silverstripe developer community: a retrospective

The SilverStripe CMS Developer Community

A Retrospective

Why a “Retrospective”?

Part One

What’s going on behind open source communities?

Communities of Practice (CoP)

“…groups of people who share a passion for something they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better”

.

Communities of Practice (CoP)

• Form (or nurtured) organically around things people are passionate about.

• Informal and voluntary (compared to businesses) while remaining organised.

• Humanities first knowledge-based social structures – ancient craftspeople, stone masons, medieval guilds, apprentices.

• The modern day “water-cooler” – exist in business both online/offline even if they do not realise it.

• Social containers for maintaining and growing complex knowledge-bases; rely on tacit knowledge.

Elements of successful Communities of Practice

Levels of Participation in CoPs• Core Group is small (10%) and very active.

Discussion/debate, help define domain/practices.

• Active also small (20%), attend meetups, occasional participation in forums.

• Peripheral is the largest group! “lurkers”, less active participation instead they watch core & actives – learning from them passively.

• Legitimate Peripheral Participation is key! • Boundaries between these groups are fluid

and transient.• Creative tension at boundaries facilitates

learning and participation.

Successful communities build bridges between levels of

participation!

Value

Participating Members• Help with challenges• Access to expertise• Meaningful work• Professional development• Reputation/social

recognition• Networks

Supporting Organisations• Problem solving• Time saving (ROI)• Knowledge exchange• Better use of resources• Increases strategic capacity• Innovation• Retention of talent

Barriers in Distributed CoPs

• Distance• Time• Trust• Social Capital• Culture (both in the community and in the

supporting organisations).• Structure• Misunderstanding the role of technology

Thank You

Now…go talk to someone you don’t know this evening… we all have a common domain and practice

Part Two

Community Feedback

SilverStripeUK MeetupApril 2012, 20 SilverStripe CMS Developers Contributed

• Actively promoting SilverStripe CMS at other meetups.

• Developing the SilverStripe CMS meetups.

• Community case studies, marketing material and resources around SilverStripe CMS, focus on the developers, they will sell it to their clients.

• Developer-friendly documentation and resources,  should be open-source editable by the community.

• Questions are being left unanswered in the forums.

• Encourage the SilverStripe CMS developer community to release modules.

• Clear ways to find and implement modules, let the community edit this.

• SilverStripe Ltd are still working out how the company works with the community. Suggested that they could take a more nurturing/supportive over controlled approach.

• SilverStripe Ltd could focus on introduction to new developers – ensure that they’re helping people at the start then let the community help them participate further.

• Business models attached? Paid Modules? The incentive of revenue would also mean that the modules cost – barrier to entry for new developers.

• Developers can get a lot of credit for contributing, how can we grow social recognition?

• What you put in is what you get out of the community.

Let’s brainstorm

• In your tables (or break out into small groups).• Grab some paper and pens.• Will collect up after 10-15 mins.• Look to collate into shared Google Doc and

publish through SilverStripe CMS community blog.

PERIPHERAL

ACTIVE

CORE

FOCUS: How can “bridges” be built between the levels of participation in the SilverStripe CMS Developer Community of Practice?

My idea for events, activities, documentation, online tools

to help peripheral members become more active