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Fostering an "Open-Source" Culture at Work

Kevin Lamping
October 27, 2015

Fostering an "Open-Source" Culture at Work

Even if you're working an entirely closed-source codebase, the chances are high that you're pulling in an open-source project. The popularity of Sass, jQuery, and many others speaks to how well open-source works, when done right.

But the truth is, these projects face the same troubles that many workplaces struggle with. How do they encourage contributions when most contributors only have a few minutes to spare? How do they manage to collaborate on a codebase when everyone lives in a different city and works on different teams? How do they get developers to RTFM?

While not everyone project can be open-source, all of them can benefit from taking an "open-source" approach. In this talk, we'll look at how to foster a codebase and a culture that's open and encouraging to everyone. We'll cover what works and what surprisingly doesn't, all in an effort to foster a more open, maintainable and friendly project.

Slides from CSSDevConf presentation

Kevin Lamping

October 27, 2015
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Transcript

  1. #foster opencss.klamp.in OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE It’s not about This talk is

    not about open-source software and why you should use it
  2. #foster opencss.klamp.in RELY ON VOLUNTEERS Open-source projects How do open-source

    projects get people to volunteer their time? OSS doesn’t have a big budget
  3. #foster opencss.klamp.in STRUGGLE WITH SCALE Open-source projects How do they

    support their ever growing user base while staying adaptable? A projects success can also be its demise
  4. #foster opencss.klamp.in DO QUITE WELL Open-source projects While there are

    a million OS projects that fail, many are outstanding successes, because they overcome the problems they face and are stronger for it.
  5. #foster opencss.klamp.in REDUCE THE FRICTION TO CONTRIBUTE Open-Source Culture How

    do you get contributions from people who are likely already overworked?
  6. #foster opencss.klamp.in PRACTICE EMPATHIC CODE MANAGEMENT Open-Source Culture How can

    you continue to evolve your product without causing endless headaches for those who have helped you get to where you are?
  7. #foster opencss.klamp.in EMBRACE HUMAN CULTURE AT WORK Open-Source Culture Just

    because it's work, doesn't mean it's not human. How do you build a community that’s supportive and encouraging and avoid the politics?
  8. #foster BETTER TO HAVE PEOPLE THINK YOU'RE A FOOL THAN

    TO OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND REMOVE ALL DOUBT. ??? opencss.klamp.in May have been Lincoln that said this, may have been Mark Twain
  9. I do know it was said by Wilson. w. Wilson

    on Home Improvement though.
  10. #foster BETTER TO HAVE PEOPLE THINK YOU'RE A FOOL THAN

    TO OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND REMOVE ALL DOUBT. Wilson W. Wilson opencss.klamp.in Idea is, assume the developers are uncomfortable/intimidated when trying to contribute code.
  11. #foster opencss.klamp.in THE #1 FRICTION IS FEAR Fear of looking

    foolish Fear of breaking something Fear of wasting time
  12. #foster “A leader’s job is to drive fear out of

    the organization so that employees will feel comfortable making decisions on their own. Dennis Bakke ” Assume people are uncomfortable/intimidated. Quotation from the book “Joy at Work”
  13. #foster opencss.klamp.in AUTOMATICALLY FIND EASY MISTAKES Reducing fear misspelled variables

    names, different coding styles, indentation… who uses tabs/spaces, single quotes/double quotes? So much variation in personal style, it’s inevitable there will be differences.
  14. It’s nicer to hear from a bot that you’re wrong

    than a human. As a human, you’re less strict than bots, which hurts in the long run.
  15. #foster opencss.klamp.in USE A LINTER Reducing fear Checks for style

    and code errors/inconsistencies ESLint and stylelint
  16. #foster opencss.klamp.in ADD AUTOMATED TESTS Reducing fear Provides newcomers with

    a set of requirements to test their code changes against Allows much more confidence for newcomers that their changes haven't broken anything Unit, Integration, Visual Makes your job easier, as you can have a better trust that changes won’t break stuff.
  17. #foster opencss.klamp.in USE CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION TOOLS Reducing fear TravisCI, Jenkins

