Lars Kurth: Community Manager for Xen Project and Citrix Open Source Director
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Lars Kurth is the community manager of the Xen Project and chairman of the Xen Project Advisory Board. He has a long history of working on open source projects including roles at Symbian Foundation. The document discusses the history and evolution of the Xen Project, including key issues it faced such as undefined roles, lack of roadmap management, and poor communication. It describes how becoming a Linux Foundation collaborative project and applying various community management techniques helped address these issues and improve the project's perception, collaboration, and growth over time.
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Lars Kurth: Community Manager for Xen Project and Citrix Open Source Director
- 1. Lars Kurth Community Manger, Xen Project Chairman, Xen Project Advisory Board Director, Open Source, Citrix lars_kurth
- 2. Was a contributor to various projects Worked in parallel computing, tools, mobile and now virtualization Long history in change projects Community guy at Symbian Foundation Learned how NOT to do stuff Community guy for the Xen Project Working for Citrix Accountable to Xen Project Advisory Board Chairman of Xen Project Advisory Board
- 4. 250000 150000 More than 1 Projects Million Today 100000 Projected 200000 50000 0 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 Source: The 2013 Future of Open Source Survey Results
- 5. Late 90’s Today Individuals & Hobbyist's Still about Individuals But, a majority are employees Companies have a huge stake
- 7. Features How many users you have How many vendors back you How you are seen in the press … Different Management Disciplines
- 8. can help you succeed
- 9. Neutrality / Perception Support Infrastructure Expertise / Mentoring Vendor Network … BUT: You still need to do all the right things
- 11. Case Study
- 12. An Open Source Hypervisor > 10M Users Powering some of the biggest Clouds in Production Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Public Cloud, Terremark, … Several sub-projects Xen Hypervisor (including Xen on ARM), XAPI management tools, Mirage OS Linux Foundation Collaborative Project Sponsored by Amazon Web Services, AMD, Bromium, Calxeda, CA Technologies, Cisco, Citrix, Google, Intel, NetApp, Oracle, Samsung and Verizon 10 years old
- 13. Four Key Issues Symptoms Consequences for Xen Fixes that were applied Effect this had (there may be others) At the end : Reflection & Tools Magnifying effect
- 15. Unwritten Rules Undefined Roles Lack of Upfront Collaboration
- 16. Hard to join the project Vendors got frustrated Hard to work with the project
- 17. Another key vendor nearly dropped Xen Growth potential was limited early Roadmap & Release Management 1st KVM release Canonical drops Xen RedHat drops Xen in RHEL6 Technical Coordination Team Xen Governance Xen becomes LF Collaborative Project 2003 2004 2005 Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
- 18. 120 Mirage OS XAPI Xen 2003 2004 Source: Git Repos + GitDM 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013(Q3)
- 19. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2010 UPC GridCentric AWS Linaro (Individual) 2011 Spectra Logic Calxeda (Academia) Oracle Suse 2012 Redhat Fujitsu John Hopkins University NSA Citrix 2013 (H1) iweb (Misc) AMD Intel
- 20. Theory: vendor neutrality = more contributors Early indicators: Individual Contributors have doubled Advisory Board members are becoming contributors Momentum in new market segments is building Advisory Board is developing a long term project Vision Creating incentives to become more mature
- 23. Created “pain for distros” Inwards focus – Not working with upstreams (branched kernel and QEMU) – Not working with distros (users are not “our” problem) Intercommunity Friction Introvert Community Image Problem
- 24. Linux Host support for Xen Upstream QEMU complete Linux Guest support for Xen IBM, VMware, Red Hat and Citrix Agree on PVOPS in Linux kernel Actively working with distros 2003 2004 2005 Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
- 25. Improved Relationships & Trust Xen Developers Care about Users Xen becoming easier to use Improved Image in the media and FOSS community
- 26. Significant increase in Goodwill from the LINUX community Working with upstream & downstream projects is easier Collaboration happening earlier than in the past Automotive, Mobile, Embedded
- 28. Empty Promises Change of Guard Focus on events for the existing community only Blog Enough Papers Enough Talks Enough Communication By enough vendors 1 Person Competing Projects Excelled at Communication 2003 2004 2005 Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
- 29. Project became an “invisible man” Belief that Xen is not open source Slowed the growth of the user base Perception: the project is “dead” Constant stories in the press that the project is dying First: Defiance – this is all “Fud” Then: Project started to believe this too
- 30. Community spokespeople Events v2 Community Blog Confidence Building 2003 2004 2005 Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
- 31. Project perception has changed dramatically Neutral to positive (example: eWeek “How Xen got its Zen back”) No more Xen bashing Talks / Events / Orgs 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 (Q3)
- 32. Two very successful Press Releases Powerful message (that is true, but was not told/heard before) Linux Foundation Expertise Press Releases and other LF channels Coaching and supporting of community members Xen Project Advisory Board : Marketing and PR Committee What is the Future for the Project?
