Blue Lines and Gradients

Kartik SubbaraoConsultant

kartiksubbarao.comsubbarao@computer.org

Twitter: @kartiksubbaraoQuora: http://quora.com/Kartik-Subbarao

Personal Development Insights from Open Source

Paying Attention

Open source is not guaranteed to increase personal development, but it can provide an environment that facilitates certain aspects particularly well

We still have to pay attention

We can attend to, and not just react to external events, and the internal thoughts, feelings, sensations that accompany them

Introspection

Good for debugging software, good for debugging the mind

From retrospection, to read-only access, to read/write access

Self-consciousness is like debugging with the overhead of extra print statements; Self-awareness is real-time introspection with optimization enabled

Reference Paul Ekman and Dalai Lama book on Emotional Awareness

Scarcity

Natural scarcity isn't necessarily bad it can help us sharpen our focus and prioritize

The problem is when we don't examine our assumptions about scarcity

Boston College study on wealth

Trying to fill one type of lack with a substitute

Tunnel vision cravings, fish example

Zero sum game, needing compensation, giving up to get something, transactional

Where does open source fit in turn the page

Abundance

Open Source confronts us with abundance where we previously saw scarcity take as much as you want, without having to give up anything

Not just a basket of apples, but an orchard

When contributing to open source, where did the ideas come from? External abundance discovers internal abundance, virtuous circle

From an idea bank with depreciating assets to an ever-renewing idea mint

Maslow from deficiency needs to growth needs

Give (freely) and take (mindfully)

Giving Freely

Giving without strings attached

Scenario: contributing to an open source project

How scarcity shows up in our community conversations

Gratitude (abundance) vs guilt (scarcity)

http://opensource.com/business/11/4/open-source-giving-freely-and-self-awareness

Taking Mindfully

Experiencing abundance in one area can influence other areas

Taking without compulsively grasping

Being able to leave things on the table, without sacrificing the ability to seize opportunities

Lessons from negotiation focus on uncovering needs and meeting those needs in creative ways

Identities and Roles

How exclusively do we identify with our roles? How exclusively do we identify others as their roles?

How much of ourselves do we bring to our roles?

How Open Source can help

Reintegrating fragmentary identities

Gallup survey on employee engagement with their workIdentification example with vendor/customer roles

Stephen Covey's
Maturity Continuum

Covey: Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own effort. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greater success.How open source helps take us from dependence, to independence, to interdependence

Mutual Dependence

Interlocking pieces, mutual dependence.Can suggest things where pieces are inserting themselves where they don't belong, or otherwise have developed unnecessary inadequacies.Can suggest lose/win or win/lose, rather than win/win interdependenceSuggests complexity, but nothing really emergent. If you're more interested in one area, you might think about maximizing independence there at the cost of other areas

Emergent Interdependence

Also see: http://kartiksubbarao.com/open-source-and-interdependent-it

Each component carves out and holds a space for collaboration. Is capable of addressing that space independently, but can stay patient to see if a better solution arises collaboratively.When all components are put together, that space gets filled with the interdependent gold circle.Interdependence is an emergent property