Leadership in Open Source
[email protected]@scottbw
What I’ll be covering in this session
1. What is leadership in an OSS project?
2. Leadership attributes, character and styles
3. Mentoring
4. Leadership communications
1. What is leadership in OSS?
Leadership is really just common sense. Which is why its so difficult.
John Quincy Adams
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader
What is leadership?
• Leadership is a characteristic that can be demonstrated in any role, in any function, and at any time
• Leadership is about the tone of our behaviour, not a set of rules to be followed
• Leadership is not about doing everything yourself
Management is not leadership?
Managers Leaders
Follow Rules Follow Instincts
Focus on getting things done
Focus on getting the right things done
Side with safety Side with risk
Focus on delivering today Focus on articulating tomorrow
Mark Anderson: The Leadership Book
Does OSS need leadership?
“… what is leadership in open source communities? It's accountability. It's shouldering the responsibility for making sure work gets done. Largely that means making sure that those who want to do work can do it - that there are no roadblocks for those doing the work. It may also mean doing the work yourself if no one else steps up. Sadly, many people don't realize this and work towards attaining leadership roles ... This almost always fails in a community ... In short, if there's a change you want made, and you aren't participating in making it happen, then you aren't doing it the open source way.” - David Nalley
Cooperation vs. Collaboration
The genius of open source has been to break projects into chunks where people can go and work in isolation.
Then bring it back and fold it into the project.
This is what makes projects efficient.
Always be thinking about how you can make problems into co-operative problems, rather than collaborative problems.
David Eaves
Management in cooperative work is through leadership
- communicate the vision, tone and norms- ensure appropriate division of work to
prevent deadlocks and stalling- minimize overlaps that can cause conflict- facilitate communication over shared
concerns and overlaps- shepherd occasional larger-scale strategic
refactoring
In summary…
OSS projects are social capital: leadership is about growing and
directing that social capital
2. Leadership attributes, character and styles
Leadership Attributes
Standard Bearers
Establish the ethical framework of an organisation
Set the tone of work by their demeanor
Set the norms of work through their behaviour
Developers
Help others through teaching and mentoring
Take opportunities both to learn and to teach
Integrators
Orchestrate the activities of the organisation
Articulate the vision of the future
ACTIVITY
Think about one OSS leader who you've worked with in the past. How much did they act as standard bearer, developer (of people) and integrator?
Did they pay too much attention to one and ignore the others, or did they balance out these attributes?
Leadership Character
Leadership Character Traits
Demeanor
Visibility
Messaging
Communicating direction
Approachability
Listening
Fairness
Performance mgt
Personal development
Open to innovation
Respecting diversity
Principles
Honesty
Respect
Fairness
Clarity
Openness
Collegiality
Decisiveness
Humility
(Respect for) Diversity
Bravery
Mark Anderson: The Leadership Book
Even more lists!USMC:
Justice
Judgment
Dependability
Initiative
Decisiveness
Tact
Integrity
Enthusiasm
Bearing
Unselfishness
Courage
Knowledge
Loyalty
Endurance
TPG:
Honest
Competent
Forward-looking
Inspiring
Intelligent
Fair-minded
Broad-minded
Courageous
Straightforward
Imaginative
Tanya Prive, Forbes:Honesty
Ability to delegate
Communication
Sense of humour
Confidence
Commitment
Positive Attitude
Creativity
Intuition
Ability to Inspire
OK, so..?
Don’t be too concerned with the lists..!
Take a process approach: appraise your strengths and weaknesses, and devise strategies to address what you see as problem areas
To be a better leader, you need to take your own personal development seriously
Questionnaires and self-tests can bring useful insights, even when they are complete nonsense
Self-analysis
To develop leadership character you should be reflective and self-aware
ACTIVITYReflective thinking is important for leaders - you need to calibrate and take an outside view of your leadership behaviour and demeanour.
Ask yourself:
Am I fair?
Do I listen to others?
