Nercomp PM Connect Proposal
The OSI Board has reached out to Nercomp and PM Connect about possibly presenting on topics related to open source. This page provides a space to develop an outline for those presentations. It is recommended we present on the same topic for both groups.
Both of these groups' members are concerned with the identification, adoption, management of open source software as well as how they and their organizations may participate within open source communities. The audiences will include:
Nercomp (Monday, April 28th): Higher education professionals using technology in support of academic institutions (both teaching and learning and administrative)
- C-level IT professionals (CFO, CIO, CTO)
- Directors of IT departments/programs
- IT Project managers
- Application administrators
- Educational technologists
- Faculty and other educators
- Academic/administrative technology end-users
PM Connect (Thursday, May 1st): Government and public sector professionals managing technology in support of state agencies and offices.
- C-level IT professionals (CFO, CIO, CTO)
- Directors of IT departments/programs
- IT Project managers
- Application administrators
- Operational/Staff technologists
- Systems/application/technology end-users
It is recommended our presentation cover these issues.
The presentation should be about 2 hours.
(It's a wiki, please feel free to improve)
Draft Outline - Open Source: Identifying, Implementing & Engaging
7:30am -- 9:00am Registration and Coffee
9:00am -- 9:15am Welcome and Introductions
Speaker: Patrick Masson, OSI General Manager
9:15am -- 9:45am Simon Phipps, OSI Board President
Open Source Development, Community and Practice - Mr. Phipps will explain a conceptual framework--where open source is an expression of a larger transformation happening in society enabling people and organizations to make their own decisions--that shifts from hierarchical models, with their inherent control points, to a meshed model with the potential for individuals and entities to play multiple roles. Optimal open source policies within organizations should align with the grain of this transformed society, rather than attempting to re-impose the policies of the hierarchical society.
9:45am -- 10:15am Deb Bryant, OSI Board Director
Identifying and Assessing Open Source - The implementation of open source software within organizations does not easily align with traditional procurement practices and processes inherent to typical government agencies or educational institutions. Ms. Bryant will provide several considerations organizations should address as they identify, assess, deploy and administer open source tools and importantly how those differ from what departments may be accustom to.
10:15am - 10:30am Break
10:30am -- 11:00am Richard Fontana, OSI Board Director
Open Source Licenses for Contributors and Consumers - The past five years have been a time of significant transformation in the legal and policy side of open source, particularly concerning expectations around relationships between open source community projects and corporate/government participants. Mr. Fontana will discuss these developments and explain how they are illustrated by the launch of the OpenStack project and the licensing, contribution and governance models it has adopted.
11:00am -- 11:30am Tony Wasserman, OSI Board Director
Managing Your Open Source Project/Portfolio - Dr. Wasserman will provide a model and best practices for open source software engineering, by which individuals or teams can organize, contribute and manage the co-creation of open source software-intensive systems, from concept through one or more formal releases.
11:30am -12:00pm ??????
12:00pm -- 1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm -- 2:00pm Q and A Session
2:00pm End
Abstract
Open Source Software as passed--indeed, leaped over--the tipping point. Once questioned by senior IT leaders, unsure about how a community or peers could provide high-quality, reliable, secure, feature rich tools, Open Source Software is now prevalent (perhaps dominate) in several technology-driven sectors: education, government, healthcare, manufacturing, media. In 1998, the year the Open Source Initiative was founded, only 10% of organizations were using open source software; by 2011 more than 50% of organizations, surveyed by Gartner, reported using open source software. Gartner predicts that by 2015 at least 95% of mainstream IT organizations will leverage open source solutions within mission critical software deployments. And while adoption grows, so too do open source projects, with more than 2,000,000 expected by the end of 2014 – twice as many as in 2012. Today, it's not only IT working with technology, but the entire organization (procurement, IP, legal, HR, project management, senior leadership) must understand the Open Source ecosystem: the remote, distributed and decentralized communities of practice which enables collaboration, contribution and co-creation of mission-critical services and systems.
Several members of the Open Source Initiative's Board of Directors--experts in licensing, development and adoption--will provide insights and examples of how traditional organizations and IT shops can not only work with, but within, Open Source Software communities to enhance and extend operations and the organization as a whole.
