Management in Open Source Software Project

Overview What is Open Source? Motivation Management in Open Source A job description

What is Open Source Ideology:Share software and allow everyone to modify it. Similar to how university research works. Examples: Linux, Apache, Open Office, Firefox, and KDE.

How do you make money if you give away the software? Did I say this was about money? Well you can, examples includes:  Consulting  Dual licensing the software  Sponsorships But the question is not really relevant!

This is not just about software developers Coders Translators Artists Web server maintainers System administration PR people Lawyers

Motivation Recognition from your peers Just for fun Learning Social networking Getting credit for you CV

Does an Open Source project need management at all? They are not small! (some include hundreds or even thousands of contributors) Releases must be coordinated Conflicts must be resolved New employees must be trained or assimilated

The Management Strategy The one doing the job is in charge! You gain street credit from a long time contribution. Management is mostly happening implicitly. Sometimes round robin is used for the “distributing work” part of management

Thought of the day The one who does the most work, and shouts the least, is the one who will be heard when he opens his mouth.

Success in Open Source Success in open source requires that you do active management to some extent  Share credit (even for the small contributions)  Ensure people feel ownership of their contribution (10% is development of a feature, 90% is maintaining it over its lifetime!)  Assimilate/welcome new members

Job description for an Open Source Manager You do all the boring work, as your employees don’t want to. You should seek to divide all external respect to your employees. You must have the personality to be able to deal with conflicts. Though you are the boss, you should only speak your mind when really needed.

Conclusion When people don’t work for money, you need other ways to persuade them. Credit is a good way We are not the first to work like this:  The manager of your soccer team  Médecins Sans Frontières  Greenpeace, WWF, Amnesty International