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Trends in Enterprise Open Source Programs
The document presents the findings of a 2019 survey on enterprise open source programs, highlighting the benefits and challenges faced by organizations implementing such programs. Key results include the prevalence of open source contributions in companies and the significance of hiring developers familiar with open source practices. It also discusses the importance of executive support, resource allocation, and the need for policies promoting open source culture within organizations.
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Trends in Enterprise Open Source Programs
- 1. Trends in Enterprise OpenSource Programs by Alex Williams & Chris Aniszczyk & Lawrence Hecht https://github.com/todogroup/survey IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE TODO GROUP
- 2. 2 Visit thenewstack.io fororiginal articles, podcasts, ebooks, events and research. We are a critical and trusted resource for all people making complex technical decisions, and are supported by 40+ sponsors, including The Linux Foundation and the CNCF. The New Stack publishes explanation and analysis of at- scale distributed technologies for developers, DevOps and other IT professionals.
- 3. 3 2019 Open Source Programs in theEnterprise Survey https://github.com/todogroup/survey Respondents solicited via social media and email lists from The New Stack and from our survey sponsors (The Linux Foundation’s TODO Group and VMware). Survey conducted between July 8 - 29, 2019 Over 2,700 responses were received. 130 responses were excluded, because they appeared to come from the same company (based on email address, company name or IP address). The data cleanup process provides greater confidence in the analysis. Over 1,600 completed the survey.
- 4. Open Source ProgramOffice Adoption and Benefits
- 5. 5 Promote open sourceculture. Create policies that will increase adoption of open source components into commercial software products. Recruit and retain developers. Guide corporate citizenship within open source communities. Purpose-built program offices and less formal initiatives are important. They help companies to...
- 6. 6 OSS Programs areMore Likely to Exist at Companies that Recruit Open Source Developers & Have Open Source Dependencies
- 7. 7 Tech and TelecomFirms Most Likely to Have an OSS Program
- 8. 8 Responsibilities of OpenSource Program Management Initiatives Have Begun to Crystalize 2019 2018 Change
- 9. 9 Better Software Practicesare Just One of Many Benefits
- 10. 10 Awareness of opensource and commercial dependencies Increased innovation Increased development speed and agility Faster time to market Top 5 Benefits For Existing Programs Increased participation in external open source projects
- 11. 11 Hiring Open SourceDevelopers is Increasingly Top of Mind for Existing Open Source Programs
- 12. 12 Insufficient budget; programcosts Talent: finding and recruiting open source developers Tracking metrics and performance Executive awareness and support Top 5 Challenges Facing Existing Programs Tool selection and adoption
- 13. Creating an Open SourceProgram Office
- 14. 14 Time and resourceconstraints Have not considered it Don’t see business value Organization too small to need it Top 5 Reasons There is No Plan to Have a Program Have never heard of an open source program
- 15. 15 “Get an executivesponsor, be vocal in situations where having an open source program would have saved us time, money or gained us prestige. Keep at this until support builds to implement a program.” Advice on Creating an Open Source Management Program “Ensure each employee knows about the OSS initiative and provide resources to support them when contributing to OSS projects during business hours. Maybe provide some bonus as incentive...”
- 16. Perspective on the Makervs. Taker Debate
- 17. 17 57% of organizationshave at least one developer working on a open source project they rely on. Makers 50% of organizations frequently use open source code in commercial projects, and another 19% are sometimes doing so. Takers 20% of organizations frequently contribute to upstream open source projects, and another 23% are sometimes doing so.
- 18. 18 At least 57%Are Makers — Their Organization Has 1+ Developers Contributing to an OSS Project They Depend On
- 19. 19 Open Source Useis Commonplace in the Enterprise
- 20. 20 65% of companiesthat frequently use OSS in commercial products have at least one developer contributing to critical project. The study average is 57%. Takers are usually makers 74% of companies that frequently contribute upstream also frequently use OSS in commercial products. The study average is 50%. Makers are usually takers 30% of companies that frequently use OSS in commercial products also frequently contribute upstream. The study average is 20%.
- 21. 21 Takers, but NotMakers 20% of technology companies in the study have no developers contributing. 26% of companies have no developers contributing to a project they rely on. But that’s not stopping them from using OSS in commercial code — 73% of these 142 respondents say their company does so frequently or sometimes. 41% of companies that frequently use OSS code in commercial products rarely or never contribute upstream. The study average is 49%.
