1. Lars Kurth
Community Manger, Xen Project
Chairman, Xen Project Advisory Board
Director, Open Source, Citrix
lars_kurth

2. Was a contributor to various projects
Worked in parallel computing, tools,
mobile and now virtualization
Long history in change projects
Community guy at Symbian Foundation
Learned how NOT to do stuff
Community guy for the Xen Project
Working for Citrix
Accountable to Xen Project Advisory Board
Chairman of Xen Project Advisory Board

4. 250000
150000
More than 1 Projects Million Today
100000
Projected
200000
50000
0
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
Source: The 2013 Future of Open Source Survey Results

5. Late 90’s
Today
Individuals & Hobbyist's
Still about Individuals
But, a majority are employees
Companies have a huge stake

7. Features
How many users you have
How many vendors back you
How you are seen in the press
…
Different Management
Disciplines

8. can help you succeed

9. Neutrality / Perception
Support Infrastructure
Expertise / Mentoring
Vendor Network
…
BUT: You still need to do
all the right things

11. Case Study

12. An Open Source Hypervisor
> 10M Users
Powering some of the biggest Clouds in Production
Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Public Cloud, Terremark, …
Several sub-projects
Xen Hypervisor (including Xen on ARM), XAPI management tools, Mirage OS
Linux Foundation Collaborative Project
Sponsored by Amazon Web Services, AMD, Bromium, Calxeda, CA Technologies,
Cisco, Citrix, Google, Intel, NetApp, Oracle, Samsung and Verizon
10 years old

13. Four Key Issues
Symptoms
Consequences for Xen
Fixes that were applied
Effect this had
(there may be others)
At the end : Reflection & Tools
Magnifying effect

15. Unwritten Rules
Undefined Roles
Lack of Upfront
Collaboration

16. Hard to join the project
Vendors got frustrated
Hard to work with the
project

17. Another key
vendor nearly dropped Xen
Growth potential
was limited early
Roadmap
& Release
Management
1st KVM
release
Canonical drops
Xen
RedHat drops
Xen in RHEL6
Technical
Coordination
Team
Xen
Governance
Xen becomes
LF Collaborative Project
2003
2004
2005
Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

18. 120
Mirage OS
XAPI
Xen
2003
2004
Source: Git Repos + GitDM
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013(Q3)

19. 100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2010
UPC
GridCentric
AWS
Linaro
(Individual)
2011
Spectra Logic
Calxeda
(Academia)
Oracle
Suse
2012
Redhat
Fujitsu
John Hopkins University
NSA
Citrix
2013 (H1)
iweb
(Misc)
AMD
Intel

20. Theory: vendor neutrality = more contributors
Early indicators:
Individual Contributors have doubled
Advisory Board members are becoming contributors
Momentum in new market segments is building
Advisory Board is developing a long term project Vision
Creating incentives to become more mature

23. Created “pain for distros”
Inwards focus
– Not working with upstreams
(branched kernel and QEMU)
– Not working with distros
(users are not “our” problem)
Intercommunity Friction
Introvert Community
Image Problem

24. Linux Host
support for Xen
Upstream QEMU
complete
Linux Guest
support for Xen
IBM, VMware, Red Hat and Citrix
Agree on PVOPS in Linux kernel
Actively
working
with
distros
2003
2004
2005
Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

25. Improved Relationships & Trust
Xen Developers Care about Users
Xen becoming easier to use
Improved Image in the media and FOSS community

26. Significant increase in Goodwill from the LINUX community
Working with upstream & downstream projects is easier
Collaboration happening earlier than in the past
Automotive, Mobile, Embedded

28. Empty Promises
Change of Guard
Focus on events for the existing community only
Blog
Enough Papers
Enough Talks
Enough Communication
By enough vendors
1 Person
Competing Projects Excelled at Communication
2003
2004
2005
Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

29. Project became an “invisible man”
Belief that Xen is not open source
Slowed the growth of the user base
Perception: the project is “dead”
Constant stories in the press that the project is dying
First: Defiance – this is all “Fud”
Then: Project started to believe this too

30. Community spokespeople
Events v2
Community Blog
Confidence Building
2003
2004
2005
Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

31. Project perception has changed dramatically
Neutral to positive (example: eWeek “How Xen got its Zen back”)
No more Xen bashing
Talks / Events / Orgs
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2010
2011
2012
2013 (Q3)

32. Two very successful Press Releases
Powerful message (that is true, but was not told/heard before)
Linux Foundation Expertise
Press Releases and other LF channels
Coaching and supporting of community members
Xen Project Advisory Board : Marketing and PR Committee
What is the Future for the Project?

