PDX Linux, 201 7 @vmbrasseur ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 1 VM (Vicky) Brasseur ^ ©vmbrasseur vmbrasseur pdxlinux@vnnbrasseur.com ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 2 What I will and will not cover ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 3 Want your company to support more FOSS at an organisational level? WILL give you info you can use to plead that case. WILL NOT give you a detailed plan on how to do so, since each situation will be different & there is no one best way to approach this. Slides: https://archive.org/cletails/ pdxlinux201 7-bizofcommuiiity Resources: https://www.zotero.org/groups/the busi ness-of-com m u n i ty/items ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 4 Over 40 articles in that bibliography This talk is high level & introductory. Look to the resources in the bib for in-depth info. There should be time at the end for your questions. OK, introductory material is done. Let's get into the good stuff. Let's make sure we're all on the same page. Lots of definitions for community, some of them quite complex. Definition of community A community is a self-organized and self-identified collection of people sharing a concern or interest. ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 7 This is the definition I'll be using in this talk. It's simple & easy both to understand and remember. Communities are everywhere. In this talk: FLOSS perspective Self-organization and -identification is important: concern/interest is the nucleus but this self-ID is the force which brings & holds the community together. Can't assign people to a community There are communities everywhere. Naturally I won't be covering all of them here. What follows are some of the communities which are most relevant to this presentation. Formed around a product ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 9 Some products develop communities around them. Ex: Arduino, RPi, Mazda MX7/Miata Most passionate and staunch advocates Can sometimes make sense to support these communities beyond simply throwing them some schwag from time to time While the content of this talk applies to this type of community, I won't focus on it; will focus more on the open source communities, such as: Formed around your company created open source project ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 10 React, Kubernetes, Bootstrap are some big ones created at large companies Level of involvement will vary by organization, project, community May bequeath the project to a foundation, may maintain governance in-house, may hand over to the community, many different approaches Formed around another open source project ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 1 1 Strategic Projects On which projects does your organization rely? Which ones, should something happen to them, would put you in a really bad position? Which ones might you need in the future? Or just stuff you think is cool & want to see survive & evolve Different organizations, different communities, different forms of support. Example: HPE & OpenStack, Linux, OpenSwitch and others. Also: HPE customers, HPE employees, etc. •••but what does it mean to support a community? • Legitimately self-identify as a member of the community • Be an active & participating part of the community • Invest time, energy, emotion, and (yes) money ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 1 3 I say "support" and most people think "money. Much more to it than just throwing money at the situation. A lot of work to do right Why are a lot of companies deciding this investment is worthwhile? Can be a very good ROI for this sort of thing, but It Depends™. There are case studies in the bibliography. Benefits can vary by community, by investment, by performance of support efforts, by organizational strategy (if you're not aiming for a certain benefit, you may not get it) Here are some examples of some benefits which an organization could target: Word of mouth marketing ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 15 old AT&T commercial: tell 3 friends who tell 3 friends... WoMM: Leveraging organic network effects for marketing outreach and branding Community members become staunch advocates. Can improve brand strength, recognition, reputation Product development ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 1 6 Particularly for communities based around a company product Source of innovative ideas Source of beta testers Early adopters Honest feedback to enable faster iteration Customer support ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 1 7 Answer questions for each other, passers by Decrease burden on in-house support team (if community around your prod uct/p reject) If a project on which your product relies, can reduce cost of support contract 500K/yr support contract -> 180K/yr to embed a dev fulltime on the project? Provide documentation Recruiting ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 1 8 How many of you do hiring for your organization? A PITA, ain't it? Can reduce hiring times & costs: community provides quick & easy pool of candidates May already be familiar w/the candidates, decreasing time needed to vet them Improve onboarding times -> already familiar w/product or project Public relations ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 19 What if something goes wrong? Or your organization has a big announcement to make? A trusting and supportive community can be a lifesaver Can provide benefit of the doubt, success stories, testimonials, public support Not to mention that WoMM aspect previously discussed Monetary: the first thing people think of Listen & react accordingly <— will inform the correct form of support for that community Some of the types of support your organization might consider: Monetary ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 21 Just throw money at the problem Donations to a foundation/working group Pay contributor(s) Event sponsorship: conference, hackathon, design/sprint Resource sponsorship: hosting, services, etc. Rnhwan In-kind contribution ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 22 You have something the community needs; provide that Meeting space, product, hosting, etc. Work contribution ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 23 Open source: actively encourage upstream contributions from your team Sponsor the work of independent open source contributors Remember: there are more ways to contribute than simply coding Tech writing, testing, bug triage, project management, marketing, design, UX/UI... Guidance, leadership, mentoring ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 24 Participate in governance (foundation) Encourage team members to become known & respected w/in the community Provide opportunities for your team to mentor new contributors to the community Every community needs more people doing this & will welcome someone taking it on