Dealing with the Demands of the Open Source Community

"Our open source customers are by far the worst..."

They don't pay us money. They don't understand the goals of the project. They don't even say "thank you". But studies and personal experiences have proven that users of open source software are _more_ demanding than those same users who pay for software. Why?

Understanding the "why" will help us discover the "how". How can we solve this problem? Because it's not a technical one - it's a cultural one.

Transcript

1. DEALING WITH THE DEMANDS OF THE OPEN-SOURCE COMMUNITY
4. Hey man, how's ________ going?
5. Hey man, how's ________ going? Awesome, but we've been having a lot of outages lately :(
6. Hey man, how's ________ going? Awesome, but we've been having a lot of outages lately :( Yea, gotta keep them paying customers happy!
7. Hey man, how's ________ going? Awesome, but we've been having a lot of outages lately :( Yea, gotta keep them paying customers happy! No, our open source customers are by far the worst...
8. Hey man, how's ________ going? Awesome, but we've been having a lot of outages lately :( Yea, gotta keep them paying customers happy! No, our open source customers are by far the worst... /me thinks why?...
9. @sethvargo
10. QUALIFICATIONS?
15. WHY?
16. 1,000,000 2,000,000 3,000,000 4,000,000 5,000,000 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
17. 1,000,000 2,000,000 3,000,000 4,000,000 5,000,000 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 USERS
18. 1,000,000 2,000,000 3,000,000 4,000,000 5,000,000 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 USERS REPOS
19. ! USERS REPOS 1,000,000 2,000,000 3,000,000 4,000,000 5,000,000 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
21. 3 Simple Things
22. 1. Direct Developer Access
23. 1. Direct Developer Access 2. Open Forum for Disputes
24. 1. Direct Developer Access 2. Open Forum for Disputes 3. Frustration
25. 1. Direct Developer Access 2. Open Forum for Disputes 3. Frustration Entitlement
26. 1. Direct Developer Access 2. Open Forum for Disputes 3. Frustration Developer Sadness
27. 1. Direct Developer Access 2. Open Forum for Disputes 3. Frustration Unrealistic Demands
28. 1. Direct Developer Access 2. Open Forum for Disputes 3. Frustration Bandwagons
29. 1. Direct Developer Access 2. Open Forum for Disputes 3. Frustration Do this for me now!
30. 1. Direct Developer Access 2. Open Forum for Disputes 3. Frustration
32. HOW?
34. HAVE AWESOME TESTS ! # 1
35. HAVE AWESOME TESTS ! Confidence "
36. Copy-Pasta # HAVE AWESOME TESTS !
37. Avoid Regressions HAVE AWESOME TESTS ! $
39. ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION # 2 % %
40. % ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION
41. % ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION
42. % ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION
43. % ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION
44. % ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION
45. % ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION
46. % ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION
47. % ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION
49. SHIP OFTEN & & & # 3
50. & SHIP OFTEN Incremental Changes '(
51. Bug Fixes ) & SHIP OFTEN
52. Betas * & SHIP OFTEN
54. BE RESPONSIVE # 4 +
55. + BE RESPONSIVE This is a really big patch. It may take me a few days to review :smile: , -
56. + BE RESPONSIVE This is a really big patch. It may take me a few days to review :smile: , -
57. + BE RESPONSIVE This is a really big patch. It may take me a few days to review :smile: , -
58. + BE RESPONSIVE Outdated Pull Request .
59. + BE RESPONSIVE Outdated Pull Request . Apologize
60. + BE RESPONSIVE Outdated Pull Request . Apologize Is this still an issue?
62. COUNT TO 86 400 # 5 /
63. / COUNT TO 86,400 Frustration is high
64. / COUNT TO 86,400 Emotions are high
65. / COUNT TO 86,400 But don't let it die (#4)
67. 11,230
68. 11,230 11,679
69. 11,230 11,679 FEELS LIKE SHIT
70. 11,230 11,679 FEELS LIKE SHIT http://harthur.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/771/
71. 11,230 11,679 FEELS LIKE SHIT http://harthur.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/771/ YOU ARE NOT YOUR CODE #6 0 1 2
72. @sethvargo
73. @sethvargo Thank you!