    Allow more immediate feedback. Catches weird things. Easier for reviews. Better trust that process was followed
  18. #foster opencss.klamp.in LET PEOPLE SCREW UP Reducing fear Spend time

    trying to prevent it, but also spend time planning for recovery from mistakes. Expect failure. Plan for it. Embracing variability vs. Reducing Variability Reducing is good for things like code style, embracing is good for things like experimental work
  19. Create a style guide, use a style guide tool Easier

    to get started; can copy-paste example as a starting point
  20. #foster opencss.klamp.in DOCUMENTATION WON’T BE READ Reducing fear It’s tough

    to read all the documentation out there and not everyone has time. Also, many times people don't learn best via written documentation. If people aren't reading the docs, maybe that's a sign that you should try a different form of documentation/training
  21. #foster opencss.klamp.in STILL, WRITE GOOD DOCUMENTATION Reducing fear Docs should

    be more useful to the main dev team, as a quick way of pointing people in the right direction.
  22. #foster opencss.klamp.in MAKE IT EASY FOR FIRST-TIMERS Reducing fear Have

    a list of bugs reserved for first-timers; simple, changes with well-defined requirements.
  23. #foster THE HARD PART OF GETTING INTO OPEN SOURCE ISN’T

    THE IMPLEMENTATION, BUT FIGURING OUT HOW TO ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTE Kent C. Dodds TEXT The hard part of getting into open source for the first time isn’t the implementation of a feature, but figuring out how to actually contribute code.
  24. At first this threw me off. “Only accept from first-timers?”

    Isn’t that a little biased (says the experienced programmer who has had the luxury of learning on the job)
  25. But he addresses it well. He creates the tests that

    are failing, outlines the requirements, makes a list of to-do items.
  26. #foster opencss.klamp.in EMBRACE NON- CONTRIBUTORS Reducing fear Time is limited,

    making a contribution to a big framework takes a lot of time that people with project deadlines don't have Don't fret too much about it. Be opening and encouraging, but not pushy Don't try gimmicks to get contributions. Contests only serve to undermine efforts
  27. Starks have been working 3 weeks on this new feature.

    A feature that requires some common code to behave a specific way. They’re a day away from releasing…
  28. Unfortunately, yesterday, lannisters released update w/modification to code that Team

    stark was expecting to work a specific way. Except it no longer does
  29. Now team in scramble mode They hadn’t told the lannisters

    about their work (why would they need to know)?
  30. The king is just “work the weekend m’kay” and we’ll

    do a “tiger team” to discuss this on 8am monday morning
  31. #foster opencss.klamp.in SEPARATE YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE Empathetic Code Management This could

    be avoided. Issue was two-fold No one responsible for infrastructure code and communication. Infrastructure code being “pushed” out to teams “Infrastructure” could be a style guide/core JS/CSS.
  32. #foster opencss.klamp.in INFRASTRUCTURE TEAM & CODEBASE Empathetic Code Management Need

    separate infrastructure team, even if one person, to manage changes. Need a separate codebase to manage upgrades
  33. Most of the time, the common codebase gets pushed out

    to all the apps on update. You want to get features out there, right? So what do you do?
  34. #foster opencss.klamp.in DON’T “PUSH” IT Separate Infrastructure Pushing code out

    to teams creates unexpected changes if not perfectly communicated.
  35. it’s a bad idea, open source world has figured that

    out. You will break prod with this model. Again and again and again. You’re pushing code out to an untested environment.
  36. #foster opencss.klamp.in “PULL” IT INSTEAD Separate Infrastructure Allow the apps

    the room to "pull" in the code when their ready. This isn't an uncommon model. Almost all open-source projects out there follow it.
  37. Teams go to the common repo when they’re ready to

    upgrade. So app a can be upgraded separate from app b
  38. Then when app b has finished their dev cycle, they

    can upgrade on their own time. Package managers like NPM follow this model (unless you're using the latest flag, which again, you probably shouldn't be)
  39. #foster opencss.klamp.in LOWERS RISK IN UPDATES Benefits Teams able to

    fully regression test code, at their own pace (no weekends) Test changes with small pilot groups If something breaks due to the release, each team has option to delay upgrade until later Ability to rollback an update because infrastructure is versioned
  40. #foster opencss.klamp.in FASTER ITERATION Benefits Able to release code quicker.

