Open-source communities, just like physical products or software applications, can be viewed and managed with a product-oriented approach. In fact, product management principles and strategies can better serve both the communities that support open-source software (OSS) projects and the businesses that depend on them.
Let’s get one thing clear before we start: OSS communities are made up of humans—generally passionate, devoted humans at that—and should never be thought of as commodities. Rather, because they aren’t commodities, I argue that OSS community management deserves the same intentionality your organization shows to product management. A business wouldn’t take its product development for granted, so why would you neglect the OSS community that’s fundamental to the project’s very existence?
The world runs on open source technology, but open source communities notoriously face challenges ranging from resource constraints, governance issues, and a dependence on volunteerism, which itself is dependent upon individual passions and constrained time commitments. Executing open source technology well takes strategy—and a different mindset. To be effective, we need to think of it more like a product—dare I say, business—if we hope to achieve an open-source community’s goals..
My career has spanned both product management and engineering, often in an entrepreneurial setting where everyone is building something from nothing. Throughout it all, open source has been at the center. The products that my colleagues and I created wouldn’t exist without the extensive use of open source software. Now at Sauce Labs (whose founders are also the Selenium creators), open source is even more relevant to the work I do every day.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned on my journey, it’s that open-source projects and the companies that depend on them fail to grow if they lack good product management principles and don’t balance business interests with community stakeholders. We don’t require additional contributors, features, or bug reports; instead, what we need is alignment in processes and procedures. This means we need strong and streamlined product management practices and the right product market fit in place in order to accommodate the duality of success in both practices.
Viewing a community as a product in the context of software development means treating the community surrounding a product, such as users, contributors, and supporters, as if it were a product itself (again, not a commodity!). This perspective focuses on intentionally developing a community so that it satisfies customer needs.. The journey starts by understanding product-market fit.
What is product market fit?
Whereas particular definitions of ”product market match” (PMF) fluctuate, the idea is the diploma to which a product satisfies the wants and preferences of a goal market. Product managers know this properly; we spend numerous hours studying tales from corporations which have reached this milestone and, sadly, much more headlines about these that don’t. Let’s break this definition down:
The market
In an open-source context, the market is the neighborhood of people that use the code and care sufficient about your challenge to contribute further code, concepts, characteristic requests, testing, translations, bugs, safety audits, weblog posts, and extra. It may be fairly difficult to determine, however out there market analysis must be used always.
For instance, developer surveys from GitLab, Stack Overflow, and others present nice perception into the various kinds of developer teams and their wants. Just like a product, it is advisable regularly re-evaluate the market you use in to grasp if that market is altering or evolving.
The neighborhood is extremely vital as a result of these are the individuals who will contribute to the challenge indirectly (at the very least a small subset will). We have a look at neighborhood as a technique to give again and provides ahead. What we imply by that is contributions from the consumer neighborhood play an indispensable position within the success of open supply tasks, permitting them to constantly evolve, stay related, and serve a wider viewers. It fosters collaboration, innovation, and community-driven growth. Serving the open supply neighborhood and constructing upon it signifies that contributions will likely be user-centric, provide worth, implement suggestions and iteration, maximize progress methods, and monetize on long-term sustainability. In some ways, this can be a symbiotic journey; an OSS neighborhood could make a enterprise’ PMF extra exact, and the enterprise could make the OSS neighborhood stronger due to it.
Generally the customers of the challenge are very completely different from these with the experience or need to contribute again, which means the customers of the software program could have completely different backgrounds, expertise, or motivations in comparison with those that actively take part within the growth of the software program. It is a sticky state of affairs to be in since you could be pressured to go down the trail of discovering “mercenary programmers” to maintain the challenge in movement. That is one other space to maintain prime of thoughts and re-evaluate constantly; if the consumer neighborhood is just not naturally contributing to the challenge, challenge leaders have to usually consider the choices and techniques for conserving the challenge alive and progressing. It is vital to contemplate whether or not paid builders or different technique of assist are essential to maintain the challenge over time.
The product
The “product” is basically the answer you’ve got created to unravel an issue for a gaggle of customers in your market. My favourite method (and the method of the finest product corporations) to discovering the precise product is to consider it primarily based on 4 key threat elements:
- Worth – Will clients discover sufficient worth in my answer to decide on it?
- Usable – How simple is it to make use of my product?
- Viable – Can I afford to construct the product?
- Possible – Do I possess the talents and expertise to construct it?
Here is how one can implement the important thing ideas that profitable product corporations use in your open-source challenge; Cal.com is a good instance of an open supply challenge that builds with a PMF centered method. Ask your self these questions, and also you’ll uncover the solutions it is advisable transfer ahead. Don’t fear, you don’t need to be a product supervisor with many years of expertise to get this proper:
Worth
- What’s your preferrred buyer profile and persona?
- Who’s the choice maker (it may not be the developer)?
- What downside do you clear up?
- Who’s the competitors? How do you differentiate your self?
Usable
- How simple is it to onboard? What’s the time-to-value to your challenge?
- What friction factors exist within the workflow of your product? Have you learnt?
- How do you get suggestions from customers?
Viable
- At a product firm, you’re solely viable should you can afford to pay individuals to construct your product. The equal is constructing a neighborhood in OSS.
- How do you intend to construct the neighborhood? Is what you’re constructing fascinating sufficient to construct a neighborhood round? Will your personas discover it fascinating to contribute to?
- Are you planning on constructing your neighborhood from the staff of an organization?
That is the place a enterprise mannequin turns into important, and plenty of corporations select between fashions such because the Pink Hat mannequin or open supply managed providers.
Possible
- Associated to the neighborhood, do the talents of your goal persona match those that have to contribute to your device?
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- For instance, we have noticed cases of GenAI tasks that do not align correctly, the place the device is created by information scientists however for builders.
Open-source expertise is altering quickly as a result of collaborative nature of those tasks, elevated monetary assist, market demand, and the power to adapt rapidly to rising applied sciences and altering circumstances. Amid all these adjustments (or maybe due to them), open-source challenge upkeep charges are in steep decline, and the way forward for open supply is at a crossroads.
We have to underscore the concept that profitable open-source communities require planning, group, consideration to consumer wants, and ongoing enchancment, just like the best way a product is developed and refined. Open supply performs a central position in enterprise, however companies are taking actions which can be reshaping the dynamics of this relationship. Attributable to varied conflicting pursuits and challenge licensing intrigue (manner an excessive amount of to get into right here), an “Us vs. Them” mentality pervades the discourse round open supply.
Profitable open supply tasks and thriving open-core companies should not mutually unique. The truth is, most of the most profitable OSS tasks rely upon company sponsorship. Out of context, it would sound callous to undertake a product supervisor’s mindset to an open-source challenge made up of the collective efforts of passionate people.
But it surely’s my perception that maintainers who align the pursuits of each neighborhood and enterprise are those who construct most of the most sustainable, enduring tasks. You are not a sellout, you’re a buy-in.
