case study: what to do when your project outgrows your company
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Case Study: What to do when your Project outgrows your company. lars_kurth. Lars Kurth Director, Open Source, Citrix Community Manger, Xen Project. About Me. Was a contributor to various projects Worked in parallel computing, tools, mobile and now virtualization - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Case Study:What to do when your Project outgrows your companyLars KurthDirector, Open Source, CitrixCommunity Manger, Xen Project lars_kurth
About MeWas a contributor to various projectsWorked in parallel computing, tools, mobile and now virtualizationLong history in change projectsCommunity guy at Symbian FoundationLearned how NOT to do stuff
Community guy for the Xen ProjectWorking for CitrixAccountable to Xen Project Advisory Board
Open Source: Then & Now
The # of Projects is growing
2006 2008 2010 2012 20140
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
Pro
ject
ed
Source: The 2013 Future of Open Source Survey Results
More than 1 Projects Million Today
More Competition
Free Software to Open SourceLate 90’s
Today
Individuals & Hobbyist's Still about Individuals
But, a majority are employees
Companies have a huge stake
More Responsibilityand pressure to succeed
Massively multi-player beauty ContestFeaturesHow many users you haveHow many vendors back youHow you are seen in the press…
Different Management Disciplines
Success = Standing OutIn many areas
Case Study
What is the Xen Project?
An Open Source Hypervisor > 10M Users
Powering some of the biggest Clouds in ProductionAmazon Web Services, Rackspace Public Cloud, Terremark, …
Several sub-projectsXen Hypervisor, XAPI management tools, Mirage OS, Mobile Hypervisor
Linux Foundation Collaborative ProjectSponsored by Amazon Web Services, AMD, Bromium, Calxeda, CA Technologies, Cisco, Citrix, Google, Intel, NetApp, Oracle, Samsung and Verizon
10 years old
Fixes that were applied (there may be others) Effect this had
Symptoms Consequences for Xen
What we will look atFour Key Issues
At the end : Reflection & Tools
Symptoms
Unwritten Rules
Undefined Roles
Lack of Upfront Collaboration
Impact
Hard to join the project
Vendors got frustrated
Hard to work with the project
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now
XenGovernance
Canonical dropsXen
RedHat dropsXen in RHEL6
Roadmap& Release Management
Another keyvendor nearly dropped Xen
Technical CoordinationTeam
The Project had to Grow up!
1st KVMrelease
Growth potentialwas limited early
Xen becomesLF Collaborative Project
Outcome: Increased Diversity
2010 2011 2012 2013 (H1)0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
UPC Spectra Logic Redhat iweb GridCentric Calxeda Fujitsu (Misc) AWS(Academia) John Hopkins University AMD Linaro Oracle NSA Intel (Individual) SuseCitrix
Symptoms and Impact
Inwards focus– Not working with upstreams
(branched kernel and QEMU)– Not working with distros
(users are not “our” problem)
Created “pain for distros”
Intercommunity Friction
Introvert Community
Image Problem
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now
The Community had to Open Up
IBM, VMware, Red Hat and CitrixAgree on PVOPS in Linux kernel
Linux Guestsupport for Xen
Linux Hostsupport for Xen
Upstream QEMUcomplete
Activelyworkingwithdistros
OutcomeImproved Relationships & Trust
Xen Developers Care about Users
Xen becoming easier to use
Improved Image in the media and FOSS community
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now
Little Communication!
Focus on events for the existing community only
Enough PapersEnough TalksEnough CommunicationBy enough vendors
Xen Books
Competing Projects Excelled at Communication
Change of Guard
Empty Promises
Blog 1 Person
View of the project In 2011Project became an “invisible man”Belief that Xen is not open sourceSlowed 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
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now
Communication v2
Confidence Building
Community Blog
Events v2
Community spokespeople
ImpactProject perception has changedNeutral to positiveNo more “Xen is not OSS / Xen is Dead”New influx of people to the project
2010 2011 2012 2013 (H1)0
5
10
15
20
25
30Talks / Events / Orgs
CompaniesCommunity
People
Value
A Few Lessons!Governance Matters
Projects don’t exist in isolation
Poor Marketing and Communication can kill you
Good project sponsors can make a difference
A project needs to constantly evolve
How do you solve a problem like Community?