What is open source software?
- The Open Source Definition
- Open Source Certified Licenses
Who is using open source software in the public sector?
(relevant to both government and higher ed.)
Benefits of open source...
- Customizable – Ability to modify base level functionality to meet unique local needs
- Participate in project governance: anyone can contribute to defining the direction of the project: technical aspects, functionality/features priorities, decision-making, community practice, etc.
- Organizational audibility: ability to assess how well the open source community, project and governance is aligned with local (adopting organization’s) needs/goals/expectations.
- Community audibility: ability to assess what the level of shared knowledge and experience is within the community; number of participants, contributors and commiters there are in the project; what the level of adoption/deployments is.
- Business process audibility: ability to evaluate how needs are identified and assessed, how work is prioritized, what the workflows and practices are, etc.
- Technical audibility: ability to assess quality of code, architecture, development practices, etc.
- Reduced development time: more contributors and contributions to solve problems, write code, test enhancements, document versions, etc.
- Avoid vendor lock-in: not tied to, and controlled by any third party and their direction, interests, plans, migrations, enhancements, upgrades, sunsetting, integrations, dependencies, etc.
- Broader support options: options range from local internal resources, to communities of practice, and multiple commercial vendors rather than a single commercial provider (the developer)
- Greater security: vulnerabilities can be discovered more quickly (the more folks with access to the code, the more likely issues are to be discovered) with the best solutions applied to address issues (more folks involved can offer a greater variety of approaches, ideas solutions)
- Faster implementation: no procurement process
- Higher quality: meritocracy (best approach) is implemented
- Mitigates longterm risk: no chance of discontinuing development/support due to purchase, or a new version ( and thus forced migration to stay up to date with support/service contracts)
- Higher reliability: bugs will be discovered and fixed more quickly (see, greater security)
- Business/operations continuity: local organizational operations and practices are not disrupted through forced timelines for migrations, upgrades, enhancements etc.
- Professional (personal and organizational) development opportunities: individuals can gain experience through participation and organizations can gain prestige through contribution.
- Try before you buy (Test drive): assess one, or many, options, before investing.
- Multiple instances (no per copy fees): can extend use on demand without additional costs or contract negotiations.
- Reduced acquisition costs: no licensing fees
- Emphasizes concepts, not products: end users are not tied to branded or copyrighted features, workflows, tools.
- Breaks the hardware upgrade cycle: open source software is often designed to require less resource intensive hardware.
- Community access: ability to meet and network with like minded people and organizations–peers.
- Standards based: provides greater integration and interoperability (no proprietary specifications)
- Standards setting: participants are often directly involved in the development of new standards, or learn of them first.
- Lower total cost of ownership (cumulative of other benefits): no licensing fees, no procurement process, competitive support contracts (even none with internal), no forced SP upgrades, re-purposed legacy hardware, greater scaling
Procurement: Assessment/Section
- Needs Analysis: Features/Functionality
- Community: Activeness, Participation & Governance
- Procurement/Acquisition: vs. traditional approaches (RFI/RFP)
Implementation: Project/Portfolio Management
- Local Administration/Management
- Community: From Consumer to "Prosumer"
- Shared services
- Dedicated Support
Getting Involved
- Code
- Documentation
- QA
- Bug reporting
- Donations
Beyond Software
Much of the above is applicable to other "open" initiatives and projects within OER: Open Access, Open Content, Open Courseware, Open Textbooks, etc.
Questions...
Resources
Luis OSI DC Workshop http://lu.is/talk/OSI-2013/#/
Deb OSI DC Presentation http://www.slideshare.net/debbryant/bryant-osi-talk-summit-dc-21060020
Who can attend?
Please indicate in the table below if you can attend on or both of the events.
| Nercomp, April 28th | PM Connect, May 1st |
|---|---|
| Masson | Masson |
| Phipps (intro/framework) | Phipps (intro/framework) |
Potvin  (Acquisition, project management) | Potvin (Acquisition, project management) |
| Fontana (Licenses/ing) | Fontana (Licenses/ing) |
| Milinkovich | |
| Wasserman | |