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5 open source principles that help organizational governance johnpicozzi Tue, 04/11/2023 - 03:00

Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to work with many organizations of various sizes on a variety of projects. All of these projects had open source software at their core, and most contributed what they could back to the open source community. I recently worked on a greenfield project using open source software within a large organization. After the MVP phase of the project, the organization's leadership was interested in learning what led to project success and how they could apply it to other teams across the organization. Upon reflection, I saw similarities between our team's way of working and open source communities and development. The following are some insights into how open source principles can help organizations save money, reduce technical debt, and bust internal silos.

1. Better spent budgets

I recently delivered a talk on Headless Omni-Channel Web Platforms at the Florida Drupal Camp. One of the key benefits highlighted in the presentation was how to save money by implementing this web platform. The idea comes from open source software development. Different groups within an organization can use their budget to contribute features or functionality to a core software or platform. They can also team up with other groups to pool dollars for more complex features. When the feature development is done, it's added to the core software or platform and available for all. Using this open source principle can provide mutual benefits to groups within an organization. Allowing the sharing of features and functionality and collectively benefiting from each other's spending can improve the software or platform.

Another aspect of this approach that saves money and allows for continuous improvement is the ability to test and develop a feature once and reuse it repeatedly. We frequently see this when creating a web platform that uses a component-based design system as a starting point. Users of the platform can reuse components or features developed by other users. Often, these have already been tested in numerous ways, such as user experience, accessibility, and even security testing.

This simple idea faces opposition in many organizations as individual groups covet and protect budgets. Groups don't want to give up their budgets to support the core software or platform. In some cases, differences in priority and opinion add to siloing in many institutions.

2. Reduce technical debt

Many organizations strive to reduce technical debt. Implementing a comprehensive core software or platform and using open source principles can help reduce technical debt. This happens by allowing development teams to think fully about how a feature impacts not just the group building it but the wider organization. This, plus collaboration with other groups within an organization, can help reduce the need for rebuilding or adding functionality in the future.

Sometimes organizations struggle with this type of collaboration and thinking because of internal competitiveness. Some companies foster a culture where being the first to build a feature or come up with an idea is rewarded. This can lead to groups not working together or sharing ideas, fostering silos within the organization and greatly hindering innovation.

3. Faster time to market

One of the terms I hear frequently is "Faster time to market." Everyone wants to get their thing out quicker and easier. This is often a benefit of a core software or platform, as internal groups can reuse existing, tested, and proven features and functionality instead of building their own from scratch. If your group is starting a project, and it could start from 80% complete instead of 0% complete, would you do it? I'm thinking yes. Now pile on the superhero feeling of adding needed functionality for other users. It's a win-win!

4. Release excitement

Another great open source principle that can help your organization is a release schedule that builds excitement. When your organization implements a core software or platform, users are invested in when updates come out. A release schedule and roadmap can communicate this to them. These two tools can help users to get excited about new features and plan their own roadmaps accordingly. It also helps build appreciation for other teams and pride for the teams building new features. This can unify an organization and allow for an organizational sense of teamwork and accomplishment while providing structure and a plan for the future.

Our favorite resources about open source Git cheat sheet Advanced Linux commands cheat sheet Open source alternatives Free online course: RHEL technical overview Check out more cheat sheets 5. A core team and governance

I have found you need two key items to overcome the above-noted obstacles and successfully apply open source principles within your organization. These are: A core team and solid organizational governance. A core team will allow for one group to maintain and manage your organization's core software or platform. It will support the solution and ensure new features and functionality are added wisely. This team can help to reduce the cost to internal teams and inform groups of roadmap features. The core team needs to be supported by strong organizational governance. This governance will provide groups within the organization with a common direction and organizational support to succeed. This organizational governance can mimic open source governance and principles in several ways. The most basic and highest level principle is community and the idea of working together toward a common goal.

Open leadership

Adopting organizational governance based on open source principles can lead your organization to reduce cost, lower technical debt, increase team collaboration, foster innovation, and, above all, propel your organization forward together.

Adopting organizational governance based on open source principles can lead your organization to reduce cost, lower technical debt, increase team collaboration, foster innovation, and, above all, propel your organization forward together.

