Building Open Source Communities - Lessons Learned

Facebook open sources at scale. This means that we have hundreds of projects and hundreds of engineers working to maintain those projects and keep healthy interactions with hundreds of thousands of community members. We've found that the key to a successful open source project is how the community is nurtured -from building initial trust to bringing in core external contributors. I will go through a few case studies from our projects and guide you through their adventures in building their communities. Tooling, responsiveness, empathy, patience, and transparency are some of the topics I will explore. You should come away with key best practices that you can apply in building your own thriving open source community.

Transcript

1. Building Open Source Communities: Lessons Learned Christine Abernathy @abernathyca
2. Why does Facebook open source?
3. It’s good for the company Why does Facebook open source?
4. Accelerates innovation Why does Facebook open source? It’s good for the company
5. Accelerates innovation We write better software Why does Facebook open source? It’s good for the company
6. Accelerates innovation We write better software We share our challenges Why does Facebook open source? It’s good for the company
7. 349 repos !
8. ! 349 repos ! 65k forks
9. ! 349 repos ! ! 65k forks 141k commits
10. ! 349 repos ! ⋆ ! 65k forks 141k commits 370k followers
12. ♥ !
14. forks issues commits followers pull requests
15. forks issues commits followers pull requests
16. forks issues commits followers pull requests
24. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data
25. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data 4.6K followers - 1.3K forks - 7K commits - 122 contributors
26. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data 4.6K followers - 1.3K forks - 7K commits - 122 contributors
27. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data 4.6K followers - 1.3K forks - 7K commits - 122 contributors
28. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data ! Impress Me
29. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data ! Guide Me
30. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data
31. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data
32. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data • Releases should just work
33. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data • Releases should just work • Design software to eliminate common bugs
34. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data • Releases should just work • Design software to eliminate common bugs • Use the same tools as your community
35. #1 Presto Distributed SQL query engine for big data • Releases should just work • Design software to eliminate common bugs • Use the same tools as your community • Keep people informed about pull requests
36. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics
37. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics 5.9K followers - 592 forks - 2.9K commits - 83 contributors
38. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics 5.9K followers - 592 forks - 2.9K commits - 83 contributors Part of a family of Facebook security tools
39. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics commit 73a32b June 30, 2014 “Initial commit” today! Sep 7, 2015 Release day! Oct 28, 2014 5000 followers Apr 1, 2015 First massive external-contributor feature
40. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics How do we have 5.9K followers on Github with only 83 contributors? “ is this expected? ”
41. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics •acpi_tables •arp_cache •crontab •file_events •kernel_info •listening_ports •logged_in_users •mounts •pci_devices •processes •routes •shell_history •smbios_tables •suid_bin •system_controls •usb_devices •users •groups •rpm_packages •apt_sources •deb_packages •homebrew_packages •kernel_modules •memory_map •shared_memory •browser_plugins •startup_items most developers and administrators know SQL and will contribute more tables!?
42. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics We now measure engagement differently! Private trusted communities also contribute, just not using pull requests on Github ❤
43. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics CMake Thrift C++11 Plugins Modules Extensions SQL Config Logging daemon interactive shell RocksDB LLVM ❤
44. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics It is OK to focus on a core contributor community! Create a NUX that encourages collaboration and self guides! That may mean tooling to encourage forks
45. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics
46. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics • Analyze your community
47. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics • Analyze your community • Optimize for your community’s needs
48. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics • Analyze your community • Optimize for your community’s needs • Create a great initial experience
49. #2 osquery SQL powered OS instrumentation, monitoring & analytics • Analyze your community • Optimize for your community’s needs • Create a great initial experience • Take time to mentor new contributors
50. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android
51. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android 8.5K followers - 2.5K forks - 494 commits - 28 contributors
52. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android 8.5K followers - 2.5K forks - 494 commits - 28 contributors 90% reduction loading errors
53. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android 8.5K followers - 2.5K forks - 494 commits - 28 contributors 90% reduction loading errors 73% drop failure rates
54. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android
55. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android
56. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android
57. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android
58. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android ???
59. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android BUG BASH ! ON CALL
60. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android
61. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android EXPERTS !
62. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android
63. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android
64. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android CONTRIBUTORS ! Why? Motivation - Goals - Design Decisions
65. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android
66. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android • Be prepared post-launch
67. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android • Be prepared post-launch • Be prepared for translation
68. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android • Be prepared post-launch • Be prepared for translation • Build community experts
69. #3 Fresco Image loading library for Android • Be prepared post-launch • Be prepared for translation • Build community experts • Build docs for users and contributors
70. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React
71. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React 29K followers - 5.6K forks - 6.2K commits - 637 contributors
72. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React 29K followers - 5.6K forks - 6.2K commits - 637 contributors
73. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React 29K followers - 5.6K forks - 6.2K commits - 637 contributors 85% code shared
74. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React
75. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React ! ! ! + =
76. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React
77. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React ! Community
78. A framework for building native apps with React #4 React Native !
79. A framework for building native apps with React #4 React Native !
80. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React ! Community
81. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React ! Tooling ! Community
82. React Native ! #4 A framework for building native apps with React
83. React Native ! #4 A framework for building native apps with React
84. React Native ! #4 A framework for building native apps with React
85. React Native ! #4 A framework for building native apps with React
86. React Native ! #4 A framework for building native apps with React
87. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React ! Tooling ! Community
88. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React ! Tooling ! Community ! Communication
89. A framework for building native apps with React #4 React Native !
90. A framework for building native apps with React #4 React Native !
91. A framework for building native apps with React #4 React Native !
92. A framework for building native apps with React #4 React Native !
93. A framework for building native apps with React #4 React Native !
94. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React !
95. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React
96. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React • Promote your contributors
97. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React • Promote your contributors • Be super responsive and open
98. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React • Promote your contributors • Be super responsive and open • Leverage tooling for efficient workflows
99. #4 React Native A framework for building native apps with React • Promote your contributors • Be super responsive and open • Leverage tooling for efficient workflows • Market your project
100. Best Practices
101. ! Understand your community
102. ! ♥ Create a great initial experience Understand your community
103. ! ♥ Create a great initial experience ! Be responsive Understand your community
104. ! ♥ Create a great initial experience ! Be responsive ! Leverage tooling Understand your community
105. ! ♥ Create a great initial experience ! Be responsive ! Leverage tooling ⋆ Motivate, promote, and graduate Understand your community
106. Thank You!
107. CHRISTINE ABERNATHY
 @abernathyca