community antipatterns
TRANSCRIPT
“Good artists copy, great artists steal”Pablo Picasso
Cargo cults
Community anti-patterns:Best Practices Run Amok
Cookie licker
Symptoms
● Community member volunteers for tasks● Progress reports are infrequent & vague
● “I'm working on a draft”● “It's nearly ready to go”
● When it's suggested someone takes over, the task owner resists● “I'll make time next week”● “I've almost finished”
Causes
● Desire to have things done well● Best community members always over-commit● Truly believes they can make time● Once committed, handing off task is admitting
failure
Treatment
● Set deadlines on tasks, and reassign when they run over
● Make failure OK
Headless chicken
Bikeshed
Mob rule
AlphaMale
Command and Control
Symptoms
● Joint Copyright Assignment● All committers from one company● No public roadmap, unannounced features
arrive regularly
Justification
● Have a company to run● We need to own the code for our business
model● The company paid for it, we should be
special● Community contributions are small
anyway
Treatment
● Define policies for community access to project resources
● Public roadmap process● Exchange influence for control
SmokeFilledRooms
TheWaterCooler
“ShyDevelopersSyndrome”
Fear ofcommunity
Avoid the Big Reveal
Surprise is the opposite of engagementJohn Lilly, Mozilla
Work in a glasshouse
Culture ofDoing
Open Design!=
Design by Committee
Broken window
Symptoms
● Off-topic/bikeshed threads on mailing list● Wiki vandalism/decreased article quality● IRC Signal to Noise ratio decreases
Treatment
● Document Best Practices● Remind offenders early● Spread policing load around
Final thought:Communities are emotional places
Community goal:Create a fun, friendly environment
where people feel safe sharing
