On June, Thursday 9th I had the honor to be one of the panelists in the expert-led discussion OSPOs in action. The audience was able to learn from VMware, Comcast, Porsche, and Bloomberg's open source leaders to better understand the value of the OSPO, and where to get started. The aim of this article is to encapsulate my key learnings taken from the webinar, to help the open source community on their OSPO journey.
Open Source Strategy & OSPO Key Learnings
🚀 Starting an Open Source Program office means moving from open source ad-hoc to adopting a strategic posture around open source:
It is when the organization becomes conscious of the risks and innovation-related disadvantages that come with just using open source with no care nor strategic vission.
🧩 Not every part of your organization is going to be ready for certain aspects of an open source strategy:
Thats where the OSPO can provide mentorship and act as the strategic partner to advise on how to make informed decision choices rather than accidental ones, adapted to specific profiles (from immature to more seasoned)
🤝 Injecting open source into an organization’s existing processes is a big challenge for any OSPO:
The panelists highlighted the importance of having a matrix of experts (e.g Porsche calls them coordinators, VMWare calls them ambassadors, Bloomberg calls them guild leaders, etc) to infuse the whole organization with a clear understanding of open source. This matrix of experts should be placed into the different teams or departments, so they act as the linchpin of the OSPO, translate its message, and answer questions on procedural aspects.
🧭 Consider Lead by Example a key goal for OSPOs to build trust and thus better adopt open source within the entire organization:
To build trust within the organization across its different teams, groups or departments, OSPO members should be actively participating in open source projects and communities and have representation in the ecosystem.
For folks willing to listen to the full discussion, the recording session is available on the LF Youtube channel and landing page.
What’s next?
The OSPOs in action webinar has been a space where open source leaders where able to share theirn learnings in an open and transparent way with the community, helping each other, and advancing together. Hoever, there was indeed a lot of questions from the audience that we couldn’t cover in just one hour. The TODO Group offers an open space and necessary tooling to preserve OSPO discussions and build new initiatives over the time. It is composed of an open community of practitioners, who aims create and share knowledge, and collaborate on practices, tools, and other ways to run successful and effective Open Source Program Offices or similar Open Source initiatives.
With its 1,600+ community participants and 80+ general members operating worldwide, TODO Group offers global and regional networking spaces, as well as a set of resources created by the community and seasoned OSPOers, to help more organizations advance in their OSPO journey.
Our doors are open to everyone willing to learn more about OSPOs and Open Source Management. Please join our community and say hi!