2. What I’ll be covering in this session
1. What is leadership in an OSS project?
2. Leadership attributes, character and styles
3. Mentoring
4. Leadership communications
3. 1. What is leadership in OSS?
Leadership is really just
common sense. Which is
why its so difficult.
4. John Quincy Adams
If your actions
inspire others to
dream more, learn
more, do more and
become more, you
are a leader
5. What is leadership?
• Leadership is a characteristic that can be
demonstrated in any role, in any function, and
at any time
• Leadership is about the tone of our behaviour,
not a set of rules to be followed
• Leadership is not about doing everything
yourself
6. Management is not leadership?
Managers Leaders
Follow Rules Follow Instincts
Focus on getting things
done
Focus on getting the right
things done
Side with safety Side with risk
Focus on delivering today Focus on articulating
tomorrow
Mark Anderson: The Leadership Book
7. Does OSS need leadership?
“… what is leadership in open source communities?
It's accountability. It's shouldering the responsibility
for making sure work gets done. Largely that
means making sure that those who want to do
work can do it - that there are no roadblocks for
those doing the work. It may also mean doing the
work yourself if no one else steps up. Sadly, many
people don't realize this and work towards attaining
leadership roles ... This almost always fails in a
community ... In short, if there's a change you
want made, and you aren't participating in
making it happen, then you aren't doing it
the open source way.” - David Nalley
8. Cooperation vs. Collaboration
The genius of open source has
been to break projects into
chunks where people can go
and work in isolation.
Then bring it back and fold it
into the project.
This is what makes projects
efficient.
Always be thinking about how
you can make problems into
co-operative problems,
rather than collaborative
problems.
David Eaves
9. Management in cooperative work is
through leadership
- communicate the vision, tone and norms
- ensure appropriate division of work to
prevent deadlocks and stalling
- minimize overlaps that can cause conflict
- facilitate communication over shared
concerns and overlaps
- shepherd occasional larger-scale strategic
refactoring
10. In summary…
OSS projects are social capital:
leadership is about growing and
directing that social capital
13. Standard Bearers
Establish the ethical framework of an organisation
Set the tone of work by their demeanor
Set the norms of work through their behaviour
16. ACTIVITY
Think about one OSS leader who you've
worked with in the past. How much did
they act as standard bearer, developer
(of people) and integrator?
Did they pay too much attention to one and
ignore the others, or did they balance out
these attributes?
18. Leadership Character Traits
Demeanor
Visibility
Messaging
Communicating direction
Approachability
Listening
Fairness
Performance mgt
Personal development
Open to innovation
Respecting diversity
Principles
Honesty
Respect
Fairness
Clarity
Openness
Collegiality
Decisiveness
Humility
(Respect for) Diversity
Bravery
Mark Anderson: The Leadership Book
20. OK, so..?
Don’t be too concerned with the lists..!
Take a process approach: appraise your
strengths and weaknesses, and devise
strategies to address what you see as problem
areas
To be a better leader, you need to take your
own personal development seriously
21. Questionnaires and self-
tests can bring useful
insights, even when they
are complete nonsense
Self-analysis
To develop leadership character you should be
reflective and self-aware
22. ACTIVITY
Reflective thinking is important for leaders - you need to calibrate and
take an outside view of your leadership behaviour and demeanour.
Ask yourself:
Am I fair?
Do I listen to others?
Do I take responsibility?
Do I care about other people?
Am I honest?
Am I willing to debate?
Do my colleagues trust me?
Where do I excel as a leader?
What are my weaknesses - where do I know I could do better?
23. Common mistakes by leaders
Lack of contact
Inconsistency in messaging
Unfairness in decision making
Taking feedback badly
24. How to Receive Feedback
Leaders need to analyse feedback rather
than just react to it
avoid temptation to be defensive, or
dismissive
avoid dwelling on negative feedback
thank people for feedback - even negative.
show you are listening - don't just respond
automatically, but demonstrate that you
take feedback seriously and are thinking it
through
29. Why should I be a mentor?
Mentoring is a key part of leadership
Leaders are often the beneficiaries of mentoring
Leaders pass on their expertise and develop
their community through mentoring
Leaders support their own self-development by
mentoring others
30. Mentoring vs. Coaching
Mentoring is an indefinite, relationship based activity with several specific
but wide ranging goals…over an extended time period. The agenda is open
and continues to evolve... seeks to build wisdom – the ability to apply skills,
knowledge and experience to new situations and processes
Coaching involves ... meeting very specific objectives within a set period of
time … mainly concerned with performance and the development of certain
skills… there is usually a planned programme with a much shorter timeframe
than in mentoring, so the learning goals are usually determined in advance.
(However, often used interchangeably, e.g. GSoC is
probably “coaching” rather than “mentoring” according
to this definition)
CIMA: Mentoring and Coaching Topic Guide
31. What is mentoring for?
Developing knowledge
working with mentees to build their skills and knowledge,
either of the domain, or project-specific knowledge
Developing attitudes
working with mentees to develop their demeanor as a
community member
Reinforcing norms
working with mentees to encourage specific behaviours
Building commitment
encouraging deeper participation in the community
32. Key considerations for mentoring
Frequency of contact
realistically, how much time can you spend?
when do you want to be available?
Method of contact
f2f, skype, email…
Duration of partnership
do you want to set a limit? Or continue as long as you’re
both happy to?
33. Key considerations for mentoring
Confidentiality
Consider how you will handle confidential
communications; for example you may need to discuss
difficult situations in the community with mentees
Setting expectations
Be clear about what you are offering, particularly time
and contact commitments
35. Giving feedback
Giving feedback is a crucial part of mentoring
Feedback should be frequent and timely
Be as specific and relevant as possible
I.e. “your method names should be more self-
explanatory and have comments to help other
developers” not “your code is sloppy”
Always acknowledge achievements and progress
Keep it simple and concise
36. Getting started
Nurturing early contributors
can start at any time, just identify a new
contributor, and offer to work with them
Mentoring in formal programmes
join an established programme, or start one up
for your project. Established programmes have
a support network and processes
37. Mentoring programmes
Google Summer of Code
https://developers.google.com/open-source/soc/
VALS Semester of Code
http://semesterofcode.com/
Outreach Programme for Women
https://live.gnome.org/OutreachProgramForWomen
40. ACTIVITY
Reflect on your communications
with your project - can you identify
an example where you have used
one of the communication actions
we've listed?
42. Resources
• Mark Anderson, The Leadership Book (Financial Times Series)
• David Nalley, Leadership in Open Source Communities
http://opensource.com/business/11/2/leadership-open-source-
communities
• David Eaves, Wiki's and Open Source: Collaborative
or Cooperative? http://eaves.ca/2007/02/05/wikis-and-open-
source-collaborative-or-cooperative/