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7 tips to make the most of your next tech conference gkamathe Tue, 04/11/2023 - 03:00

I recently had the opportunity to visit two technical conferences in February 2023, both geared towards open source software. I was a presenter at Config Management Camp, in Ghent, Belgium, and an attendee at FOSDEM in Brussels, Belgium. This article aims to highlight my experiences at the conferences and to provide you with some tips on how to make the most of such an opportunity whenever it arises.

Have a purpose

Different people attend conferences for different reasons. Some people are presenters of a certain topic or area of knowledge or interest. Other people are attendees that want to gain knowledge from these talks and to network with other like-minded individuals. There are also attendees that are representing their companies. You most likely fall into one of these categories. Knowing what you wish to gain out of a conference is the first step to a successful conference visit. If you are a presenter, it means being proficient in whatever it is you are presenting. If you are an attendee, you should have a sense of what you want out of the conference.

Know the venue and schedule

FOSDEM is a huge conference with at least six thousand people attending it in a span of two days. Not surprisingly, for a conference catering to such an audience, a number of talks happen at the same time. It is next to impossible to attend all talks that are of interest to you. Usually, such large conferences are hosted at a spacious venue like a university or a conference center. Because the area is so huge, the talks are spread across the venue based on specific topics. The talks have a fixed schedule, so you might have to move quickly from one side of the venue to another. The map of the venue is easily available on the venue's website. It makes sense to arrive at the venue a bit early on the first day and familiarize yourself with it. This helps save time when you are rushing out at the end of one talk to rush to another.

Take notes

It's one thing to focus and enjoy the talk while it's happening live. However, your mind can only retain so much. Sure, folks try to use their phones to the fullest by taking pictures of the slides that are being presented (along with the speaker). This is good if you wish to quickly update on social media about the talk that you are attending. However, it's not very effective for note-taking. Usually, the material on the slides is minimal. But if the speaker explains something in depth on the stage, you might miss out on the explanation. I recommend carrying a notepad and a pen with you at all times. You can even bring your laptop for note-taking. The idea is to make quick one-liner notes about interesting tidbits during the talk so you can revisit them later. You can always ask the speaker questions toward the end.

Network and collaborate

A conference is probably the best place to hang out with like-minded individuals. They are interested in the same topics as you. It's best to make use of this time to understand what work is being done on the topic of interest, see how folks solve interesting problems, how they approach things, and get a pulse of the industry in general. You are at the conference for a limited time, so make sure to get introduced to folks working on things that matter to you. This is a good opportunity to gather information for communicating with them later. You can exchange personal information such as email, Mastodon, LinkedIn, and so on.

Make time for booths and swag

Most technical conferences have booths from different companies or upstream projects wanting to market their products and services. To attract more walk-ins at the booths, a variety of swag items are often kept as an attraction available for free (in most cases). These goodies are usually stickers, cool water bottles, fun gadgets, soft toys, pens, and so on. Be sure to collect them so you have something for your co-workers and friends back home. Visiting booths shouldn't be just about the swag. You should use this opportunity to talk to people from different companies (even if they are competitors) to understand what they have to offer. Who knows, you might get knowledge of future projects!

Our favorite resources about open source Git cheat sheet Advanced Linux commands cheat sheet Open source alternatives Free online course: RHEL technical overview Check out more cheat sheets Relax

Traveling for a conference shouldn't be just about work. It is also about taking a break from your usual busy schedule and relaxing. Chances are you are traveling to a different country or city that you haven't visited before. The conference, talks, and technical discussions are all important. However, they are only part of the whole experience. The other half of the experience is the travel which opens one up to another country, its culture, its people, the food, the language, and a different way of life. Take a step back and enjoy all these experiences and make lifelong memories. I recommend finding some famous landmarks to visit at the place of your stay. You should also try the local cuisine, or you can just chat with the locals. In the end, you will discover another part of yourself that you thought never existed.

Write about your experience

Once you are back from the conference, don't just forget about it and go back to your regular schedule as if nothing happened. Use this opportunity to write about your experiences, and share which talks you found the best and why. What are the key takeaways from the conference and the travel? You should document what you learned. You should reach out to the people you met at the conference. You can also follow social media posts on things that you might have missed out on.

Conclusion

Conferences are one of the perks of the tech industry. I suggest everyone go to one sometime during their career. I hope this article helped shed some light on how to make the most when visiting a technical conference.

Conferences are one of the perks of the tech industry. Here's how to make the most of the ones you attend.

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