    Shortened release cycles, each version change will be more bite-sized, allowing teams an easier upgrade. Doesn't mean code isn't tested. infrastructure team should have regression tests they run. Also doesn't mean app teams on their own, or that the infrastructure team is free to make any change they want. Teams should be there for each other (empathy)
  41. #foster opencss.klamp.in TAKES MORE EFFORT Drawbacks takes effort for a

    team to pull down code, compared to it automatically being pushed to them trade-off of the model and needs to be understood and accepted as part of the deal. Easy to blame pull model; important to look deeper at the problem before abandonment
  42. #foster opencss.klamp.in VISUAL INCONSISTENCIES Drawbacks hardest pill to swallow, effects

    app end-user If your infrastructure code includes visual design, splintering versions means having an inconsistent experience across apps which are supposed to look similar.
  43. #foster opencss.klamp.in PLAN FOR IT If you know you have

    a series of visual updates that need consistency across the site, go through the effort to plan a combined release of these changes. Along with this, get in touch with the app teams and see if you can do a coordinated release for all of the apps. It does mean letting go of the benefits described above, but hopefully this isn't a common occurrence.
  44. #foster opencss.klamp.in PASSIVELY COMMUNICATE Empathetic Code Management Give information passively,

    to avoid spamming inboxes and and save time spent in endless meetings
  45. https://twitter.com/sosowski/status/517005067334205441 Many ways to do versioning, including the microsoft way.

    Other’s include dates. But what if we can send information for free with every update?
  46. #foster opencss.klamp.in Major.Minor.Patch Passive Communication MAJOR version when you make

    incompatible API changes, MINOR version when you add functionality in a backwards-compatible manner, and PATCH version when you make backwards-compatible bug fixes.
  47. #foster opencss.klamp.in 0.10.36 0.12.0 Passive Communication Larger change. Expect a

    little bit of work regression testing and updating code usage.
  48. #foster opencss.klamp.in NODE STABILITY INDEX Passive Communication Allows you to

    introduce new components with a disclaimer. Add index with component documentation.
  49. #foster NODE STABILITY INDEX 0 - Deprecated 1 - Experimental

    2 - Unstable 3 - Stable 4 - API Frozen 5 - Locked Can have an experimental component live next to a stable one Allows more flexibility
  50. #foster opencss.klamp.in UPDATE OFTEN Passive Communication Update regularly, otherwise it’s

    meaningless and not worth it. Mgmt might also not like it b/c it reveals a certain amount of hesitation around code :/
  51. Another form of passive communication is changelogs Change log is

    a file which contains a curated, chronologically ordered list of notable changes for each version of an open source project. Make it easier for users and contributors to see precisely what notable changes have been made between each release (or version) of the project.
  52. #foster CONVENTIONAL CHANGELOGS perf(pencil): remove graphiteWidth option BREAKING CHANGE: The

    graphiteWidth option has been removed. The default graphite width of 10mm is always used for performance reason. Major Release (big breaking change)
  53. #foster opencss.klamp.in DON’T BECOME GOOD AT MEETINGS Embracing Human Culture

    These behaviors build silos by keeping communication hidden. Anyone not at a meeting won’t know the information.
  54. #foster opencss.klamp.in CLOSED-SOURCE CREATES SILOS Embracing Human Culture Unless publicly

    recorded, meetings and emails are “closed-source”. Meetings & emails don’t scale. This creates silos of information.
  55. #foster opencss.klamp.in SILOS FOSTER POLITICS Embracing Human Culture Silos encourage

    politics & discourage outside voices. Becomes more about who you know than what you can find out. How is someone supposed to help when they don’t know the details? Communicate in the open, via github, chat rooms, message boards, publicly recorded hangouts
  56. #foster opencss.klamp.in HAVE A PUBLIC CHAT ROOM Embracing Human Culture

    Slack/Hipchat/gitter.im Chat history that’s searchable Easier for quick discussion. Team can help out, instead of an individual. People can lurk. Allows for distributed/remote work
  57. #foster opencss.klamp.in PRIORITIZE IN THE OPEN Embracing Human Culture Work

    as if you’ll never meet your users face-to-face in real life. Follow a “remote-first” model. https://www.getdonedone.com/remote-first-approach-workplace/
  58. #foster opencss.klamp.in COMMUNICATE PRIORITIZATION Embracing Human Culture Some people assume

    that because you're in the same company, you have the same priorities as them (and will therefore do their work for them). You (and your management) need to have a strategy for this. If not, all new work will halt while you hand-hold teams.
  59. #foster opencss.klamp.in GROW THE BACKLOG Embracing Human Culture Don't fear

