The document discusses how companies can be good corporate citizens when contributing to the Kubernetes community. It emphasizes balancing the needs of individuals, companies, and the community. It provides tips for effective contribution strategies, such as aligning with business goals, focusing on specific areas, growing contributors organically, mentoring others, building relationships at events, and upholding the Kubernetes community values of being inclusive and focusing on evolution over stagnation.

1. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Be a Good
Corporate Citizen
in Kubernetes
Kubernetes Community Days UK 2022
Dr. Dawn M. Foster
Director of OSS Community Strategy
fosterd@vmware.com fastwonderblog.com
Open Source at VMware @vmwopensource
blogs.vmware.com/opensource

2. ©2022 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn 2
whoami
• Geek, traveler, reader
• 20+ yr tech career focused on
community & open source
(Intel, Puppet, Scale Factory, …)
• OpenUK Board, CHAOSS Board and
Maintainer, TODO Group Steering
• CNCF TAG Contrib Strategy co-chair
• PhD from the University of Greenwich
focused on Linux kernel collaboration
Photos by Mom, Josh Bancroft, Don Park

3. @geekygirldawn
©2020 VMware, Inc.
Steering Committee
SIG/WG* Leads
Subproject Leads
Approver / Reviewer
Org Member
3
Community of
Individuals
https://github.com/kubernetes/community
* Special Interest Group / Working Group
Image by CNCF CC BY-NC 2.0

4. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Employees contribute as
individuals, but
on their company’s behalf
4
Employers
Image by the CNCF CC BY-NC 2.0

5. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Community comes before company or individual needs
5
Community = People
Kubernetes CNCF CC BY 4.0

6. @geekygirldawn
©2020 VMware, Inc.
Your organization needs to
balance individual, company,
and community needs
6
Balancing the Triad
Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

7. ©2022 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash
Contribution Strategy and Plans

8. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Aligning with business goals
helps leadership understand
importance and impact
8
Strategy
Image by Larry Wentzel- CC BY 2.0

9. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn 9
Focus
https://github.com/kubernetes/community/blob/master/SIG-diagram.png

10. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Finding the right people:
grow vs. hire
10
Who do you need?

11. ©2022 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Image by Thomas Hawk CC BY-NC 2.0
Contributing to Kubernetes as a
Good Corporate Citizen

12. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Join,
lurk & learn, and
start small
12
Getting Started
in a SIG / WG
https://github.com/kubernetes/community
Image by Filip Maljković CC BY-SA

13. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Discuss changes
early and collaborate
with others
13
Work with the
Community
Image by the CNCF CC BY-NC 2.0

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Grow the next wave
of contributors
14
Sponsorship
and Mentoring
Image by the CNCF CC BY-NC 2.0

15. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
KubeCon, KCDs, and
Contributor Summits
are a great way
to build relationships
15
Relationships
Image by The Linux Foundation CC BY

16. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Distribution > Centralization
Inclusive > Exclusive
Evolution > Stagnation
Community > Company
16
Kubernetes Community Values
Image by the CNCF CC BY-NC 2.0
https://github.com/kubernetes/community/blob/master/values.md

17. ©2022 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Dr. Dawn M. Foster
fosterd@vmware.com
fastwonderblog.com
Open Source at VMware
blogs.vmware.com/opensource
@vmwopensource
17
Thank You!
Photo by Thangaraj Kumaravel - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0