Why contribute to open source?

A presentation at Open Source 101 in May 2020 in by Tobie Langel

Slide 1

Slide 1

Why contribute to open source? The strategic benefits of contributing to open source for individuals & organizations Tobie Langel (@tobie) Principal, UnlockOpen

Slide 2

Slide 2

Original motivations ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Slide 3

Slide 3

What changed? ● ●

Slide 4

Slide 4

The open source journey

Slide 5

Slide 5

Which basically translates to ● Ignore: ● Consume: ● Comply: ● Contribute: ● Culture:

Slide 6

Slide 6

Technology adoption lifecycle

Slide 7

Slide 7

Innovators 2.5%

Slide 8

Slide 8

Early adopters 13.5%

Slide 9

Slide 9

Early majority 34%

Slide 10

Slide 10

Late majority 34%

Slide 11

Slide 11

Laggards 16%

Slide 12

Slide 12

Consume 100%

Slide 13

Slide 13

Comply (use in products) 73%

Slide 14

Slide 14

Contribute 29%

Slide 15

Slide 15

Contribute 56%

Slide 16

Slide 16

OK… but concretely, what does this mean?

Slide 17

Slide 17

A very different context ● ● ● ● ●

Slide 18

Slide 18

New context means new (additional) motivations ● ➢ ● ●

Slide 19

Slide 19

Understand today’s motivations For both individuals & organizations.

Slide 20

Slide 20

Problem Coffee Engineer Sarcasm (by-product) Solution

Slide 21

Slide 21

Problem Coffee Software Engineer Sarcasm (by-product) CODE

Slide 22

Slide 22

Problem Coffee Software Engineer Sarcasm (by-product) Commons OPEN SOURCE CODE

Slide 23

Slide 23

Problem Coffee Software Engineer Sarcasm (by-product) Commons OPEN SOURCE CODE Software Engineer Sarcasm (by-product) Problem Coffee

Slide 24

Slide 24

Problem Coffee Software Engineer Sarcasm (by-product) Commons OPEN SOURCE CODE Conversations Code reviews Mentoring Networking Etc. Software Engineer Sarcasm (by-product) Problem Coffee

Slide 25

Slide 25

Problem Coffee Software Engineer Sarcasm (by-product) Commons OPEN SOURCE CODE Conversations Code reviews Mentoring Networking Etc. BY-PRODUCTS Software Engineer Sarcasm (by-product) Problem Coffee

Slide 26

Slide 26

Problem Coffee Commons Software Engineer OPEN SOURCE CODE Conversations Code reviews Mentoring Networking Etc. Sarcasm (by-product) Adopt best-prac tices Increase code qua BY-PRODUCTS Software Engineer Problem Coffee Sarcasm (by-product) & morale e r u lt cu d e v o pr Im Improve soft-skills Lower technical debt Improve documentation Reduced churn Remote friendly Innovation Influence project directio Increase effi n ciencies Access to talent pool ry leader t s u d in s a d e iv Perce Level-up engineers y t i p i d Access to expert n “Knowledge spillover” Seren Better career opportunities etwork lity

Slide 27

Slide 27

BY-PRODUCTS PROJECT INDIVIDUAL TEAM ORGANIZATION Improve documentation Level-up engineers Increase efficiencies Improved culture & morale Increase code quality Adopt best-practices Serendipity Perceived as industry leader Lower technical debt Improve soft-skills Innovation Access to talent pool Influence project direction Access to expert network “Knowledge spillover” Remote friendly Better career opportunities Reduced churn

Slide 28

Slide 28

BY-PRODUCTS PROJECT INDIVIDUAL TEAM ORGANIZATION Improve documentation Level-up engineers Increase efficiencies Improved culture & morale Increase code quality Adopt best-practices Serendipity Perceived as industry leader Lower technical debt Improve soft-skills Innovation Access to talent pool Influence project direction Access to expert network “Knowledge spillover” Remote friendly Better career opportunities Reduced churn

Slide 29

Slide 29

Open source is a career booster ● ● ➢ ● ● ● Problem:

Slide 30

Slide 30

How can companies help with this? ● ● ●

Slide 31

Slide 31

What do companies get out of helping? ● ● ●

Slide 32

Slide 32

Benefits for companies ● ● ●

Slide 33

Slide 33

Second-order benefits AKA by-products Apache foundation’s: “Community > Code”

