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Leading anopensourceproject oscon2016
The document discusses how to lead an open source project. It begins by introducing the speaker and what Joomla is. It then discusses what makes a good leader, including effective communication, following through on commitments, dealing with conflict respectfully, and representing the community positively. The document also covers management topics like transparency, hiring/firing processes, preventing burnout, and handling process changes gradually with community input. The overall message is that open leadership requires communication, respect, transparency and empowering others.
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Leading anopensourceproject oscon2016
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- 3. • Who AmI? • What is this Joomla thing? • What is a Leader? • Effective Communication (my favorite to discuss) (encouragement/thank you/follow through) • *Management/Representation (transparency/hiring/firing/prevent burnout) • *Dealing with Change • How Can You Be a Leader? Summary
- 4. I’m Tessa Mero DeveloperEvangelist, Cisco @tessamero Teacher, Mentor, Speaker, and a Happy-ist
- 6. Me: Open SourceOVERLOAD • Joomla Contributor 4-5 years • Joomla Leadership 2 years • Previously Board of Directors for Joomla • Organizer of Seattle PHP User Group • Organizer of Seattle Joomla User Group
- 7. What is Joomla? Freeand Open Source Software1 2 3 4 Swahili for “All Together” (Jumla) No paid staff. Only FOSS with 100% volunteers 5 65+ Million Downloads Fork of Mambo CMS in 2005
- 9. What is aLeader?
- 10. Effective Communication Demonstrate leadershipwith communication and listening to your community
- 12. Following Through • Myfriend Helen… (Following through with community integration) • Respect • Reputation • Trust • Help Others
- 13. Take Charge /Action
- 14. Assume people meanwell until proven otherwise.
- 16. • Try resolving1 on 1 (don’t humiliate them in public) • Try using a mediator to resolve conflict • Let people know if they are making you feel uncomfortable or if they hurt you • DON’T HOLD GRUDGES (hardest one of all, since I have some…) • Don’t Blame OTHERS! • Accept fault and accept being wrong. It’s OK! Resolve the Open Source Fight: Dealing with Conflict
- 17. Management/Representation The importance of transparency,hiring/firing, preventing burnout, and representing your community
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- 19. • Public Reports •Financial Reports • Public Google Mailing Lists • Public Announcements • Structure Change w/ Processes • Documentation of Processes • Community Feedback How Joomla! Opened Up Transparency
- 20. D “Today, power is gainedby sharing knowledge, not hoarding it. - Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot’s Culture Code
- 21. Leadership is nota popularity contest. It’s okay for people to disagree and not like you.
- 22. “The most powerfulleadership tool is your own personal example” - John Wooden
- 23. Want to havea Successful Open Source Project? Create a Culture where people Respect each other.
- 24. • Be agood representative by exhibiting positive and good behavior internally and externally (social media) • Speak highly of others (and other Open Source) and don’t put down other people • Make newcomers feel welcome • Don’t wait for things to happen (maybe they are waiting on you?) • Have fallback plans on changes (if…then..) Representing Your Community
- 25. Invest in beingmotivating, not miserable
- 26. Hiring & FiringEffectively What? Who made this part of the process for a large global community?!
- 27. Hiring• Call forVolunteers • Interview (Or Rejection Letter) • Hiring • Look for someone who is motivated and excited to get started • Willing to read documentation • Not afraid to ask questions • Training
- 28. Firing• “Firing” istoo strong… the real term is “Let them Step Down” • Remind them they haven’t contributed in awhile • Give them a chance to continue their contributions (let them know it’s ok for breaks) • Let them know there is someone (or someone’s) willing to take over their role. • It’s not a big deal. Tell them you appreciate everything they’ve done • Contributor leaving community? Make a public thank you letter
- 29. • Mentoring • Trainthem • Delegate your tasks • Don’t make 1 person a single point of failure, train multiple per roles • Empower others • Listen to those you mentor (what are their goals?) Create New Leaders
- 30. Why should wetrain and mentor contributors to become a leader? Create New Leaders – Why?
