That's what you're gonna get for letting your developers work on open source

Less productivity, missed project deadlines and wasted money: that’s what you get for letting your developers work on open-source projects. Or do you really?

This talk highlights the learning opportunities that open-source work provides to developers and it will show why paying your development team to spend time on OSS might be the best business decision you will make this year.

Transcript

1. THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR LETTING YOUR DEVELOPERS WORK ON OPEN SOURCE
2. 2 JESSICA JORDAN simplabs Ember Learning Core Team Editor at Weekly Newsletter The Ember Times EmberJS Berlin Organizer Senior Frontend Engineer at @jjordan_dev
3. WHAT IS OPEN-SOURCE? @jjordan_dev
4. 4 Open-Source is a software development model for decentralised peer production PUBLIC SOURCE CODE FREE SOFTWARE OPEN DOCUMENTATION POSSIBLE REDISTRIBUTION DEPENDING ON LICENSE @jjordan_dev
5. Shared development is enabling faster development with higher quality and lower costs. This is causing the software value chain to change. Jim Zemlin, Executive Director Linux Foundation @jjordan_dev
6. Using OSS for your business is already the norm @jjordan_dev
7. Using OSS for your business is already the norm …but should you invest time and money into OSS? @jjordan_dev
8. YES! @jjordan_dev
9. 9 Paid time for OSS is an investment into your team Investing into open-source software by providing paid time to your engineering team to do so is an investment into critical skill development and increasing employee’s work satisfaction, facilitating the retainment of talent in your company. TECHNICAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT Open source work allows for the improvement of technical skills already applied in day-to-day work, and the acquisition of new skills (e.g. learning a new programming language) ORGANISATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT Open source encourages remote communication, is a learning opportunity for improving language skills, project management and organisation skills and a chance to grow leadership abilities. INCREASED WORK SATISFACTION Engineers working on open source often report greater work satisfaction. @jjordan_dev
10. WHY DO ENGINEERS VALUE CONTRIBUTING TO OSS? @jjordan_dev
11. Interview Series: “I contribute to Ember” @jjordan_dev
12. Whenever I have free cycles I try to contribute to Ember, I am motivated by the impact of my contributions, because by improving Ember you can also improve experiences of millions of users that use Ember apps. Since big companies like Apple and Netflix use Ember, in a sense, they are using what you wrote […]. [The] large scale impact of contributions is a big motivator for me. Bekzod Khaitbaev, Frontend Engineer at OAG Analytics in “I contribute to Ember” interview series @jjordan_dev
13. [Contributing to OSS] is really fun. I started by writing, but the chance to learn from others was what really made it worth staying. The things that I’ve learned from other people by participating here help me in my job every day, and not just on the code front… even on the team dynamic level, leadership strategies, and best practices. Jen Weber, Engineer at Cardstack in “I contribute to Ember” interview series @jjordan_dev
14. Engineers have many reasons to contribute to OSS 14 CAREER DEVELOPMENT Technical and management skill development Exposure to more learning opportunities FOLLOWING PERSONAL INTERESTS Work on challenging projects outside of day to day Doing work that has a real impact COMMUNITY Being part of a community with shared values @jjordan_dev
15. 01 STEP 02 STEP 03 STEP 04 STEP 05 STEP Implementing a strategy for paid time to contribute to OSS Increased work satisfaction in your team Improved Talent Retainment Exposure to larger talent pools Improved Talent Acquisition OSS is part of your talent strategy @jjordan_dev
16. 16 IN PRACTICE AN EXAMPLE OF INVESTING INTO OSS At simplabs we dedicate regular time to contribute to open source and engage with OSS communities @jjordan_dev
17. 17 The 20% Time Method • 20% time per week (4 days client work + 1 day OSS) • Create tangible outcome • Share outcome regularly with team and wider OSS community BALANCED • Each engineer and designer is spending 20% of their time on OSS projects • Projects follow own interests and skills EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PURPOSE-DRIVEN @jjordan_dev
18. 18 The impact of OSS at simplabs At simplabs we develop and maintain over a dozen popular JavaScript tools that are used by current or potential clients Work on client projects that use OSS involve work on fixes upstream as well. @jjordan_dev
19. If you pay your developers to work on OSS, you’re in good company Of businesses have >50% of engineers contribute to OSS 67% of businesses already participate in OSS 34% Survey Results “Future of Open-Source”, 2016 @jjordan_dev
20. Investing into OSS development Multiplied business impact Stable and secure products More effective teams Competitive edge in sales and HR @jjordan_dev
21. Thank you! @jjordan_dev Jessica Jordan simplabs.com