Open Source Summit + ELC Europe 2019

Knowing what contribution requests to approve or what communities to invest in can be a difficult task. A default upstream-first policy can render in unfocused work with a limited return compared to potential costs and risks. Conversely, having a restrictive policy can discourage contribution requests and block contributions or engagements which otherwise could have provided great value.

In this talk, Johan will guide the attendees in how they can develop contribution and community strategies, both answering what should be contributed, where, and when, and in what communities to engage in and how. Concrete tools will be presented that attendees can take home and tailor to their own organization and specific needs.

The tools presented have been developed in a 5-year PhD-project with case studies at 4 large open source-mature organization, and interviews with 20+ open source program officers, strategists, and community managers. The research is published and available as open access.