From Data to Action: Using Metrics to Improve FOSS Communities
328 | Fri 02 Aug 10:45 a.m.–11:30 a.m.
Presented by
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Dawn Foster
@geekygirldawn
https://fastwonderblog.com/
Dr. Dawn Foster works as the Director of Data Science for the CHAOSS project where she is also a board member and maintainer. She is an OpenUK board member and co-chair of the CNCF Contributor Strategy Technical Advisory Group. She has 20+ years of experience at companies like VMware and Intel with expertise in community building, strategy, open source, governance, metrics, and more. She has spoken at over 100 industry events and has a BS in computer science, an MBA, and a PhD. In her spare time she enjoys reading science fiction, running, and traveling.
Dawn Foster
@geekygirldawn
https://fastwonderblog.com/
Abstract
Sustaining FOSS projects and communities over the long-term can be a challenge. Project leaders and contributors are busy people who don’t always have the time or experience to focus on growing a community and maintaining their software. Using metrics is one way to help FOSS projects identify potential issues and identify areas where they can improve their community to make it more sustainable over the long-term. Being proactive about improving sustainability before it becomes a crisis can help make our software more sustainable and reliable for all of us. However, not everyone has the experience or skills required to know how to interpret their metrics and use what they learn to make improvements within their community.
The CHAOSS project has been creating a series of MIT licensed Practitioner Guides focused on helping bridge the gap between research and practice to improve the sustainability of our software and communities. The guides are designed to make it easier for people to draw meaningful and actionable insights using community metrics, even when those people do not necessarily have a deep background in data analysis or much experience working within FOSS communities.
This talk will identify several categories of metrics from the Practitioner Guide Series (e.g., responsiveness, contributor sustainability, organizational participation), discuss how to interpret the metrics, and provide ideas for improving in areas identified using the metrics. The audience will walk away with a better understanding of how to use metrics to proactively improve the long-term sustainability of their FOSS projects and communities.
Sustaining FOSS projects and communities over the long-term can be a challenge. Project leaders and contributors are busy people who don’t always have the time or experience to focus on growing a community and maintaining their software. Using metrics is one way to help FOSS projects identify potential issues and identify areas where they can improve their community to make it more sustainable over the long-term. Being proactive about improving sustainability before it becomes a crisis can help make our software more sustainable and reliable for all of us. However, not everyone has the experience or skills required to know how to interpret their metrics and use what they learn to make improvements within their community. The CHAOSS project has been creating a series of MIT licensed Practitioner Guides focused on helping bridge the gap between research and practice to improve the sustainability of our software and communities. The guides are designed to make it easier for people to draw meaningful and actionable insights using community metrics, even when those people do not necessarily have a deep background in data analysis or much experience working within FOSS communities. This talk will identify several categories of metrics from the Practitioner Guide Series (e.g., responsiveness, contributor sustainability, organizational participation), discuss how to interpret the metrics, and provide ideas for improving in areas identified using the metrics. The audience will walk away with a better understanding of how to use metrics to proactively improve the long-term sustainability of their FOSS projects and communities.