Product Management For Open Source Software    

Nandini  Ravi  |  Gurpreet  Luthra    

Open Source Software    

Help re-unite children during a disaster

Scope for today…

Scope for today…

Need for Product Management?

Maturity

Popularity

Competition with Enterprise Products

Low Cost

“The  most  an7cipated  benefits  of  using  open  source  programs  are  

lowering  governmental  expenses  on  technology  solu7ons  and  decreasing  Egypt’s  soCware  imports,  besides  promo7ng  social  awareness  of  the  

importance  of  using  these  applica7ons.”   Atef  Helmy,    

Egyp7an  Minister  for  Communica7on  &  IT  

Maturity

Popularity

Dilemma of OSS vs Proprietary

Competition with Enterprise Products

Social Impact Space

Low Cost

Balance competing motivations

IT / Engg

Sales, Marketing, Training

End Users

Business Stakeholders

Product Manager

Commercial Model

     

     

Open Source Models

     

     

Contributors

Sponsors Non-­‐Profits   For-­‐Profit  Crowd-­‐Funding  

Users

Tradeoffs

•  More Stakeholders •  Consensus Building •  Coordination •  Motivations & Expectations

Community  

•  Balancing goals & potential cost & time constraints

Funding  

Globally  Distributed  

Global pool of Talented, Committed & Motivated individuals

Community  

Fewer  Constraints*  

•  Innovation & Technology Contribution •  Humanitarian Impact

Impact  

Who is the Community?

What motivates the Community?

Source:  Boston  Consul7ng  Group  

General structure of the Community

Leadership & Decision Making Models

LINUX Rotating Dictatorship

PERL

Informal Models

Apache

Typical User & System Evolution Model

Product Management

The Phases, The Steps & The Characteristics

Conceive Design Realize Service

Product Lifecycle Phases

OSS Vs. Proprietary

What? How? When? Who?

•  Core Steering Team •  Road Mapping (No Rigid Long Term Timelines)  

Concept & Strategy •  Build the Community ü  Website ü  Wiki ü  Mailing Lists ü  IRC Channels

   

•  Diverse Stakeholders

•  Public Requirements Repository –  Tagging & Categorizing for Community

•  Prioritization –  Balance Product Goals with Contributor

Motivations –  How? Democratic/ Dictatoriship

•  Hidden Opportunity for Low Priority Features

Requirements & Design

•  Collaborative Design & Community Ownership “How many Open Source Developers does it take to change a lightbulb ?”

•  Knowledge Sharing- CRITICAL

for lower entry barrier

Requirements & Design

•  Collaborative Development –  Voluntary Signups –  Modularization –  Release early and often –  Accelerate by Co-sourcing? –  80/20 principle –  Commit Approval (Hierarchical / Voting / Core Team)

Realize – Build & Test

•  Tracking / Planning / Coordination Virtual  Stand-­‐Ups  | IRC  Channels  |  Conferencing  |  NewsleSers    

•  Testing – Power of Numbers  

Realize - Marketing & Distribution

Contributors

Sponsors

Users

Community Forums Product Download

Website

Evangelism

Gamification

Social Media Outreach Events

Product Growth & Maintenance  

•  Open Source Projects – Always WIP , Always Beta

•  “It’s not a Bug, it’s a FEATURE !!” – When Users &Contributors Collide

Whose Job is it Anyway??

How can you contribute ?

Thank you!