- 31. f Prevent Burnout Put familyfirst1 2 3 4 Don’t join too many teams / commit to too many projects Put WORK over Open Source 5 Don’t be a “Yes Man” or “Yes Mam”. Learn to say “No Thanks” Delegation! Teach Others How to Prevent Burnout!
- 32. Day 1: OMGWTF HUH? Week 1: These leaders are making a huge mistake Week 4: Okay, maybe they know what they are doing Month 3: I have no idea why this wasn’t the process long ago! Why didn’t we think of it then? Process Change : TIMELINE
- 33. • Have. A.Plan! • Implement in SMALL STEPS! • Prevents community outrage • Prevents resignations • Adds Trust • Give a chance for community involvement Process Change
- 34. Saying Thank Youto others can make a significant impact
- 35.
Editor's Notes
- #2 Good morning and thank you everyone for being here today. I’m so excited to be here today. I’m here to inspire you and help you make your open source community more awesome, whether you are a leader or a contributor.
- #3 I’m sure many of you recognize these open source software logo’s. There may even be representatives here that represent some of these. There are countless open source projects out there and many of them relying on volunteers contributing their time. When your project scales and you have more people using it, you’ll need to scale out your contributors. What makes an open source project successful? Dedicated developers…...great code.....amazing contributors.... And project leaders!
- #5 Developer evangelist for cisco. Was web dev instructor. Love mentoring, speaking, and inspiring others. Generally a happy-ist Avid book reader and share my k nowledge based on experience and from books on leadership, management, and effective communication. Have a recommended book? Please tweet it at me
- #7 I’m overloaded with open source activities. I’m sure many people here are just as involved in different projects. If there are anyone who is interested in being mentored on 1) how to start contributing 2) how to start a meetup 3) how to organize a conference 4) how to build a community, I am happy to offer you an hour of my time to discuss things over coffee.
- #8 Also mention 65+ teams in the organization and 3 leadership teams.
- #9 3 leadership teams and 65 teams under these
- #10 I’m going to share with you what makes a leader different. To be a leader doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a title. Anyone can step up and take action.
- #12 Tell the story of Pete.
- #13 Story about Helen Reasons to follow through: Respect, reputation, trust, help teammates following through.
- #14 If you are not a leader and want to be, you can simply do this by taking charge or action with things. Lead an idea. Talk to others about joining in on the idea and get others involved. Doing something is better than doing nothing at all.
- #15 To be a great community member or being viewed as a leader in the community, you need to assume people always mean well. We are all here on good intentions and want to do great things for the open source project. Don’t jump to conclusions and think people are out to benefit themselves or their company. Don’t assume people are trying to “drain” the budget or do things to only help themselves. People spend many hours of their time and use up their vacation days from work to be here to make our open source projects better. Ask questions and learn to understand people.
- #16 But what happens if people are not meaning well and having a conflict?
- #19 Especially in an open source organization – keep everything open. Have liaisons in teams to help with communication in between other teams. Use public reports.
- #22 Talk about story of Ryan.
- #23 Lead by example via all forms of communication. Social media especially.
- #25 Lead by example via all forms of communication. Social media especially.
- #27 I want to share the process I’ve learned from watching other leaders and from experience over time.
- #31 The whole point of mentoring contributors is so we can set a precedent on our future contributors and leaders of the project. Some of us won’t be around forever. Let’s keep our contributors generating and make our project more successful.
- #32 Now that you have your new leaders and more contributors, you need to hold onto them. Work on preventing burnout and sharing the knowledge with others
- #35 And remember, saying thank you to others can make a significant impact. Go on social media and spend 1 minute thanking someone for their work. You’d be surprised how much more effort they’d be willing to put
- #36 So I’m going to close this with a “THANK YOU”