Contributions-3-4-Ind.md

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Operational aspects of maintaining engagement in an open source software project

Maintaining the engagement, after the company decision to continuously engage with dedicated resources in the open source software project, involves a continued company understanding of its engagement in terms of reasons to engage but also its ability to engage.

Evaluating the engagement versus the exit criteria

Evaluating the engagement with an open source software project is a recurring process. It requires consideration whether the initial motivations remain valid and if the engagement is achieving its intended goals.

Companies may over time find reasons to reconsider or end their participation in open source projects. It is important to establish clear exit criteria and maintain open communication with the community to preserve good relationships and minimize disruptions. These factors are often related to a company's goals, brand image, product development, or sustainability objectives. If these goals are no longer met or aligned with the company's strategic direction, it may decide to stop contributing.

Reasons for a company to decide to disengage with an open source community might be due to changed company internal reasons, project related reasons or just other external factors outside of the project. Examples of exit criteria might include the following:

• The company's original purpose for contributing is no longer relevant.
• The project's focus has shifted and no longer matches defined purpose.
• Another project aligns better with the company's objectives.

Other exit criteria examples:

• The company's strategic goals have changed significantly.
• The project's expected outcomes are no longer achievable.
• The company’s expectation on the result of the engagement is not met.
• The company's contributions are not used effectively.
• The company's expertise in the project's area have diminished.
• The company ability to contribute has decreased significantly.
• The company cannot finance the necessary commitments and resources.
• Risk for damage on brand image.
• Legal risks or conflicts of interest arise.
• Community engagement is low, impacting the project's sustainability.
• Negative behaviors within the community hinder collaboration.

By defining exit criteria and engaging with the community, companies can responsibly manage their involvement in open source projects. These criteria should be periodically reviewed and communicated to both within the company and to the community. This approach maintains transparency, ensures positive relationships, and facilitates smooth transitions when adjustments to contributions or participation are necessary¹.

Securing continued engagement

One part of securing a continued engagement by the company, if the evaluation to continue the engagement is positive, is to make sure the involved resources have the right competence and motivation to continue in combination with a reasonable opportunity to do so in terms of dedicated time and workload.

Another aspect of securing a continued engagement may be to assign additional resource(s) and competence(s) to supporting the appointed resource(s) for competence redundancy and future individual independency.

Appointing someone to engage in a community is not only an investment in the community but also in the selected person. Creating internal company visibility of the engagement may also create increased attraction and motivation.

Other opportunities for the company to secure a continued engagement in the community may involve activities like hosting or sponsoring events for the community to meet and network as well as give presentations of the project. Such events can also serve as marketing opportunities for the company.

Footnotes

1. Winding Down an Open Source Project{:target="_blank"} ↩