Lessons learned from building a user group to applying same practices for internal teams and community building. A short story on the science, philosophy and experiences of building communities, networking and the importance thereof.

2. Building Community
Byron Miller
Cloud Engineering | HomeAway.com
@byron_miller

3. My Story

4. Puppet Master
• ~2000 nodes
• 50+ Custom Modules
• 50+ Forge Modules
• Custom ENC
• Foreman Dashboard
• Foreman Provisioning
• R10k
• ~50 people in related teams

5. I learn by doing
Not a community manager

6. ATXPUG
But I do run a user group..
www.meetup.com/Austin-
Puppet-User-Group
2nd Tuesday of each month
It’s awesome

7. v
Of what I’ve learned, shared and understand
And this is a story..

8. Fabric of Community

9. v
• A group of people living in the same place or having a particular
characteristic in common
• A feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common
attitudes, interests and goals
• A group of interdependent organisms of different species growing or
living together in a specific habitat
Community

10. v
• A group of interdependent organisms of different species growing or
living together in a specific habitat
Community

11. v
A sudden, intuitive perception or insight into the reality or essential
meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely or
common place occurrence.
Some call it “DevOps“
“Epiphany” of community

12. v
• Not everyone wants to speak
• Not everyone wants to share
• Not everyone has something to say
• Not everyone participates in the same ways or expected ways
• …
Reality of community

13. v
• High trust = get work done
• High trust = knowledge authority
• High trust = hub
Think of it as a dependency graph..
Builds trust

14. v
High trust helps me get from a distant receiver of messages, to a broker
(networking) or publisher (leader.. Sometimes opinionated).
People now value my messages
People have shared experiences with my messages
Leading

15. v
Setup meetings at work, started working with managers across the org
But…
Trickle down community.. Just like trickle down economics.. Doesn’t seem
to work.
Internalize community

16. v
• I needed to be more direct
• Needed more messages to peers
• Needed an interface
• Needed to be loosely coupled.
.. crap this sounds familiar
Messaging

17. v
• Transparent
• Reasonable
• Usable
• Exemplary
Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby – Sandi Metz
I stole this from POODR

18. v
Some people call this “Framing” the message
• Some are “boolean” – interested/not
• Some are more advanced interactions.. Nested arrays..
Types of messaging

19. v
• Sociology
• Anthropology
• Evolution
Science of messaging

20. Know your habitat

21. Habitat
• Cynefin – a welsh word for
“habitat”. Chosen by Dave
Snowden to describe
perspective on the evolutionary
nature of complex systems,
including their inherent
uncertainty

22. v
In the Cynefin “sense making” framework, I’ve learned I can make sense
of the message by the framing of a message. Not just as a publisher
(leader) but as a consumer (learner)
Cynefin gives great context.
Framing your message

23. v
People really have multiple habitats
People operate in different modes of thought, complexities and
environments.
Multiple Habitats

24. v
Mental model of not only how to express concerns between each other but
respect each other
DevOps thing..
Empathy

25. v
Now that I can navigate the community, I can build upon it, evolve it,
iterate – not just as a leader, but as a consumer. I know my mode of
operation and I have constant outside reminders of others and a sense of
empathy for theirs.
Its something I can use!
Iteration

26. v
Now that you’re recognizing the community, realize the benefits.
Benefits

27. Skill Sharing

28. v
• Ideas are collaborative in nature, “information spillover”.
• Venice Italy, 1291 forced glassmakers to specific part of town out of fear
of preserving trade secrets. Brought upon the most advances in glass
making/mirrors through collaboration & sharing
Information Spillover

29. Ideas are Networks

30. v
• Not created in a vacuum
• More understood the closer your are to your network/interface/habitat
Ideas

31. Performance
• Job Stuff..

32. Sense of Community

33. v
Enable everyone
Empowering

34. v
• Perception
• Understanding
• Attitudes
• Feelings
Community is about human beings.
Experience of Community

35. v
• Direction
• Influence
• Audience
• Relationship
Remember cynefin?
Habitat

36. v
• Learn
• Discover
Exploration

37. v
Act on what you now know - make use and benefit from resources.
Exploitation

38. v
This is how I learn
And maybe it will help you too
Not a scientist either..

39. Building Community

40. User Groups

41. v
Syntax..
puppetlabs.com/community/starting-a-user-group
The basics

42. v
Serving as a desirable module; representing the best of its kind
Be Exemplary

43. v
• Keep a consistent Schedule
• Keep it easy to remember
• Have meetups anyway
Consistency

44. v
• Keep content relative. Understand your audience
Remember its about the community, not the content. Don’t be afraid to
meet even if you don’t have anything scheduled
Content

45. v
• Interests
• Personalities
• Time..
• Did I say time?
Hard Stuff

46. Working Groups

47. v
I mean it.. Same ideas.. Don’t make it harder than it should be!
Same ideas

48. v
I couldn’t do what I do today, without the community. Managing thousands
of nodes, services and systems with Puppet is great, but knowing it better
because of the community is awesome.
Closing

49. Building Community
Byron Miller
Cloud Engineering | HomeAway.com
@byron_miller