3. • Who Am I?
• What is this Joomla! thing?
• What is a Leader?
• Effective Communication (my favorite to discuss)
• Management/Representing
• Dealing with Change
• How Can You Be a Leader?
Summary
6. Me: Open Source OVERLOAD
• How did I get into contributing?
• Joomla Contributor 4-5 years
• Joomla Leadership 2 years
• Previously Board of Directors for
Joomla
• Organizer of Seattle PHP User
Group
• Organizer of Seattle Joomla User
7. What is Joomla?
Free and Open Source Software1
2
3
4
Swahili for “All Together” (Jumla)
No paid staff. Only FOSS with 100% volunteers
5 65+ Million Downloads
Fork of Mambo CMS in 2005
16. • Try resolving 1 on 1 (don’t humiliate them in public)
• Try using a mediator to resolve conflict
• Let people know if they are making you feel
uncomfortable or if they hurt you
• DON’T HOLD GRUDGES (hardest one of all, since I have
some…)
• Don’t Blame OTHERS!
• Accept fault and accept being wrong. It’s OK!
• All else fails? Tell them to leave you alone and report to
someone above.
Resolve the Open Source Fight:
Dealing with Conflict
19. • Public Reports
• Financial Reports
• Public Google Mailing Lists
• Public Announcements
• Structure Change w/ Processes
• Documentation of Processes
• Community Feedback
How Joomla! Opened Up Transparency
20. D
“Today, power is
gained by
sharing
knowledge, not
hoarding it. - Dharmesh Shah,
HubSpot’s Culture Code
21. Leadership is not a popularity
contest. It’s okay for people
to disagree and not like you.
22. “The most powerful leadership
tool is your own personal
example”
- John Wooden
23. Want to have a Successful
Open Source Project?
Create a Culture where people
Respect each other.
24. • Be a good representative by exhibiting positive
and good behavior internally and externally
(social media)
• Speak highly of others (and other Open Source)
and don’t put down other people
• STOP THE GOSSIP TRAIN (ask questions)
• Make newcomers feel welcome
• Don’t wait for things to happen (maybe they are
waiting on you?)
• Have fallback plans on changes (if…then..)
Representing Your Community
26. Hiring & Firing Effectively
What? Who made this part of the process for a
large global community?!
27. Hiring• Call for Volunteers
• Interview (Or Rejection Letter)
• Check their forum/social media
accounts
• Hiring
• Look for someone who is
motivated and excited to get
started
• Willing to read documentation
• Not afraid to ask questions
• Training
28. Firing• “Firing” is too strong… the real term is
“Let them Step Down”
• Remind them they haven’t contributed in
awhile
• Give them a chance to continue their
contributions (let them know it’s ok for
breaks)
• Let them know there is someone (or
someone’s) willing to take over their role.
• It’s not a big deal. Tell them you
appreciate everything they’ve done
• Contributor leaving community? Make a
public thank you letter
29. • Mentoring
• Train them
• Delegate your tasks
• Don’t make 1 person a single point of failure, train
multiple per roles
• Empower others
• Listen to those you mentor (what are their goals?)
Create New Leaders
30. Why should we train and mentor
contributors to become a leader?
Create New Leaders – Why?
31. f
Prevent Burnout
Put family first1
2
3
4
Don’t join too many teams / commit to too many projects
Put WORK over Open Source
5 Don’t be a “Yes Man” or “Yes Mam”. Learn to say “No Thanks”
Delegation!
Teach Others How
to Prevent
Burnout!
32. Day 1: OMG WTF HUH? THIS PROJECT WILL FAIL!!!
Week 1: These leaders are making a huge mistake
Week 4: Okay, maybe they know what they are doing
Month 3: I have no idea why this wasn’t the process long ago!
Why didn’t we think of it then?
Process Change : TIMELINE
33. • Have. A. Plan!
• Implement in SMALL STEPS!
