Have you ever heard of Tiny Forests and wondered how they might help improve your work environment? In this presentation, attendees will learn about the Miyawaki method of afforestation and how healthy forests work. This talk is for anyone who wants to improve the environments in which they live and work, including their software development projects. The intent of the session is to use the creation of Tiny Forests as an analogy to creating healthy software projects and allow attendees to be insightful regarding their project and its culture, become more self-aware, and think about actions that can be taken to improve their ecosystems.

1. L I S T E N I N G T O A F O R E S T T O
I M P R O V E P R O J E C T H E A LT H
S H E L L E Y L A M B E R T
O C T O B E R 2 0 2 3

2. - S H E L L E Y L A M B E R T
“Open-source projects are like forests”

3. D I R E C T O R ,
F O R Ê T C A P I TA L E F O R E S T
C H I E F F O O D F O R E S T E R ,
N A N A B U S H F O O D F O R E S T S
S T E E R I N G C O M M I T T E E M E M B E R ,
B I R C H PAT H H E A L I N G F O R E S T
C O M M I T T E R R E P R E S E N TAT I V E ,
E C L I P S E F O U N D AT I O N B O A R D
P M C A N D S T E E R I N G C O M M I T T E E M E M B E R ,
E C L I P S E A D O P T I U M
C O M M I T T E R ,
E C L I P S E O P E N J 9
S E N I O R P R I N C I PA L S O F T WA R E E N G I N E E R ,
R E D H AT
G I V E M O R E T H A N Y O U TA K E

4. “ M Y H E A RT D A N C E S W H E N E V E R I S E E T H E D I F F E R E N T S C E N E R I E S O F
S P R O U T I N G I N S P R I N G , S U N L I G H T F I LT E R I N G T H R O U G H T R E E S I N
S U M M E R , R E D L E AV E S I N FA L L , A N D F L O W E R I N G T R E E S I N W I N T E R .
O V E R S E A S , I S AW A RT M A D E B Y N AT U R E , W H E T H E R I T WA S T H E
G I A N T S E Q U O I A I S AW I N C A L I F O R N I A , T H E B E E C H F O R E S T S O F
G E R M A N Y, O R T H E N AT U R A L G R A S S L A N D S O F R U S S I A , A N D I F E LT
T H E E M O T I O N A N D H O P E O F WA N T I N G T O P L AY A PA RT I N I T
M Y S E L F.
P E O P L E A R E S T U P I D L I V I N G T H I N G S T H AT H AV E S O FA R D E S T R O Y E D
N AT U R A L F O R E S T S S O M A N Y T I M E S , T O A N E X T E N T T H AT W E
C A N N O T C O U N T A N Y M O R E , B U T T H E Y A R E T H E O N LY O R G A N I S M S O N
E A RT H T H AT A R E A B L E T O C O N C E N T R AT E T H E S U M O F H U M A N
K N O W L E D G E T H AT T H E Y H AV E H E R E R I G H T N O W A N D C R E AT E
N AT U R A L F O R E S T S A R O U N D T H E W O R L D AT A S P E E D T H AT W O U L D B E
U N I M A G I N A B L E F O R M O T H E R E A RT H . H U M A N S A R E T H E L A S T A N D
T H E G R E AT E S T H O P E O N E A RT H . ”
D R . A K I R A M I YA WA K I

5. Build communities in an accelerated way

6. Disconnected individuals, unable to exchange water, nutrients, info

7. Connected individuals coming together in biodiverse community

8. A healthy community is attractive and supportive

9. Disconnected individuals, monoculture
AI generated, argh!!

10. Connected individuals coming together in diverse community

11. A healthy community is attractive and supportive

13. H O W - T O B U I L D A
H E A LT H Y C O M M U N I T Y
M I YA WA K I M E T H O D
• Investigate healthy community
examples, species/roles selection
• Investigate & prepare soil
• Planting plan | Planning
• Planting day | Implementation
• Maintenance

