Open innovation - What companies can learn from open source communities

@ale_fattorini

WHAT COMPANIES CAN LEARN FROM OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITIES

OPEN INNOVATION

Alessio Fattorini

@ale_fattorini

OPEN SOURCE IS FOR GEEKS

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OPEN SOURCE IS FOR MOOCHERS

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OPEN SOURCE IS COMPLEX

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COULD BE WRONGEVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITIES

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BOOST INNOVATIONOPEN SOURCE COMMUNITIES CAN

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OPEN INNOVATION FROM OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITIES

ALESSIO FATTORINI

▸ Work at Nethesis (Italy)

▸ NethServer Community Leader

▸ Linux Sysadmin and Project manager

▸ Build Welcoming Communities

▸ Connect People and work with Open Source

▸ Prosecco Evangelist

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OPEN INNOVATION, WHAT COMPANIES CAN LEARN FROM OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITIES

OPEN SOURCE ISN’T FOR GEEKS

▸ It’s literally everywhere

▸ Open Source is completely eating the world

▸ A de facto model for innovation

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OPEN SOURCE ISN’T FOR MOOCHERS

▸ It will surprise you

COMMITMENT TO THE OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY AND OPEN SOURCE DEVELOPMENT IS THE KEY TO OUR SUCCESS

Jim Whitehurst


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IS OPEN SOURCE COMPLEX?

NOT AT ALL

@ale_fattorini


▸ Free, Open Source, CentOS based, all-one Linux Server distribution.

▸ It’s accessible, easier to adopt and simpler to understand.

▸ Helps sysadmin have success in IT space by leveraging the power of a Linux server without complexity

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HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY BUSINESS?IF I RELEASE MY CODE FOR FREE

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COMMUNITY IS THE KEY HERE

▸ Open Source is about more than just code, it’s about community and process

▸ Bringing people together and encourage them to use contribute and evangelize your product

TO GO FAST, GO ALONE. TO GO FAR, GO TOGETHER.

African Proverb


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THE BEST WAY TO HAVE A GOOD IDEA IS TO HAVE A LOT OF IDEAS

INNOVATION

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INNOVATION

▸ Having different point of view on your product is essential

▸ How many disrupting ideas can a company like Nethesis create?

▸ Ability to invite the entire world to continuously improve the product

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COMMUNITY = IDEAS FACTORY

▸ No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.

▸ Don’t just look at the crowd. We innovate in, with and through communities

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FROM THE OUTSIDE

▸ Enable the company to look at itself from the outside

▸ Catch your strengths and weaknesses

▸ Who the product audience is

NETHSERVER IS AN OPERATING SYSTEM FOR LINUX ENTHUSIASTS, DESIGNED FOR SMALL OFFICES AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE



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OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY BENEFITS

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▸ Feedback

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▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons

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▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons

▸ Testing and bugs

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▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons


▸ Content

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▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons


▸ Content

▸ Development

@ale_fattorini



▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons


▸ Content

▸ Development

▸ Translations

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HOW TO BUILD A COMMUNITY?

@ale_fattorini

START SMALL AND GROW ORGANICALLY

DON’T LAUNCH A COMMUNITY

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CREATE A FOUNDERS GROUP

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BRING EVERYONE THERECREATE A UNIQUE PLACE TO CONGREGATE

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CREATE ACTIVITY

▸ You may need to manufacture the first interactions

▸ Don’t invite people to an empty place

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BE WELCOMING

▸ First experience is critical

▸ Feel acknowledged

▸ Know what to do first

▸ First post -> prompt response

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BE INCLUSIVE

▸ Create an environment where people feel safe

▸ It doesn’t matter how fun and amazing your project is. If people don’t feel safe they wont’ contribute.

▸ Create some rules and lead by example

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LISTEN TO YOUR COMMUNITY

▸ You will tempted to steer the discussion too much

▸ Be open-minded and be ready to change your mind

▸ Be ready to discuss and ask people to do the same

WHEN WE’RE CLOSE TO IDEAS, WE HEAR CRITICISM. WHEN WE’RE OPEN TO CRITICISM WHAT WE GET IS ADVICE.

Simon Sinek


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BE OPEN AND TRANSPARENT

▸ Introducing open innovation is a huge cultural shift

▸ You will tempted to keep your discussions private. Tell your people to stop doing that.

▸ Try to work out loud

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OPENESS?HOW DO YOU PRACTICE THAT

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HOW WE’RE TAKING CLSX EVENTS TO THE NEXT LEVEL

OPEN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

▸ All bugs, roadmap and development planning are completely public on our github (Input from others to reproduce the problem)

▸ All feature requests are collected on our community platform

▸ Refine proposal, members can start working on ideas

▸ Make beta and Rc versions of NethServer regularly available.

▸ Follow development

▸ Early feedback

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DRAWBACKS

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DEFINITELY TAKES SOME TIME AND RESOURCES

SUPPORTING YOUR MEMBERS AND LEADING THE DISCUSSIONS

WHEN THEY LOOK AT IT AS A TACTICCOMPANIES FAIL AT COMMUNITY

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A CORE PART OF THE BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY

INSTEAD OF MAKING IT

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COMMUNITY IS NOT

▸ Marketing

▸ An efficient short-term strategy

▸ Very small representation of the full potential value

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IT CAN DO SO MUCH MORE

▸ Completely set your business apart from every company in the field

▸ Redefine markets

▸ Inspire milions of people

▸ Give them a sense of belonging

▸ Make them feel an incredible bond

A WHOLE LOT OF MONEYIT CAN MAKE YOU

@ale_fattorini

WILL ALWAYS WINCOMMUNITY-DRIVEN COMPANIES

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THANK YOU

@ale_fattorini nethserver.org

nethesis.it

http://nethserver.org

http://nethesis.it

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Open innovation - What companies can learn from open source communities