• Prevents community outrage
• Prevents resignations
• Adds Trust
• Give a chance for community involvement
Process Change
Good morning and thank you everyone for being here today. I’m so excited to be here today. I’m here to inspire you and help you make your open source community more awesome, whether you are a leader or a contributor.
Many of you recognize these open source projects ** Many representatives from the leadership summit over weekend ***
These projects rely on volunteers contributing *** Project Scales , so does your contributors **
What makes an open source project successful? Dedicated developers…...great code....clear documentation .amazing contributors.... And project leaders!
Developer evangelist for cisco. Was web dev instructor. Love mentoring, speaking, and inspiring others. Generally a happy-ist
Avid book reader and share my k nowledge based on experience and from books on leadership, management, and effective communication. Have a recommended book? Please tweet it at me
Daughter age 5. Son age 7. Want to get both into web programming.
Daughter hates computers. Son is obsessed. Got him a PC set up with dual screen monitors. Own office area. Minecraft. HTML editor. And a domain and hosting account.
< story time > Started as a web developer while in college. Company sent me to NYC for a Joomla conference. Met great people who talked about contributing. I did it because I wanted to make friends and find people to mentor me. Now I am the mentor
I’m overloaded with open source activities. I’m sure many people here are just as involved in different projects. If there are anyone who is interested in being mentored on 1) how to start contributing 2) how to start a meetup 3) how to organize a conference 4) how to build a community, I am happy to offer you an hour of my time to discuss things over coffee.
Thousands of contributors to the project.
3 leadership teams and 65 teams under these
I’m going to share with you what makes a leader different. To be a leader doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a title. Anyone can step up and take action.
I’m going to talk about effective communication, which is one of my favorite topics. I read a lot of books. Mostly audiobooks.
Recommended reads: The 7 habits of highly effective people. Drive. Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Currently reading “The Introvert Advantage: How to thrive in an extrovert world” – teaches about personality types between extroverts and introverts. Great book.
Tell the story of Pete.
Story about Helen
Reasons to follow through: Respect, reputation, trust, help teammates following through.
If you are not a leader and want to be, you can simply do this by taking charge or action with things. Lead an idea. Talk to others about joining in on the idea and get others involved. Doing something is better than doing nothing at all.
Don’t back down from a “No that idea sucks” without getting enough feedback first.
To be a great community member or being viewed as a leader in the community, you need to assume people always mean well. We are all here on good intentions and want to do great things for the open source project. Don’t jump to conclusions and think people are out to benefit themselves or their company. Don’t assume people are trying to “drain” the budget or do things to only help themselves. People spend many hours of their time and use up their vacation days from work to be here to make our open source projects better. Ask questions and learn to understand people.
But what happens if people are not meaning well and having a conflict?
Especially in an open source organization – keep everything open. Have liaisons in teams to help with communication in between other teams.
<story> JED reports – answering questions from upset people. Choice: Community upset long term – or open up transparency and let them have a VOICE
I do my best not to take anything personal and think of it as being professional only. Don’t hold grudges against people who seem to dislike you. It’s okay for that.
{Talk about story of Ryan.}
Lead by example via all forms of communication. Social media especially.
Once people start disrespecting each other, it becomes the norms of the community. The toxicity spreads quickly and more people start joining the toxic behavior.
Lead by example via all forms of communication. Social media especially.
I have seen contributors act miserable and complain. Example:
Negative: “You all are doing it wrong and this project is most likely going to fail”
Positive: “Who can I speak to to share tips on how I think you can improve this project? I have a lot of great information that will be helpful!”
I want to share the process I’ve learned from watching other leaders and from experience over time.
The whole point of mentoring contributors is so we can set a precedent on our future contributors and leaders of the project.
Some of us won’t be around forever. Let’s keep our contributors generating and make our project more successful.
Now that you have your new leaders and more contributors, you need to hold onto them. Work on preventing burnout and sharing the knowledge with others
And remember, saying thank you to others can make a significant impact. Go on social media and spend 1 minute thanking someone for their work. You’d be surprised how much more effort they’d be willing to put