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Dealing with the Demands of the Open Source Community

Seth Vargo
October 17, 2013

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.

Seth Vargo

October 17, 2013
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Transcript

  1. DEALING WITH
    THE DEMANDS
    OF THE
    OPEN-SOURCE
    COMMUNITY

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  4. Hey man, how's ________ going?

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  5. Hey man, how's ________ going?
    Awesome, but we've been having
    a lot of outages lately :(

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  6. Hey man, how's ________ going?
    Awesome, but we've been having
    a lot of outages lately :(
    Yea, gotta keep them paying
    customers happy!

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  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...

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  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?...

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  9. @sethvargo

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  10. QUALIFICATIONS?

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  15. WHY?

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  16. 1,000,000
    2,000,000
    3,000,000
    4,000,000
    5,000,000
    2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

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  17. 1,000,000
    2,000,000
    3,000,000
    4,000,000
    5,000,000
    2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
    USERS

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  18. 1,000,000
    2,000,000
    3,000,000
    4,000,000
    5,000,000
    2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
    USERS
    REPOS

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  19. !
    USERS
    REPOS
    1,000,000
    2,000,000
    3,000,000
    4,000,000
    5,000,000
    2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

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  21. 3 Simple Things

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  22. 1. Direct Developer Access

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  23. 1. Direct Developer Access
    2. Open Forum for Disputes

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  24. 1. Direct Developer Access
    2. Open Forum for Disputes
    3. Frustration

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  25. 1. Direct Developer Access
    2. Open Forum for Disputes
    3. Frustration
    Entitlement

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  26. 1. Direct Developer Access
    2. Open Forum for Disputes
    3. Frustration
    Developer Sadness

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  27. 1. Direct Developer Access
    2. Open Forum for Disputes
    3. Frustration
    Unrealistic Demands

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  28. 1. Direct Developer Access
    2. Open Forum for Disputes
    3. Frustration
    Bandwagons

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  29. 1. Direct Developer Access
    2. Open Forum for Disputes
    3. Frustration
    Do this for me now!

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  30. 1. Direct Developer Access
    2. Open Forum for Disputes
    3. Frustration

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  32. HOW?

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  34. HAVE
    AWESOME TESTS
    !
    # 1

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  35. HAVE AWESOME TESTS
    !
    Confidence
    "

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  36. Copy-Pasta
    #
    HAVE AWESOME TESTS
    !

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  37. Avoid Regressions
    HAVE AWESOME TESTS
    !
    $

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  39. ADD CONTINUOUS
    INTEGRATION
    # 2
    %
    %

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  40. %
    ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

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  41. %
    ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

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  42. %
    ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

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  43. %
    ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

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  44. %
    ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

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  45. %
    ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

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  46. %
    ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

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  47. %
    ADD CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

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  49. SHIP OFTEN
    &
    &
    &
    # 3

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  50. & SHIP OFTEN
    Incremental Changes
    '(

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  51. Bug Fixes
    )
    & SHIP OFTEN

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  52. Betas
    *
    & SHIP OFTEN

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  54. BE RESPONSIVE
    # 4
    +

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  55. + BE RESPONSIVE
    This is a really big patch. It
    may take me a few days to
    review :smile:
    ,
    -

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  56. + BE RESPONSIVE
    This is a really big patch. It
    may take me a few days to
    review :smile:
    ,
    -

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  57. + BE RESPONSIVE
    This is a really big patch. It
    may take me a few days to
    review :smile:
    ,
    -

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  58. + BE RESPONSIVE
    Outdated Pull Request
    .

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  59. + BE RESPONSIVE
    Outdated Pull Request
    .
    Apologize

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  60. + BE RESPONSIVE
    Outdated Pull Request
    .
    Apologize
    Is this still an issue?

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  62. COUNT TO 86 400
    # 5
    /

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  63. / COUNT TO 86,400
    Frustration is high

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  64. / COUNT TO 86,400
    Emotions are high

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  65. / COUNT TO 86,400
    But don't let it die (#4)

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  67. 11,230

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  68. 11,230
    11,679

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  69. 11,230
    11,679
    FEELS LIKE SHIT

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  70. 11,230
    11,679
    FEELS LIKE SHIT
    http://harthur.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/771/

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  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

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  72. @sethvargo

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  73. @sethvargo
    Thank you!

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