Multi-discipline Complexity
The “Community Funnel ” Model
Follow Industry News
Follow Project News
Adopt Software
Engage with Users
Trial Software
Engage with Industry
Evangelize
Contribute
Customize
Lead
Think of the funnel boundary as apermeable membrane, not a fixedborder
It can take >2 years for changes at the top of the funnel to make a difference at the bottom
The Funnel has feedback loops:what happens at the top can affectthe bottom
Follow Industry News
Follow Project News
Adopt Software
Engage with Users
Trial Software
Engage with Industry
Evangelize
Contribute
Customize
Lead
Control the permeability and shape of the funnel
Activities Attributes Events
Project Scope E.g. Xen on ARM, Mirage OS
Increase the width and thus the potential market for the project
How can we influence how theCommunity Funnel works?
Some items are in your control Others - such as what the competition does - are not!
Follow Industry News
Follow Project News
Adopt Software
Engage with Users
Trial Software
Engage with Industry
Evangelize
Contribute
Customize
Lead
Example: Factors influencing earlystages of open source software adoption
Documentation
Ease of Use
Training
On-boarding
Follow Industry News
Follow Project News
Adopt Software
Engage with Users
Trial Software
Engage with Industry
Evangelize
Contribute
Customize
Lead
More People drop out
Funnelbecomesnarrower
Negative Feedback:vendors maystop contributing
Bad Press
Example: Negative feedback loop
Some Key PointsThe Community Funnel is an excellent internal sales toolReason: Sales and Business people understand funnels
It helps you understand what is happening
It helps prioritize what to focus onCovers the time dimension : some issues take longer to fix than others
Forces you to consider the “Big Picture”
The Funnel I used
Follow Industry News
Follow Project News
Adopt Software
Engage with Users
Trial Software
Engage with Industry
Evangelize
Contribute
Customize
Lead
2011
Event Presence
Ease of Use
Press
Governance
Social Media
Neutrality
WebSite
Collaboration Values
Brand
Documentation Getting Started
Support
Volunteer Programs
Community Programs
Platforms for Self Promotion
Business Opportunities
Communication
Extend Project Scope
Distros Training
Diversity
Follow Industry News
Follow Project News
Adopt Software
Engage with Users
Trial Software
Engage with Industry
Evangelize
Contribute
Customize
Lead
Event Presence
Ease of Use
Press
Governance
Social Media
Neutrality
WebSite
Collaboration Values
Brand
Documentation Getting Started
Support
Volunteer Programs
Community Programs
Platforms for Self Promotion
Communication
Extend Project Scope
Business Opportunities
Distros Training
Diversity
Distros
Volunteer Programs
Community Programs
ValuesCollaboration
Ease of Use
WebSite Documentation Getting Started
Governance Neutrality Business Opportunities
Press Social Media BrandARM + Mirage OS
Event Presence CommunicationEvent Presence Communication
Diversity
NOW
Today FOSS is more competitive than everTo succeed, a wide range of “community” and
“management” tools need to be applied continuously
Thank You!Please rate the talk!
Flickr:“Messy Apartment” by Ryo Chijiiwa
“The Ivory Tower” by Daniel Parks
“Desert Road 9” by LabyrinthX
Other Images:By Lars Kurth
Acquired from Shutterstock
Credits and ResourcesXen Project:www.xenproject.org wiki.xenproject.orglists.xenproject.orgxenbits.xenproject.org
@xen_org
##xen
Funnel:talesfromthecommunity.wordpress.com