Do I take responsibility?
Do I care about other people?
Am I honest?
Am I willing to debate?
Do my colleagues trust me?
Where do I excel as a leader?
What are my weaknesses - where do I know I could do better?
Common mistakes by leaders
Lack of contact
Inconsistency in messaging
Unfairness in decision making
Taking feedback badly
How to Receive Feedback
Leaders need to analyse feedback rather than just react to itavoid temptation to be defensive, or dismissiveavoid dwelling on negative feedbackthank people for feedback - even negative. show you are listening - don't just respond automatically, but demonstrate that you take feedback seriously and are thinking it through
Common problems experienced by leaders
Feelings of isolationDwelling on mistakesBurnoutArroganceDoubt
Are you a leader, or just acting like one? How could you tell the difference?
Leadership Styles
Autocratic
Participative
Delegative
We’ve given you a leadership styles questionnaire so you can find out what your preferred leadership style might be
3. Mentoring
Why should I be a mentor?
Mentoring is a key part of leadership
Leaders are often the beneficiaries of mentoring
Leaders pass on their expertise and develop their community through mentoring
Leaders support their own self-development by mentoring others
Mentoring vs. Coaching
Mentoring is an indefinite, relationship based activity with several specific but wide ranging goals…over an extended time period. The agenda is open and continues to evolve... seeks to build wisdom – the ability to apply skills, knowledge and experience to new situations and processes
Coaching involves ... meeting very specific objectives within a set period of time … mainly concerned with performance and the development of certain skills… there is usually a planned programme with a much shorter timeframe than in mentoring, so the learning goals are usually determined in advance.
(However, often used interchangeably, e.g. GSoC is probably “coaching” rather than “mentoring” according to this definition)
CIMA: Mentoring and Coaching Topic Guide
What is mentoring for?
Developing knowledgeworking with mentees to build their skills and knowledge, either of the domain, or project-specific knowledge
Developing attitudesworking with mentees to develop their demeanor as a community member
Reinforcing normsworking with mentees to encourage specific behaviours
Building commitmentencouraging deeper participation in the community
Key considerations for mentoring
Frequency of contactrealistically, how much time can you spend?
when do you want to be available?
Method of contactf2f, skype, email…
Duration of partnershipdo you want to set a limit? Or continue as long as you’re both happy to?
Key considerations for mentoring
ConfidentialityConsider how you will handle confidential communications; for example you may need to discuss difficult situations in the community with mentees
Setting expectationsBe clear about what you are offering, particularly time and contact commitments
Experiential learning
Adapted from David Kolb’s Learning Cycle
Giving feedback
Giving feedback is a crucial part of mentoringFeedback should be frequent and timely Be as specific and relevant as possible
I.e. “your method names should be more self-explanatory and have comments to help other developers” not “your code is sloppy”
Always acknowledge achievements and progressKeep it simple and concise
Getting started
Nurturing early contributorscan start at any time, just identify a new contributor, and offer to work with them
Mentoring in formal programmesjoin an established programme, or start one up for your project. Established programmes have a support network and processes
Mentoring programmes
Google Summer of Codehttps://developers.google.com/open-source/soc/
VALS Semester of Codehttp://semesterofcode.com/
Outreach Programme for Womenhttps://live.gnome.org/OutreachProgramForWomen
4. Leadership communications
Leadership communication acts
SummationParaphrasingAcknowledgingDecisionsReframingUnblockingIndividual follow-ups
ACTIVITY
Reflect on your communications with your project - can you identify an example where you have used one of the communication actions we've listed?
Questions
Resources
• Mark Anderson, The Leadership Book (Financial Times Series)
• David Nalley, Leadership in Open Source Communities http://opensource.com/business/11/2/leadership-open-source-communities
• David Eaves, Wiki's and Open Source: Collaborative or Cooperative? http://eaves.ca/2007/02/05/wikis-and-open-source-collaborative-or-cooperative/