Listening & taking action ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 25 Best way to participate, IMO. Most authentic. Actually become a part of the community. Be present; listen to successes & concerns Take action when necessary Action must be focused on good of the community, more than of the org (ideally there's a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram of the two, though) There are several things which must be considered before diving into supporting a community. What follows are some oversights and mistakes I've seen organizations make, mostly through omission. Determine goals ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 27 Requires organizational forethought & introspection What is the organization hoping to accomplish? Will directly impact communit{y|ies} & support types chosen. This will take time & a lot of consideration. Not a task to be taken lightly. Determine success criteria ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 28 Will be different for each organization Can be difficult to measure Must take the long view Determine which communit{y|ies} to support ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 29 Strategic, not haphazard, selection Requires organizational forethought & introspection An investment, just like any other undertaking of your organization Learn about the community ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 30 Lurk & learn People, concerns, jargon, interaction styles & expectations, history Will influence tactics of support Consult lawyer & accountant ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 31 Some types of support may be tax deductible Some types of support may make your organization legally liable Do your homework and due diligence Apply to most every community & type of support Build trust 1 . Listen 2. Then speak 3. Fulfill your pronnises ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 33 Teaching you how to build trust is out of scope of this talk. Rest assured, trust is vital to a successful community support program. If the community doesn't trust you, you won't accomplish any of your organization's goals. No Asshole Rule ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 34 Zero tolerance for bad behavior If not for the sake of the community, then for the sake of the reputation of your organization for being associated w/a toxic community Active Empathy: default to taking action, but always in an empathetic manner, (aka: Assholes are people, too.) Consider hiring a community manager ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 35 To properly support communities & meet organizational goals can be a full time job Consider hiring a community manager Duties of a community manager ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 36 Be embedded in the community. Become intellectually and emotionally familiar with and to the community. Intermediary between organization & community Communicate goals & concerns between the two groups. Manage expectations on both sides. Work toward organizational goals. Gather relevant metrics. Actually manages more internally than in the nnmmi init\/ ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 37 Not all sunshine, roses, and puppy dogs There are many ways that a community support program can go south. What follows is just a few of them. Unprepared ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 38 Most common pitTaii. just aive in wiinout having done any preparation at all, setting the organization up for failure. Dive in w/o goals. Dive in w/o parameters for success. Dive in w/o idea of which metrics to track. Dive in w/o any idea of anticipated ROI. Dive in w/o any familiarity w/the rnmmi init\/ Don't define ROI & metrics ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 39 Not doing this sets the program up for failure. Relevant metrics should be tightly bound with the goals. Using the wrong metrics ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 40 Measure everything or measure wrong things. Caused by not having metrics associated with actionable goals, merely making a best guess at what might be useful. Only measure what matters. Not allowing enough time for results ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 41 Takes time to build trust & reputation Takes time to see results. Measured in months & years, not in days & weeks. Ideating the community as a market ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 42 May be customers, but don't want to be treated that way. They may resent being treated as a market rather than a community. Community is self-identified & doesn't need you Believing communities are interchangable ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 43 "any community will do" Don't fully think through reasons for engaging w/that community. Disrespects the unique qualities of that community. Interaction tactics for one community may not be valid for another. Shows lack of strategy, planning, goals. No community manager ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 44 Difficult to coordinate with no single point of contact. Difficult to communicate. Difficult to set up expectations. Difficult to target & measure goals. Ignoring bad behavior ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 45 "we're just innocent bystanders; not our problem" Self-managing communities are not always healthy communities. Allowing weeds to grow in an untended garden Always speak up against bad behavior. Consider withdrawing from the community if the situation does not improve. Messiah complex ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 46 "the community needs us; we save it from itself Uh, no. Communities will continue exist w/o organizational support. Disrespects the self-identity & capabilities of the community & its members. Misconceptions of control ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 47 Related to messiah complex. Go stomping in there with big ideas, big plans, big brand engagement. "Stand back, I got this." The community does not belong to the organization, it belongs to the community itself. Expectations mismatch ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 48 Lack of communication. Communication is hard. Requires deliberate intention & attention. Be open, honest, direct about intentions. Slides: https://archive.org/cletails/ pclxlinux201 7-bizofcommuiiity Resources: https://www.zotero.org/groups/the- busi ness-of-com m u n i ty/items ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 49 Image Credits • Fish: TheCreativePenn on Flickr, CC-BY • Twenty Questions: on Wikipedia, public domain • Fish 2: james_wick on Wikipedia, CC-BY • Fish 3: on Public Domain Pictures, public domain • Fish 4: aloha75 on Flickr, CC-BY • Grouper: Georgia Aquarium on Wikipedia, CC-BY • Fish 5: Frank Naimuang on Pexels, CCO • Clown fish: diverslog on Wikipedia, CC-BY • Shark: usfwspacific on Flickr, CC-BY ©vmbrasseur, CC-BY-NC 50