33. PR Working Group
Community spokespeople
Events v2
Community Blog
Confidence Building
2003
2004
2005
Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

34. Press clips
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Q4 2012
Q1 2013
Q2 2013
Q3 2013

36. Community
Companies

37. Within Citrix : via the process of “giving up control”
Big enough plan to catch the attention of senior management
Forced decision makers in the hierarchy to consider the value of F/OSS
Amongst companies supporting the project financially
Forced decision makers in contributors to go through a similar process

39. Governance and Neutrality Matter
Projects don’t exist in isolation
Poor Marketing and Communication can kill you
Good project sponsors can make a difference
Being part of a Foundation can make a big difference
A project needs to constantly evolve

40. License & Development Model
Linux (but also BSDs) are key components in a Xen stack
Most Xen contributors were Linux Foundation members
Vendor Friendly
Strengths: PR, User Outreach, Events Management, …

41. Multi-discipline Complexity

43. Follow Industry News
Follow Project News
Trial Software
Think of the funnel boundary as a
permeable membrane, not a fixed
border
Adopt Software
Engage with Users
It can take >2 years for changes at
the top of the funnel to make a
difference at the bottom
Engage with Industry
Evangelize
Customize
Contribute
Lead
The Funnel has feedback loops:
what happens at the top can affect
the bottom

44. Project Scope
Follow Industry News
E.g. Xen on ARM, Mirage OS
Increase the width and thus the
potential market for the project
Follow Project News
Trial Software
Activities
Attributes
Events
Adopt Software
Control the permeability and shape of the funnel
Engage with Users
Some items are in your control
Others - such as what the competition does - are not!
Engage with Industry
Evangelize
Customize
Contribute
Lead
How can we influence how the
Community Funnel works?

45. Follow Industry News
Follow Project News
Trial Software
Adopt Software
On-boarding
Documentation
Ease of Use
Engage with Users
Training
Engage with Industry
Evangelize
Customize
Contribute
Lead
Example: Factors influencing early
stages of open source software
adoption

46. Follow Industry News
Bad Press
Follow Project News
Trial Software
Funnel
becomes
narrower
Adopt Software
More People drop out
Engage with Users
Engage with Industry
Evangelize
Example: Negative feedback loop
Customize
Contribute
Lead
Negative Feedback:
vendors may
stop contributing

47. The Community Funnel is an excellent internal sales tool
Reason: Sales and Business people understand funnels
It helps you understand what is happening
It helps prioritize what to focus on
Covers the time dimension : some issues take longer to fix than others
Forces you to consider the “Big Picture”

49. Extend Project Scope
Press
Follow Industry News
Event Presence
Follow Project News
WebSite
Trial Software
Ease of Use
Adopt Software
Evangelize
Documentation
Distros
Getting Started
Training
Volunteer Programs
2011
Community Programs
Customize
Platforms for Self Promotion
Contribute
Collaboration
Lead
Communication
Support
Engage with Users
Engage with Industry
Social Media
Governance
Values
Neutrality
Diversity
Business Opportunities
Brand

50. Extend + Mirage OS
ARM Project Scope
Press
Follow Industry News
Event Presence
Follow Project News
WebSite
Trial Software
Ease of Use
Adopt Software
Evangelize
Documentation
Distros
Getting Started
Training
Volunteer Programs
NOW
Community Programs
Customize
Platforms for Self Promotion
Contribute
Collaboration
Lead
Communication
Support
Engage with Users
Engage with Industry
Social Media
Governance
Values
Neutrality
Diversity
Business Opportunities
Brand

51. Extend + Mirage OS
ARM Project Scope
Press
Follow Industry News
Event Presence
Follow Project News
WebSite
Trial Software
Ease of Use
Adopt Software
Evangelize
Getting Started
Training
Volunteer Programs
NOW
Community Programs
Customize
Platforms for Self Promotion
Contribute
Collaboration
Lead
Communication
Documentation
Distros
Brand
Support
Engage with Users
Engage with Industry
Social Media
Governance
Values
Neutrality
Diversity
Business Opportunities
(areas that so far
benefited from
being in the Linux
Foundation)

52. To succeed, a wide range of “community” and
“management” tools
need to be applied continuously

53. Please rate the talk
on slideshare or twitter
www.slideshare.net/xen_com_mgr/

54. Flickr:
Xen Project:
“Messy Apartment” by Ryo Chijiiwa
www.xenproject.org
wiki.xenproject.org
lists.xenproject.org
xenbits.xenproject.org
“The Ivory Tower” by Daniel Parks
“Desert Road 9” by LabyrinthX
“Cotton Plant” by Aileen
@xen_org
“Giant Sequoia Trees” by Raj
##xen
“Damselfly caught in sundew” by Mysserli
Other Images:
By Lars Kurth or aquired
Funnel:
talesfromthecommunity.wordpress.com