io -- average unique visitors, May 7– May 9 = 10,000
Going public – using a non-Dell property

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Going public
How the plan was received
@barton808
• Hacker News: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
• The Register: Dell puts Sputnik open-source laptop on launch pad
• WSJ: Dude, Dell’s Building an Open Source Laptop
• USA Today: Social media is reinventing how business is done – USATODAY.com
• Forbes: Can Dell’s Open Source XPS Ultrabook Steal Apple’s Thunder?

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Going public
Input from the community, what they expected
1. Don’t make it more expensive than Windows
2. Make it work with the vanilla image
3. At least 8GB of RAM
4. No Windows Preinstalled
5. ProSupport
@barton808
Two months later…

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300?
@barton808
Next step, a beta program
Maybe a few hundred will be interested

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300?
6,000
@barton808
Four months later…
Wow! Management gives the thumbs up
Next step, a beta program

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(slideware to launch = 9 months)
Lift off
@barton808
Four months later

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It just works:
Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition Linux Ultrabook review
“Dell's substantial investment in making a functional
Linux Ultrabook pays off..”
-- Lee Hutchinson
Dell's Sputnik - Git what you want
“Dell is on the right track with their profile thinking. To me, this
could be a game-changer in the computer
manufacturer race."
-- Mike Hendrickson
The Dell XPS 13 Developers Edition With Ubuntu
"Excellent Ubuntu performance out of the box…
Using the laptop was a dream."
-- John Biggs
Dude, Dell’s Building an Open Source Laptop
“The opportunity to skip the customization process should be of
interest to CIOs, because it will help them
eliminate costs and speed up the development process.
-- Clint Boulton
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/it-just-works-dell-xps-13-developer-edition-linux-ultrabook-review/
https://techcrunch.com/2013/05/20/laptop-week-review-the-dell-xps-13-developers-edition-with-ubuntu/
https://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2012/05/08/dude-dells-building-an-open-source-laptop/
http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/07/dells-sputnik-git-what-you-want.html
How the system was received
@barton808

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How the system was received
@barton808

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Stayin’ alive

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MVP* for
Executive update
*Minimum Viable Presentation
We were able to stay process light in key areas
@barton808

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and leverage the process in others
@barton808

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and slept with one eye open
"Bullseye" by seantoyer is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
@barton808

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The community

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Listening to the community
OK, I didn’t see that coming.
Dell building a better Macbook Pro than Apple
@barton808

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Giving back
Linux kernel
Tux attribution: gg3po, Iwan Gabovitch, GPL , via Wikimedia Commons
1)
Distro A
Distro B
Distro C
@barton808
2)

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327K views
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvsgTJbIWNo
Community love
@barton808

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Community feedback
@barton808

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Community feedback
@barton808

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From one system and one config…
12th generation
@barton808

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Things were weren’t
expecting

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$40,000
Photo source (jar): Pictures of Money; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
While it wasn’t our goal
@barton808

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$40,000
$10s of millions
Photo source (briefcase): thethreesisters; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
While it wasn’t our goal
@barton808 Photo source (jar): Pictures of Money; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

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We are not worthy!
https://www.zdnet.com/article/look-whats-inside-linus-torvalds-latest-linux-development-pc/
@barton808

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Recognition from the top
Article source: https://opensourcewatch.beehiiv.com/p/10-years-dell-xps13-developer-laptops
“The epicenter of focus inside many Dell Tech
customers is changing from infrastructure to developers
but making our products and services developer-
friendly is not a new priority for us”
– Michael Dell, Feb 15, 2023
10+ years of Dell XPS 13 developer laptops
@barton808

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Our Learnings

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Image: MIKHAIL GRACHYEV / POOL / AFP
But first
@barton808
Why “Sputnik?”

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Our learnings
1. You’re good enough…
No one knows it all, build a great team and take the leap
@barton808

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2. Get a champion (be a champion)
While you need someone high up to go to bat for you, you must be ever vigilant
Our learnings
@barton808

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Our learnings
3. Execute
It doesn’t matter whose idea it is, great idea – execution = 0
@barton808

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Our learnings
4. Smart small
Don’t overpromise | Stay focused | Err on the side of caution
@barton808

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Our learnings
5. Constantly communicate (directly and with empathy)
Be candid, speak with respect | Own it when you screw up
@barton808

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• developer.dell.com
• dell.com/devblogs
• Twitter: @barton808
Thank you

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Internal Use - Confidential
Project Sputnik timeline – the first two years
• March 15, 2012 Approved by Dell incubation team
• Apr 6-10 Feedback from select alpha developers
• April 16-20 Customer visits to get feedback
• May 7 Project announced; IdeaStorm kicked off
• July 2 Beta program announced (6K+ applicants)
• July 17 Announced: Project to become product in fall
• Aug 23 Beta program kicks off
• Nov 29 Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition launched in US/Canada
• Feb 18, 2013 FHD version, EMEA launch offline
• Feb 28 EMEA online availability
• Nov 15 3rd gen available in US/Canada; documentation to run on M3800
• Dec 20 3rd gen available in EMEA
Public pilot
Concept
Launch