    an endless backlog. It's okay to have too much work to do. It’s better to track the work than forget it.
  60. #foster opencss.klamp.in LEAVE TIME TO WRITE Embracing Human Culture Blog

    posts. Weekly ‘write ups’. A-ha’s. Keep a history of why decisions were made, you'll forget why a month later otherwise when someone asks.
  61. Example blog post from the lead maintainer of EmberJS. Will

    be handy reference for future prioritization.
  62. #foster opencss.klamp.in CODE REVIEW TIMELINES Embracing Human Culture If you

    know you don't have time to review a PR right away, make a quick comment saying so. Everyone understands people get busy Bigger PRs require more time, and likely more cycles of feedback. Make sure both sides understand this. Same for emails/other communication
  63. #foster opencss.klamp.in CONSTANTLY SEEK FEEDBACK Embracing Human Culture People have

    a tendency to hold back “small things” until the become big. Talk about importance of “small things”. It takes time to build rapport with contributors.
  64. #foster opencss.klamp.in BE THANKFUL FOR CRITICISM Embracing Human Culture Story:

    I asked for feedback on a change, didn't receive any, until someone commented the change will "suck the soul out of the codebase" I could be upset about the rudeness, or I could be empathetic towards the person. Most (myself included) want to hide feelings; hold them in until they can't It may feel good/righteous to call someone out, but it doesn't promote a healthy project ecosystem
  65. #foster WE’VE PAID PEOPLE FOR THEIR HANDS FOR YEARS, AND

    THEY WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THEIR HEADS AND HEARTS FOR FREE IF WE’D ONLY ASKED. Bob Chapman, Truly Human Leadership opencss.klamp.in Contributors are volunteers when it comes to their ideas. You can't force good behavior. You have to foster it.
  66. #foster opencss.klamp.in BE A GOOD OPEN- SOURCE CITIZEN How to

    If you’re not an maintainer, you can still contribute well
  67. #foster opencss.klamp.in READ THE DOCS Be a good open-source citizen

    read the contributing guide, changelogs, etc If they suck, contribute your own (or at least mention it as an issue)
  68. #foster opencss.klamp.in ASK IN THE OPEN Be a good open-source

    citizen ask questions in the open (chat rooms, forums) if you’re comfortable lurkers, latecomers benefit Automatically turned in to “docs” (if chat history searchable)
  69. #foster opencss.klamp.in TEST CHANGES Be a good open-source citizen Hardest

    part of updating is testing Test on your machine, for changes you (or others) have made Needs lots of Quality Assurance
  70. #foster opencss.klamp.in PROVIDE FEEDBACK Be a good open-source citizen Make

    sure there is a good rapport Be objective with feedback Talk with feelings: “this change gives me a weird feeling” (non-judgemental, doesn’t say that it’s wrong, just that it feels wrong)
  71. #foster opencss.klamp.in CONTRIBUTE YOUR BEST Be a good open-source citizen

    Don’t worry about contributing what’s “most needed” We need passionate people Find what motivates you and chase it Don’t prioritize for the project owner, prioritize for yourself
  72. #foster opencss.klamp.in BE PATIENT & GIVE HUGS Be a good

    open-source citizen Don’t have to be physical hugs; it never hurts to say thanks and show appreciation, or be an empathetic ear to a maintainer who needs to vent
  73. #foster OPEN-SOURCE CULTURE SUMMARY ▸Reduce friction to contribute ▸Practice empathetic

    code management ▸Embrace the human community ▸Be a good open-source citizen
  74. #foster RESOURCES BOOKS ▸ Creativity, Inc ▸ Joy at Work

    ▸ Why Motivating People Doesn't Work… and What Does
  75. #foster RESOURCES TOOLS ▸ eslint.org ▸ stylelint.io ▸ travis-ci.org ▸

    semantic-release ▸ conventional-changelog ▸ waffle.io/Trello ▸ Gitter.im
  76. #foster RESOURCES PODCASTS ▸ Preaccident Investigation ▸ The Future of

    Work ▸ Western Devs Episode: Internal Open Source
  77. #foster RESOURCES LINKS ▸ The Pull Request Hack ▸ Turds

    aren’t always turds ▸ Using Open Source Methods in a Private Company ▸ Internal Open Source: Changing Internal Culture For The Better (Presentation) ▸ Bring Kindness back to Open Source ▸ First-Timers Only ▸ And more at http://openresources.klamp.in