Slide 34

Slide 34

BY-PRODUCTS PROJECT INDIVIDUAL TEAM ORGANIZATION Improve documentation Level-up engineers Increase efficiencies Improved culture & morale Increase code quality Adopt best-practices Serendipity Perceived as industry leader Lower technical debt Improve soft-skills Innovation Access to talent pool Influence project direction Access to expert network “Knowledge spillover” Remote friendly Better career opportunities Reduced churn

Slide 35

Slide 35

BY-PRODUCTS PROJECT INDIVIDUAL TEAM ORGANIZATION Improve documentation Level-up engineers Increase efficiencies Improved culture & morale Increase code quality Adopt best-practices Serendipity Perceived as industry leader Lower technical debt Improve soft-skills Innovation Access to talent pool Influence project direction Access to expert network “Knowledge spillover” Remote friendly Better career opportunities Reduced churn

Slide 36

Slide 36

2× TWICE AS EFFICIENT Contributing firms capture up to 100% more productive value from usage of open source than their free-riding peers. Source: Franck Nagle, Learning by Contributing, 2017.

Slide 37

Slide 37

BY-PRODUCTS PROJECT INDIVIDUAL TEAM ORGANIZATION Improve documentation Level-up engineers Increase efficiencies Improved culture & morale Increase code quality Adopt best-practices Serendipity Perceived as industry leader Lower technical debt Improve soft-skills Innovation Access to talent pool Influence project direction Access to expert network “Knowledge spillover” Remote friendly Better career opportunities Reduced churn

Slide 38

Slide 38

BY-PRODUCTS PROJECT INDIVIDUAL TEAM ORGANIZATION Improve documentation Level-up engineers Increase efficiencies Improved culture & morale Increase code quality Adopt best-practices Serendipity Perceived as industry leader Lower technical debt Improve soft-skills Innovation Access to talent pool Influence project direction Access to expert network “Knowledge spillover” Remote friendly Better career opportunities Reduced churn

Slide 39

Slide 39

75% 75% of facebook’s new engineering recruits mention facebook’s open source program as a key reason they accepted their offer

Slide 40

Slide 40

BY-PRODUCTS PROJECT INDIVIDUAL TEAM ORGANIZATION Improve documentation Level-up engineers Increase efficiencies Improved culture & morale Increase code quality Adopt best-practices Serendipity Perceived as industry leader Lower technical debt Improve soft-skills Innovation Access to talent pool Influence project direction Access to expert network “Knowledge spillover” Remote friendly Better career opportunities Reduced churn

Slide 41

Slide 41

BY-PRODUCTS PROJECT INDIVIDUAL TEAM ORGANIZATION Improve documentation Level-up engineers Increase efficiencies Improved culture & morale Increase code quality Adopt best-practices Serendipity Perceived as industry leader Lower technical debt Improve soft-skills Innovation Access to talent pool Influence project direction Access to expert network “Knowledge spillover” Remote friendly Better career opportunities Reduced churn

Slide 42

Slide 42

“But we also noticed some effect that we didn’t expect. All the public visibility [sponsoring Webpack] have given us lead to a situation where we suddenly became one of the most interesting companies to work for as a JavaScript developer. […]” “We’ve hired a lot of really great engineers who mentioned during their job interview that our sponsoring for Webpack was one of their primary motivations for applying, […]” —Patrick Gotthardt, Lead JavaScript Architect, Trivago, 9 July 2018.

Slide 43

Slide 43

Operational benefits

Slide 44

Slide 44

Photo: Pablo Andrés Rivero, 1997 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Payback Technical Debt

Slide 45

Slide 45

Economic Web browsers

Slide 46

Slide 46

Leverage external contributions React Router Redux React Ecosystem

Slide 47

Slide 47

Strategic benefits

Slide 48

Slide 48

On-ramp developers

Slide 49

Slide 49

Commoditize Your Complement Company Focus Complement

Slide 50

Slide 50

Thank you! Tobie Langel (@tobie) Principal, UnlockOpen tobie@unlockopen.com unlockopen.com

Slide 51

Slide 51

Q&A Tobie Langel (@tobie) Principal, UnlockOpen tobie@unlockopen.com unlockopen.com