14. L O O K AT Y O U R
E C O S Y S T E M
I N V E S T I G AT E H E A LT H Y
C O M M U N I T I E S

15. Boreal Forest Layers & Species
• Canopy & sub canopy
• Red oak, American beech, Red
maple, Basswood, Ironwood,
Eastern White Pine, …
• Understory & forest floor
• Beaked Hazelnut, New Jersey
Tea, Canada Plum,…
Roles & People in Open-source
project
• Software & QA Developers
• Lan, Hendrik, Renfei, Sophia,
Mesbah, Longyu,Tayebwa, Kapil, …
• Project & program managers, Docs,
Foundation services…
• Carmen, Jie, Sharon, , …

16. C R E AT E A S T R O N G
F O U N D AT I O N
I N V E S T I G AT E A N D P R E PA R E T H E S O I L

17. C R E AT E A R I C H E N V I R O N M E N T
T E S T A N D A M E N D A S N E E D E D

18. Healthy soil
https://boden.lemken.com/en/soil/soil-skin-of-earth/
*Professor Suzanne Simard / UBC, TEDTalk

19. Healthy Foundation
Eclipse Foundation
Thanks Mike!

20. - R U M I
“Every forest branch moves differently in the breeze, but as they sway
they connect at the roots.”

22. P L A N N I N G
P L A N T I N G P L A N

23. P L A N N I N G
P R O G R A M P L A N

24. I M P L E M E N TAT I O N
P L A N T I N G D AY

25. C O M M U N I C AT I N G T H E P L A N E F F E C T I V E LY
E N C O U R A G I N G C O M M U N I T Y M E M B E R S
D E M O N S T R AT I N G B E S T P R A C T I C E S
T E A C H & L E A R N

26. S Q U A R E B Y
S Q U A R E
• Plant 3-5 native species per square
metre representing different layers of
the forest
• Water & application of mycorrhizal
inoculant
• Mulch heavily

27. C O L L A B O R AT I O N , C O M P E T I T I O N & I N N O VAT I O N
D E L I V E R I N G O N A P L A N A N D
C R E AT I N G A N E N V I R O N M E N T F O R

28. M A I N T E N A N C E
• Weeding
• Watering
• Protection
• Social Benefits
• Education
• Addressing technical
debt
• Thanking contributors
& consumers
• Bolstering project
security
• Outreach
• Education

31. W H AT I S A
H E A LT H Y F O R E S T ?
• Diverse, multi-layer plant community
• Metrics
• Tree health / growth / regeneration
• Biodiversity (above ground | in soil)
• Soil Quality
• Survival rate
• Ease of maintenance
• Environmental function (temperature, noise, etc)
• Social uses
• Resiliency (wind, ice, invasive events)
M U LT I - Y E A R B I O D I V E R S I T Y S T U D Y

32. W H AT I S A
H E A LT H Y P R O J E C T ?
• Diverse, multi-contributor, open, transparent software
project
• Metrics:
• Goals/Roadmap achieved
• Contribution activity & diversity
• Product quality (support issues)
• Target consumers usage & satisfaction
• Release process maturity & security
• Onboarding new contributors, retention
• Relationships built
• Innovation spawned
• Adaptable, resilient to market or ecosystem changes

33. S U C C E S S L O O K S L I K E
• Healthier communities
• High quality outputs
• Member satisfaction
• Achieve goals more efficiently / Fast growth
• Adaptable & resilient
• Utilize the power of community / Higher
engagement
• Consumer Satisfaction
• Healthy competition

34. R E V I E W T H E
M E T H O D
• Building the tiniest Tiny
Forest using the Miyawaki
method (20x speed)
Field investigation
Soil tests Soil prep Planting Plan Planting Day Maintenance

35. G I V E M O R E T H A N Y O U TA K E
S P E N D T I M E I N F O R E S T S
C O M M U N I C AT E G R AT I T U D E

36. Tiny Forests, Food Forests, Urban Afforestation
Thank you to the team at
https://foretcapitaleforest.ca/
https://nanabushfoodforests.com/blogs/news
https://ottawafoodforests.com/
https://earthwatch.org.uk/program/tiny-forest/
https://networkofnature.org/
Thank you to the team at
https://adoptium.net/