- 22. 22 Self-Reported Citizenship Metrics Collaboration:32% collaborate with peers across open source projects and/or foundations. Contributions: 41% of respondents’ employers contribute to upstream open source projects. Leadership: 25% influence projects via leadership or maintainer roles.
- 23. 23 Perception of OpenSource Community Citizenship (contributions, collaboration, leadership)
- 24. 24 No Consensus onImpact of Open Source Citizenship on Buying Decisions
- 25. 25 Open Source Citizenshipis Very Influential in Buying Decisions Among Companies Deeply Involved With the Community
- 26. Future research on adoptionof various policies governing open source use and contribution
- 27. Contribute questions to2020! https://github.com/todogroup/survey/blob/master/2020/questions.md
- 28. 28 Contact Founder & Editorin Chief Alex Williams @alexwilliams alex@thenewstack.io 503-473-6237 Thank You! General Inquiries info@thenewstack.io
Editor's Notes
- #6 The first section is based mostly on “Research Shows Open Source Program Offices Improve Software Practices.” We were interested in exploring the connection between open source use, open source programs and policies and deployment practices. Companies deeply engaged in open source, deploy more regularly than others. And larger companies deploy more regularly. And those have links to open source policies and programs.
- #7 Growth is coming in companies with a few open source projects. These are the companies that are creating new open source programs. Adoption of open source programs and initiatives is widespread and goes beyond early adopters. More than half (52%) of the 2,700 study participants either have a formal or informal program or their company is planning to create one, which is one percentage point less than last year. Despite tripling the study’s sample size, many of the study’s findings as well its demographic profile remained remarkably similar compared to last year. We see this as a validation of last year’s report. [Include the connection to makers vs. takers -- companies with open source programs and policies are more likely to be contributing upstream.] Tech companies with >10K employees are also more likely to have an OSPO (79% say they do) A few more tidbits about existing open source programs 55% are formal, meaning they have dedicated person-hours, reporting structure and/or job titles 43% of the programs or initiatives are located in Software/Engineering
- #8 Industries that typically do not attempt to monetize open source were the least likely to have an open source program. Less than 22% of respondents in Defense, Education, Insurance, Retail and Manufacturing say these programs exist. This shows what we already knew, which is that tech companies are ahead.
- #9 Fostering an open source culture continues to be the top responsibility of these programs. However, the results show culture is less likely to be seen as a benefit when defined as interactions between departments as opposed to general digital transformation and agility. Compared to last year, facilitating the effective use of open source in commercial products and services rose from the fifth to the second most cited responsibility. The people intimately involved with open source programs were lawyers and were focused on legal compliance. Now engineers are driving things. They still care about compliance and promoting good software practices is how they’re enforcing compliance.
- #10 Respondents were asked an open-ended question about the specific ways OSS management programs improved company’s software practices. They were most likely to mention better license compliance, code quality and code reviews, and increased agility that enables a faster time to market. We still see the heritage of open source programs with license compliance. But then you see the code quality reviews which reflects on a company’s and developer’s role in the community. Top 5 Benefits Cited by Those With a Program Increased innovation Awareness of open source and commercial dependencies Increased development speed and agility Faster time to market Increased participation in external open source projects 58% said their program is at least very critical to the success engineering or product teams?
- #11 Talent becoming a greater challenge, but insufficient budget and program costs is no longer the top challenge, going from 39% in 2018 to 34% today.
- #12 Have you ever hired someone based on an open source project they’re working on? Have you ever hired someone based on their GitHub contributions? Companies recruit for coding experience, but also for their connection in the community. Companies need to hire developers who can contribute upstream and who have influence in the community.
- #13 Talent becoming a greater challenge, but insufficient budget and program costs is no longer the top challenge, going from 39% in 2018 to 34% today. Needs change. Engineers look to program offices to be a center of excellence and go to them for guidance on tools to use.
- #14 Let’s talk about people who are creating a formal open source program or thinking about creating one.
- #15 It is time to consider creating a program. Of those that don’t have plans, 63% said their company would benefit from one. Time and resource constraints dropped as a reason why companies do not have an open source program, going from 42% in 2018 to 30% in 2019.
- #16 People with now plans for a program were asked to imagine how they would approach creating one. The most common advice was getting executive buy-in with either a cost-benefit analysis and a proof of concept.
