So you have some code or a good idea for a project. You get some hosting, throw up a page, make the code available and people start downloading. Everything is great, but where is my community participation? This presentation provides, from the perspective of one open source project leader, some insight into the realities of starting and managing an open source project in terms of community involvement.

1. The Care and Feeding of
Project Communities
One project leaders experience.

2. 2
Who am I?
Mark Unwin.
Have worked in IT since 1989.
Open Standards and Free Software advocate.
Working for Opmantek Software.
marku@opmantek.com
https://opmantek.com
http://au.linkedin.com/in/markunwin/
mark.unwin@gmail.com
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

3. 3
Project Background
Open-AudIT – “What’s On Your Network?”
Code first written in 1999.
Public release to SF in 2004.
Currently 5,000 – 6,000 downloads per month.
Small community – 1,800 forum members with 650 forum posts this year.
Currently developed as Free Software (AGPL licensed) with commercial
extensions available.
http://www.open-audit.org
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

4. 4
What is a Community?
It’s up to you…
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/bpcp/5280344991/
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

5. 5
Why is it so Difficult?
One word – humans.
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

6. 6
What do you Want a Community to be?
1 – What
2 – Why
3 – How
4 – ???
5 – Profit!
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

7. 7
Different Communities Attract Different People
A code library will attract programmers who will be more likely to contribute
code.
A piece of documentation software will attract suggestions and feature
requests from technical writers.
Note that different audiences will result in different community participation.
Users ->
Community Members ->
Contributing Community Members ->
Valued Community Members.
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

8. 8
What Were my Project Goals?
WHAT – I wanted it to be “the” free software network discovery and
inventory software. Simple. The best.
WHY – Because I’m altruistic. Because I enjoy writing this particular piece
of code. Because it helps me in my employment.
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

9. 9
How Have my Goals Changed?
My project goals have been added too over time.
I still want the project to be "the" free software inventory and discovery
product. I now also want it to be the easiest to use (call it a stretch goal).
I now also want the free software part of the project to enable the
commercial side of the project.
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

10. 10
What did I do to Achieve my Project Goals?
Project Page on SourceForge
Is that all? (hint, yes)
Light Bulb Moment – Community!
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

11. 11
What Were my Community Goals?
Code – I’d love some code and bug fixes contributed. Additional coded
features (even Feature Requests) would also be appreciated.
Participation – Forum answers, documentation, knowledge.
More code + features and more knowledge =
more users =
more community =
More code + features and more knowledge (rinse, repeat)
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

12. 12
What did I try and did it Work?
I tried few things, actually…
The main project page migrated to a web host instead of a source code repository. Used
a web page that explained what, why, how. Added forums and documentation.
Mentioned in the SourceForge email newsletter as "project of the month”.
Mentioned on /.
It worked – a lot.
We started getting a couple of hundred downloads per week.
WooHoo !!!
The Care and Feeding of Project Communities, Mark Unwin, OSDC 2014.

13. 13
What did I do that had a Negative Impact?
Direct emails – good and bad.
Lack of communication.
Rewrite (v2).

14. 14
What Else Have we Done?
Commercial additions – no real impact – what ?!?!?
Other than a few rants via email, there has been no real impact.
In short – no real impact so I don’t care J

15. 15
Thoughts
The more Users you have, the mo re
Community Members you have.
The more Community Member
you have, the more Contributing
Members you will have.
The more Contributing
Community Members you
have, the more Valued
Community Members you will accrue.
The more Valued Community Members
you have the better.
GET MORE USERS AND COMMUNICATE WITH THEM!

16. 16
Thoughts
Communicate, communicate, communicate.
Articles, personal emails, forum posts, etc.
Make it easy for people to contribute and easy for people to contact you.
Be responsive.

17. 17
Battle Stations!
Go away and ask yourself – What do I want? Why do I want it?
Those two simple questions will guide you.
Prepare a plan of action.
Try some idea’s mentioned here.
Be prepared to be a Cat Hearder!
https://joind.in/12677