The document discusses insights from Mozilla's open source community, emphasizing decision-making at the edges, strong communication, and inclusivity in participation. It highlights the importance of leveraging various communication channels and enabling contributions from a diverse range of individuals beyond just programmers. The overall message advocates for a chaordic structure that balances chaos and order in collaborative efforts.

1. Better Together:
Lessons in Open Source Community from Mozilla
Paul Kim
Automattic
WordCamp New York
November 14, 2009
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3. Over 300 million people use Firefox as their browser
Firefox market share as of 04/2009
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4. Mozilla’s Mission:
To promote choice and
innovation on the Internet
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5. Mozilla
a global, open source project
a mission-oriented organization
a public benefit company and subsidiaries
250 employees
40% of code comes from non-employees
20,000+ testing volunteers
over 300 million users
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6. 2004
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7. New York Times Campaign
10,000 donors, $250,000 raised
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8. Insight #1
Push (most) decision-making to the edges
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9. Open source principles
1. high agreement on core values
2. decision-making rests with module owners
3. groups will develop distinct ways of working
4. many decision-makers outside the “official” org
5. communication is central
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10. Chaos
Anyone can comment on a proposal for a change
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11. Chaos
Anyone can submit a change to the code
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12. Order
Not everyone can approve a change
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13. Order
Strong leadership structure
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14. Order
Strong leadership structure
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15. Order
Identify and elevate smart contributors
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16. Create small teams, led by strong
contributors, and give them responsibility
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17. Chaordic system
The strongest open systems are chaords
1. distributed decision-making
2. nodal authority
3. ways to route around
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18. Insight #2
Communication will happen in every way possible
(so make sure it’s reusable)
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19. Wikis
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20. Blogs
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21. Primary work channels: Bugzilla, IRC & newsgroups
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22. Increasing use of video and audio
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23. Lots of real life meetups
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24. Insight #3
Surprise is overrated
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25. Surprise is the opposite
of engagement
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26. Increase the inner circle of participation ...
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27. ... and strive to make everyone feel included
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28. Insight #4
Make it easy for your community to
do the important things
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33. Not just for programmers - everyone can help!
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34. Increasingly, the focus is on making
it easier for anyone to participate
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35. 2009
“It’s too late to be a pessimist.”
- Yann Arthus Bertrand
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36. Thanks
paul@automattic.com
blog.numenity.org
@pkim
All content CC-Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Ideas and materials borrowed with gratitude from:
John Lilly, Mike Beltzner and the Mozilla community
Image credits:
“Internet map” http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d2/Internet_map_1024.jpg
All other images from the Mozilla community
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