- #17 “Survey Shows How Developers and Their Employers Measure Good Open Source Citizenship” focuses on open source community involvement. It looked: Perceptions of 11 companies Self-reported metrics related to 1) upstream contributions, 2) collaboration with peers and 3) leadership We also quantified how often companies are taking (using open source code in commercial products) but not making (contributing upstream, developers working on relied upon projects).
- #18 Takers and makers are usually the same companies. 30% of companies that frequently use OSS in commercial products also frequently contribute upstream, while the study average was 20% 74% of companies that frequently contribute upstream also frequently use OSS in commercial products, while the study average was 50%. Contributions: 41% of respondents’ employers contribute to upstream open source projects. This indicates that development work can be shared by the larger community and not just a single company. Collaboration: 32% collaborate with peers across open source projects and/or foundations. The trust needed for collaboration reduces often intangible transaction costs that is a key aspect of behavioral economics analysis. Leadership: 25% influence projects via leadership or maintainer roles. Despite complaints that corporations are unduly influencing community decisions, they also give their staff time to perform the less glamorous, janitorial activities critical to the success of an open source project.
- #19 Only 26% said their company has no developers contributing to projects that they rely on, with another 17% not being able to answer the relevant question. On average, the number of developers contributing increases along with the size of the company itself. We also took a look at this question based on industry: 67% of Technology (software or IT) companies have 1+ developers contributing Defense (34%), Government (42%) and Manufacturing and raw materials (42%) were the least likely to have at least one developer contributing.
- #20 This graphic shows the two other relevant metrics in our makers vs takers analysis Note we are not including another graphic about how industry can affect how often people are takers Overall, those sometimes or frequently recruiting and hiring developers to work on open source projects rose from 35% in 2018 to 38% in 2019. This trend is being driven by companies planning to create an open source program, going from 33% to 42% among this group. Those planning an OSS initiative are also more likely to be contributing upstream.
- #21 Companies that don’t sell software or cloud services are less likely to be makers and takers. Only 5% of companies that maintain at least one project have no developers contributing to a project they rely on. Hopefully even these companies will eventually rely on what may be currently in the “lab.”
- #23 Contributions: 41% of respondents’ employers contribute to upstream open source projects. This indicates that development work can be shared by the larger community and not just a single company. Collaboration: 32% collaborate with peers across open source projects and/or foundations. The trust needed for collaboration reduces often intangible transaction costs that is a key aspect of behavioral economics analysis. Leadership: 25% influence projects via leadership or maintainer roles. Despite complaints that corporations are unduly influencing community decisions, they also give their staff time to perform the less glamorous, janitorial activities critical to the success of an open source project.
- #24 “To what degree do you perceive the following companies to be ‘good open source community citizens’ in terms of their contributions, collaboration and leadership on open source projects and initiatives within the open source ecosystem?” We asked respondents this question about 11 TODO Group members, which represent a broad cross-section of technology companies. All TODO Group members have a significant investment in open source and many have dedicated open source programs to set policies and encourage contributions. Although many of the companies we asked about received mediocre ratings, others performed well. We expect to see shifts in perception when this new question is included in future studies. 72% think Google is an above average open source citizen. Next on the list are IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Facebook and Pivotal, all of which received more positive as compared to negative ratings. Companies with a history of open source commitment are more likely to be perceived as good open source citizens. Despite public relations hurdles, on average, Microsoft and Facebook are viewed positively.
- #25 We asked, “To what degree does a company’s participation in, and contributions to, the open source community influence your organization’s buying decisions? At a high level, the data shows no consensus about whether or not a company’s contributions and participation in the open source community has an impact on buying decisions. Thirty-two percent of the survey said that a company’s participation in, and contribution to, the open source community was only slightly or not at all influential on their organization’s buying decisions. On the flip side, 29% say it is extremely or very influential, while 32% believe it slightly or not at all influential. Another 23% noted a moderate influence.
- #26 But, we found that open source citizenship matters more for people working at companies that are actively engaged in the open source community. Transition back to the colorful chart: A fifth of our survey sample can be considered to be active open source community members because they work at a company that frequently contributes code to upstream projects. This group takes a dimmer view of AWS, with 44% having a negative outlook on its open source citizenship as opposed to 28% having a positive view. In contrast, active community members’ opinion of Microsoft and Intel rises significantly, possibly because they have been seen doing hands-on work to support open source projects.
- #27 We are open to feedback Industry verticals We want to quantify the impact of OSPOs and other OSS policies
- #28 We are open to feedback Industry verticals We want to quantify the impact of OSPOs and other OSS policies