Xen Project: Lessons Learned

1. Xen Project:Lessons Learned lars_kurth Lars Kurth Community Manger, Xen ProjectChairman, Xen Project Advisory BoardDirector, Open Source, Citrix

2. About Me Was a contributor to various projects Worked in parallel computing, tools, mobile and now virtualization Long history in change projects Community guy at Symbian FoundationLearned how NOT to do stuff Community guy for the Xen ProjectWorking for CitrixAccountable to Xen Project Advisory BoardChairman of Xen Project Advisory Board

3. Open Source: Then & Now

4. The # of Projects is growing Projected More than 1 Projects Million Today Source: The 2013 Future of Open Source Survey Results

5. Free Software to Open Source Late 90’s Today Individuals & Hobbyist's Still about Individuals But, a majority are employees Companies have a huge stake

6. More Projects +Bigger Commercial Interests

7. Massively multi-player beauty Contest Features How many users you have How many vendors back you How you are seen in the press … Different Management Disciplines

8. Open Source Foundations can help you succeed

9. OSS Foundation = Magnify Impact Neutrality / Perception Support Infrastructure Expertise / Mentoring Vendor Network … BUT: You still need to do all the right things

10. Different OSS Foundations Different strengths

11. Case Study

12. What is the Xen Project? An Open Source Hypervisor > 10M Users Powering some of the biggest Clouds in ProductionAmazon Web Services, Rackspace Public Cloud, Verizon Cloud, … Several sub-projectsXen Hypervisor (including Xen on ARM), XAPI management tools, Mirage OS Linux Foundation Collaborative ProjectSponsored by Amazon Web Services, AMD, Bromium, Calxeda, CA Technologies, Cisco, Citrix, Google, Intel, NetApp, Oracle, Samsung and Verizon 10 years old

13. What we will look at Four Key Issues Fixes that were applied (there may be others) Effect this had Magnifying effect Symptoms Consequences for Xen At the end : Reflection & Tools

15. Symptoms Unwritten RulesUndefined RolesLack of Upfront Collaboration

16. Impact Hard to join the projectVendors got frustratedHard to work with the project

17. The Project had to Grow up! Another keyvendor nearly dropped Xen 1st KVMrelease Growth potentialwas limited early Roadmap& Release Management Canonical dropsXen Technical CoordinationTeam RedHat dropsXen in RHEL6 XenGovernance Xen becomesLF Collaborative Project

18. 1st Commits = New Comers 120 Mirage OS XAPI Xen Source: Git Repos + GitDM

19. Outcome: Increased Diversity

20. Contributions: Magnifying Effect Theory: vendor neutrality = more contributors Early indicators:Individual Contributors have doubledAdvisory Board members are becoming contributorsMomentum in new market segments is building Advisory Board is developing a long term project VisionCreating incentives to become more mature

21. Trust+Linux Foundation Membership

23. Inwards focus Not working with upstreams(branched kernel and QEMU) Not working with distros(users are not “our” problem) Created “pain for distros” Intercommunity Friction Introvert Community Image Problem Symptoms and Impact

24. The Community had to Open Up Upstream QEMUcomplete Linux Hostsupport for Xen Linux Guestsupport for Xen IBM, VMware, Red Hat and CitrixAgree on PVOPS in Linux kernel Activelyworkingwithdistros

25. Outcome Improved Relationships & Trust Xen Developers Care about Users Xen becoming easier to use Improved Image in the media and FOSS community

26. Collaboration: Magnifying Effect Significant increase in Goodwill from the LINUX community Working with upstream & downstream projects is easier Collaboration happening earlier than in the pastAutomotive, Mobile, Embedded

28. Little Communication! Empty Promises Change of Guard Focus on events for the existing community only Enough PapersEnough Talks Enough Communication By enough vendors Blog 1 Person Competing Projects Excelled at Communication

29. View of the project In 2011 Project became an “invisible man”Belief that Xen is not open sourceSlowed the growth of the user base Perception: the project is “dead” Constant stories in the press that the project is dyingFirst: Defiance – this is all “Fud”Then: Project started to believe this too

30. Communicationv2 Community spokespeople Events v2 Community Blog Confidence Building

31. Impact Project perception has changed dramaticallyNeutral to positive (example: eWeek “How Xen got its Zen back”)No more Xen bashing Talks / Events / Orgs

32. Role of the Linux Foundation Two very successful Press ReleasesPowerful message (that is true, but was not told/heard before) Linux Foundation ExpertisePress Releases and other LF channelsCoaching and supporting of community members Xen Project Advisory Board : Marketing and PR CommitteeWhat is the Future for the Project?

33. Communicationv3 PR Working Group Community spokespeople Events v2 Community Blog Confidence Building

34. Media Outreach Press clips

36. People Value Community Companies

37. Alignment: Magnifying Effect Within Citrix : via the process of “giving up control”Big enough plan to catch the attention of senior managementForced decision makers in the hierarchy to consider the value of F/OSS Amongst companies supporting the project financiallyForced decision makers in contributors to go through a similar process

38. Lessons

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. Why the Linux Foundation? License & Development Model Linux (but also BSDs) are key components in a Xen stack Most Xencontributors were Linux Foundation members Vendor Friendly Strengths: PR, User Outreach, Events Management, …

41. How do you solve a problem like Community? Multi-discipline Complexity

42. The “Community Funnel ” Model

43. Think of the funnel boundary as apermeable membrane, not a fixedborder It can take >2 years for changes at the top of the funnel to make a difference at the bottom The Funnel has feedback loops:what happens at the top can affectthe bottom

44. Project Scope E.g. Xen on ARM, Mirage OS Increase the width and thus the potential market for the project Activities Attributes Events Control the permeability and shape of the funnel Some items are in your control Others - such as what the competition does - are not! How can we influence how theCommunity Funnel works?

45. On-boarding Documentation Ease of Use Training Example: Factors influencing earlystages of open source software adoption

46. Bad Press Funnelbecomes narrower Example: Negative feedback loop Negative Feedback:vendors maystop contributing

47. Some Key Points The Community Funnel is an excellent internal sales toolReason: Sales and Business people understand funnels It helps you understand what is happening It helps prioritize what to focus onCovers the time dimension : some issues take longer to fix than others Forces you to consider the “Big Picture”

48. The Funnel I used

49. Extend Project Scope Press Social Media Brand Event Presence Communication WebSite Documentation Getting Started Ease of Use Training Distros Support Volunteer Programs 2011 Community Programs Platforms for Self Promotion Collaboration Values Diversity Governance Neutrality Business Opportunities

50. ARM + Mirage OS Brand Press Social Media Event Presence Event Presence Communication Communication WebSite Documentation Getting Started Distros Ease of Use Volunteer Programs NOW Community Programs Collaboration Values Diversity Governance Neutrality Business Opportunities