1. How NOT to do open source
Community managers view
Jarkko Moilanen
Open Source Community Enabler
jarkko.moilanen@ossoil.com
Communities.ossoil.com

2. “Living the open source”
Long term research about Open Source
Communities (Masters Thesis, now PhD candidate)
Not just observing but inside Open Source
Communities.ossoil.com

3. Given task
Right and and wrong way?
Depends on situation
Co-operation?
Can be cumbersome, complex
mesh
might not be the least painful way
...but there are basic
aspects to consider
Communities.ossoil.com

4. Choose your goal and values
1 ● Lively, enthuastic and proactive community (Open and transparent
communication and decisionmaking)
● Adapt to changes faster (live inside open source)
● Get innovative solutions and options (hacking is seen as positive)
2 ● Get quick profit (Use open source efforts only for profit)
● Our internal work and teams are more creative than open source
community
● Sharing skills and information (outside company) is to be avoided
If you prefer option 2, you can leave now and skip the following slides...
Communities.ossoil.com

5. So you decided to stay...
If your staff...
... is not familiar with open source
values and communities
... has no history in open source
development
Get help! Don't jump into ocean
without knowing how to swim!
Communities.ossoil.com

6. “We just use open source”
Embrace organisational overlapping
- Can be cumbersome
- Can be a mesh (not clear cut)
- At best combines two or more networks
- Often requires organisational changes
Company Company
Mindset
Instead try to live
Community
inside open source Community
Contribute back to community
Communities.ossoil.com

7. Overlapping Developer Roles
Support natural overlapping roles
- 'turn' developers to open source - hire open source people
in one night - educate existing developers
- give only one option in development - embrace freetime hacking
- strict boundaries == no freedom - give credit for open source activities
- stick with one set op dev tools - enable dev tool selection
If your developers are not open source prone and your
business is, time for HR replacements
Communities.ossoil.com

8. “We hire just developers with
certificates!”
Developer types vary
Commitment grows ->
“Focused 24/7” -developer
- not just for money
- contributes to community
- still in apps only
“9 to 5” -developer “Spread 24/7” - developer
- does for the money - community as lifestyle
- bind to office hours
- does (internal) app You need - multiple areas (core, apps, tools)
- contributes to community
development
all types!
+ active users, hobby developers
Communities.ossoil.com

9. “Why aren't you coding?!”
Adjust HR policy towards open
source
- 'turn' developers to open source - hire open source people
in one night - educate existing developers
- give only one option in development - embrace freetime hacking
- strict boundaries == no freedom - give credit for open source activities
- use community as dev pool
- analyze (or buy) community
- request 'Git' references
Communities.ossoil.com

10. “Values? We follow profit only!”
Try to look beyond next quarter
- Turn community efforts into cash - Communities are bigger than
- You shall not seek outside the box individual companies
- Fixed plans and teams - freedom, fun loving
- Rely on internal skills - Loves alternatives
- Fear of loosing control - make oriented
- sharing (w/ altruism)
Communities.ossoil.com

11. Cracks in the shell
Open communication & plans
disbelief trust
Transparent decisionmaking
- Decisions in the background - Decisions in public
- Decisionmakers from company - Involve all (relatively)
- Use only internal information flow - Use public methods
- Only own (duplicate) bugtrackers - Use shared & public resources
- Code kept hidden and stall release - Rely on discussion
- Dictate changes
Communities.ossoil.com

12. Conclusions
Companies OSS communities
Both need to understand
each other more
Meet half way and discuss
- Fails to adjust company policies - Lives too much on it's own
- Neglects open communication - In some cases ideological
- Fails to see values of transparency boundaries
- Fails to adjust own organization - Sometimes chaotic
- Fails to understand that communities - Slow changes
need skillful community manager - Unpredictable (failure or not?)
Communities.ossoil.com

13. What to do?
Company perspective
Don't open source all
Educate your staff
Hire open source developers
Evaluate communities constantly (outsource)
Hire community manager from outside (acts as 3rd party)
Engage staff to community
Open up your communication and plans
(regarding parts where community is involved)
Questions?
Communities.ossoil.com

14. How NOT to do open source
Community managers view
Jarkko Moilanen
Open Source Community Enabler
jarkko.moilanen@ossoil.com
Communities.ossoil.com