- 33. PR Working Group Community spokespeople Events v2 Community Blog Confidence Building 2003 2004 2005 Developer list traffic : Q3 2003 - now 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
- 34. Press clips 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Q4 2012 Q1 2013 Q2 2013 Q3 2013
- 37. Within Citrix : via the process of “giving up control” Big enough plan to catch the attention of senior management Forced decision makers in the hierarchy to consider the value of F/OSS Amongst companies supporting the project financially Forced decision makers in contributors to go through a similar process
- 39. Governance and Neutrality Matter Projects don’t exist in isolation Poor Marketing and Communication can kill you Good project sponsors can make a difference Being part of a Foundation can make a big difference A project needs to constantly evolve
- 40. License & Development Model Linux (but also BSDs) are key components in a Xen stack Most Xen contributors were Linux Foundation members Vendor Friendly Strengths: PR, User Outreach, Events Management, …
- 43. Follow Industry News Follow Project News Trial Software Think of the funnel boundary as a permeable membrane, not a fixed border Adopt Software Engage with Users It can take >2 years for changes at the top of the funnel to make a difference at the bottom Engage with Industry Evangelize Customize Contribute Lead The Funnel has feedback loops: what happens at the top can affect the bottom
- 44. Project Scope Follow Industry News E.g. Xen on ARM, Mirage OS Increase the width and thus the potential market for the project Follow Project News Trial Software Activities Attributes Events Adopt Software Control the permeability and shape of the funnel Engage with Users Some items are in your control Others - such as what the competition does - are not! Engage with Industry Evangelize Customize Contribute Lead How can we influence how the Community Funnel works?
- 45. Follow Industry News Follow Project News Trial Software Adopt Software On-boarding Documentation Ease of Use Engage with Users Training Engage with Industry Evangelize Customize Contribute Lead Example: Factors influencing early stages of open source software adoption
- 46. Follow Industry News Bad Press Follow Project News Trial Software Funnel becomes narrower Adopt Software More People drop out Engage with Users Engage with Industry Evangelize Example: Negative feedback loop Customize Contribute Lead Negative Feedback: vendors may stop contributing
- 47. The Community Funnel is an excellent internal sales tool Reason: Sales and Business people understand funnels It helps you understand what is happening It helps prioritize what to focus on Covers the time dimension : some issues take longer to fix than others Forces you to consider the “Big Picture”
- 49. Extend Project Scope Press Follow Industry News Event Presence Follow Project News WebSite Trial Software Ease of Use Adopt Software Evangelize Documentation Distros Getting Started Training Volunteer Programs 2011 Community Programs Customize Platforms for Self Promotion Contribute Collaboration Lead Communication Support Engage with Users Engage with Industry Social Media Governance Values Neutrality Diversity Business Opportunities Brand
- 50. Extend + Mirage OS ARM Project Scope Press Follow Industry News Event Presence Follow Project News WebSite Trial Software Ease of Use Adopt Software Evangelize Documentation Distros Getting Started Training Volunteer Programs NOW Community Programs Customize Platforms for Self Promotion Contribute Collaboration Lead Communication Support Engage with Users Engage with Industry Social Media Governance Values Neutrality Diversity Business Opportunities Brand
- 51. Extend + Mirage OS ARM Project Scope Press Follow Industry News Event Presence Follow Project News WebSite Trial Software Ease of Use Adopt Software Evangelize Getting Started Training Volunteer Programs NOW Community Programs Customize Platforms for Self Promotion Contribute Collaboration Lead Communication Documentation Distros Brand Support Engage with Users Engage with Industry Social Media Governance Values Neutrality Diversity Business Opportunities (areas that so far benefited from being in the Linux Foundation)
- 52. To succeed, a wide range of “community” and “management” tools need to be applied continuously
- 53. Please rate the talk on slideshare or twitter www.slideshare.net/xen_com_mgr/
- 54. Flickr: Xen Project: “Messy Apartment” by Ryo Chijiiwa www.xenproject.org wiki.xenproject.org lists.xenproject.org xenbits.xenproject.org “The Ivory Tower” by Daniel Parks “Desert Road 9” by LabyrinthX “Cotton Plant” by Aileen @xen_org “Giant Sequoia Trees” by Raj ##xen “Damselfly caught in sundew” by Mysserli Other Images: By Lars Kurth or aquired Funnel: talesfromthecommunity.wordpress.com