The Importance of Diverse Contributions in Open Source Projects

Healthy open source projects benefit from a diverse range of contributors representing various organizations, which fosters equitable participation. An ideal structure involves a neutral foundation overseeing governance, promoting collaboration from multiple entities. However, many projects are overly reliant on a single organization, which can pose significant risks. Companies that dominate contributions can change due to acquisitions, strategic shifts, financial issues, or even going out of business. This dependency creates an uncertainty that can jeopardize the longevity and stability of the project. Therefore, encouraging broad participation across multiple organizations is crucial for resilience and sustainability in open source projects.

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Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!

CHAOSScast – Episode 89

In this episode of CHAOSSCast, host Alice Sowerby is joined by panelists Dawn Foster, Elizabeth Barron, and Harmony Elendu, to discuss the importance and complexities of organizational participation in open source projects. They delve into how the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides help users make sense of CHAOSS metrics and provide insights on improving open source project health. The conversation covers the significance of diverse organizational participation, the role of community managers, and the challenges of accurately measuring organizational contributions. Additionally, they highlight tools like Augur and Grimoire Lab that aid in data collection and analysis as well as offer practical advice for both individuals and companies to foster healthier, more inclusive open source communities. Press download now to hear more!

[00:01:50] Dawn gives an overview of the Practitioner Guides that aim to help users navigate the extensive metrics from the CHAOSS Project. They focus on single topics to improve open source project health by making data more accessible.

[00:03:19] Why is the Practitioner Guide so important? Dawn explains that organizational participation impacts open source projects’ evolution and Elizabeth makes a point that measuring organizational influence is complex and often not straightforward.

[00:05:40] There’s a discussion on the key factors in organizational participation. Dawn talks about ideal projects having diverse contributors from various organizations, and Elizabeth talks about leadership roles within the project, such as technical steering committee positions that are crucial.

[00:09:49] We learn about the problems that people discover and the solutions to resolve the problems as Dawn explains how they’ve broken down the make improvements section into two different categories. Elizabeth explains how leadership roles within the project, such as technical steering committee positions, are crucial.

[00:12:37] Alice mentions if a project is not crucial for an organization’s control, donating to a foundation, like CNCF, can be beneficial for wider adoption and support. Dawn adds that donating a project to a foundation can help if the goal is community growth and projects should not be donated merely for marketing purposes.

[00:14:24] There’s a conversation on how community managers can help facilitate transparency and encourage open contributions rather that keeping discussions and decisions private within the dominant organization, and they can ensure that onboarding experiences, documentation, and community building are prioritized.

[00:17:24] Harmony talks about the impact of organizational dominance when one organization dominates a project, it can reduce the project’s openness and health and increasing opportunities for external contributions can enhance diversity and inclusion.

[00:19:20] The conversation shifts to challenges in measuring metrics and Elizabeth explains cleaning and maintaining accurate data on contributors is challenging due to issues with email addresses and personal vs. organizational contributions. Dawn tells us about the CNCF using YAML or JSON files to track organizational affiliations and update contributor data, but it requires manual effort to keep this information accurate.

[00:23:57 ] Alice brings up limitations of metrics since metrics alone don’t provide a complete picture, and Elizabeth shares how metrics should be used alongside insights from practitioners and combining metrics with intuition and observing the project directly provides a better overview.

[00:25:22] Dawn mentions to accurately assess project leadership and contributions, it’s important to talk to people involved since not all leadership roles and contributions are reflected in metrics or governance documents.

[00:26:29] Elizabeth inquires if any projects require contributors to fill out profiles indicating if they are contributing personally or on behalf of their company. Dawn explains that she hasn’t seen projects require contribution profiles as a prerequisite, and tools like Augur and Grimoire Lab, with its Sorting Hat feature, help manage and clean organizational data.

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