Leading an open source project as a startup
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The document discusses the concept and advantages of open source software, emphasizing community engagement, product improvement, and brand visibility. It outlines steps for creating, releasing, and maintaining open source projects, including legal considerations and community communication. The conclusion highlights that successful open source initiatives benefit all parties involved, but cautions against improper execution.
Leading an open source project as a startup
- 1. Leading an open source project as a startup
- 2. self-taught developer developer advocate MJML product lead @nico_g
- 3. What is open source software?
- 4. What is open source? Software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified.
- 5. What is open source? Open source first ● RedHat ● MySQL ● Wordpress ● Docker Open source on the side ● Google ● Microsoft ● Facebook ● You company?
- 6. Why provide open source software?
- 7. Why go open source? ● Give back to the community ○ Provide the same way you receive ● Improve your product ○ You’ll learn more from your community ● Bring your technical brand into the light ○ Show the industry what your company is capable of ● Hire smart people ○ You can turn contributors’ hobby into a job
- 8. How to create open source software?
- 9. Solving a problem Building blocks Responsive email
- 10. Solving a problem HTML + CSS
- 12. Solving a problem HTML + CSS MJML
- 13. How to release open source software?
- 14. Collaborating… internally Review with your company’s teams the different aspects of the code release ● Legal: you shouldn’t be revealing any information that should be kept secret ● Security: releasing code shouldn’t imply any risk of harm to the company ● Executive: management should be aware and understand that you are releasing code for free
- 15. Choosing a license Discuss openly with your company’s management and pick a license: ● MIT: the most open license of all ● BSD: ~MIT + a clause protecting the original owner ● Apache: more complex license imposing preservation of original copyright notices of change ● GPL: code can be sold but no proprietary software can be derived from it What matters is the legal matter of the license you used, and that the same is used on all software released
- 17. Open sourcing is a living process Releasing open source software should be a commitment. ● Do the cleaning: bugs should be fixed and features implemented, don’t let your project get dusty ● Dedicate some time: make sure that some developers in your company will keep working on the project ● Mind the bus factor: will the project die if a member gets hit by a bus?
- 18. Communicate with your community Your community needs to be aware of what is going on with your project. ● Transparency in the code: your code should be hosted in one single repository, the public one ● Transparency in the roadmap: don’t let your users in the blind regarding what’s coming ● Discuss with your contributors: make it easy to get in touch with you, and even better, use chat platforms
- 19. Make it easy to contribute to your project Make it easy for others to improve your project. ● Document: it should be easy for anyone to understand how your code works ● Use standards: don’t reinvent the wheel! Standards like are here for a reason (semantic versioning) ● Guide your users: tell what you need help on, how to submit an ideal bug report or feature request, and give feedback
- 20. Reward your users for the time and effort they put in Keep the giving back cycle going on. ● Acknowledge: show them you trust them and appreciate their help ● Congratulate: get the community to know about them and what they do for the project ● Spoil them: receiving some stickers or a t-shirt for your effort is a great feeling (even more if in person!)
- 22. What’s next?
- 23. Deprecating the project Be prepared for the natural evolution of software. Explain the: ● Reasons: let your community know why the project is being stopped ● Meaning: what does it mean for the project and its existing bugs ● Opportunities: transferring ownership is always an option
- 24. Conclusion
- 25. A win-win situation Everyone is winning as long as you do open source correctly. But be careful, better not do it than do it wrong!