To build a successful open source project requires more than just code. As Docker and many other household-name projects show, communication is also an essential ingredient in growing a project to greatness. This introvert-friendly talk will help you level up your development game by highlighting three tools and techniques: user research, InnerSource, and documentation. First, I'll help you apply some basic user research practices to refine your project purpose, vision, and value proposition. Then I'll talk about the role of documentation and effective storytelling in generating interest and feedback from broad development audiences. Next, I'll move on to InnerSource: what it is, how it works, and how it can improve your team's communication and collaboration habits. For this, I'll share real-world examples (including some from Zalando) of how InnerSource enabled teams to develop more effectively and efficiently. Finally, I’ll offer some examples of open-source projects (including Docker) that demonstrate how great communication leads to great software. Ideally, you’ll come away inspired to integrate more communication into your development processes.

1. We Need to Talk: How
Communication
Helps Code
Lauri Apple
Open Source Evangelist
& Agile Coach, Zalando

2. Help you achieve ...

3. … and avoid this ...

4. Agenda
● Communication overview
● Establishing a dialogue: User research,
Documentation, InnerSource
● Communicating with code: two examples
● Keep communicating

5. About Zalando
● 15 countries
● 21+ million active customers
● ~3.6 billion € net sales
● +250K products
● 13K+ employees (~1800 in tech)
● About 200 million visits/month

6. zalando.github.io/

7. About Me
● Agile coach/project manager
● Open Source Evangelist
● Open Organization Ambassador
(opensource.com/Red Hat)
● SRECon EMEA Co-chair (2018)
● @lauritaapplez

8. Communication overview
● Why we should talk
● Why we don’t

9. Talking is a software skill
Empathy != emotion
● Developed by listening +
understanding, applied by
perspective-taking (Andrea
Goulet)
● Helps you: motivate, inspire,
engage (Chad Fowler)
● Introverts can do it

10. But we don’t talk
● Fear of failure
● Time constraints
● Different priorities
● We don’t like to
● We don’t offer sufficient context
(“why”)

11. (We don’t) write the docs

12. Open values make talking easier
● Transparency
● Inclusivity
● Adaptability
● Collaboration
● Community (talking, empathy)
https://opensource.com/open-organization/resources/
open-org-maturity-model

13. Establishing a dialogue
● User research
● Documentation
● InnerSource

14. User research = listen!
Dialogues to collect data,
challenge biases, answer “why”
Interactions:
○ Games/brainstorms
○ Focus groups
○ Surveys
○ 1:1 interviews
Be open to surprises https://www.flickr.com/photos/vvbad/3461505983/in/

15. User persona: talk to a customer
JEN MEOW-MEOW
Backend dev, 27, new, expert
● Her goals: keep BE systems
running
● Seeks: speed, reliability,
customization
● Her challenges: ESL so
needs clear docs; works on
high-profile products; team
still storming

16. Documentation: talking w/text
Work backwards with words:
● 1-2 page narrative sketch
● “Mock press release”
● README-Driven Development
Why:
● Drives conversation
● Transparency
● Onboarding
If writer’s block, pair-doc!

17. How to effectively converse
w/READMEs
https://github.com/zalando/zalando-howto-open-source
● Intro answering “why”
● Inspiration/Tech concepts
● Getting started
○ Requirements || Getting || Installing || Configuring || Running
● Other specifics
● Contributing + TODO
● Contact
● License (really important!)

18. README Maturity Model
Communication overview
● Establishing a dialogue
○ Market+User research
○ InnerSource
○ Documentation
● Sharing your work: two approaches
● Keep communicating
https://github.com/LappleApple/feedmereadmes/

19. InnerSource
Internal open source
● One team “owns” repo, others can
change
● Eliminate redundancies + blockers
● Breaks silos
● Requires open repos and open
values

20. Talking drives InnerSource …
and vice versa
Zalando pilot
● Started 2016 w/~25 teams
● Outcomes:
○ Skipper: HTTP router =>
Kubernetes ingress
○ Finished project in ⅓ time
○ No more “10 OAuth2 JS client libs”

21. Talking via the comments

22. Communicating with code:
two examples
● STUPS
● ExternalDNS

23. When we didn’t communicate

24. Useful, but told a complex story
● Internal survey: 90% said
“keep it” … but!
● Docs incomplete
● “Make it human-friendly”
● “I am tired of the names”
● “Still have work to do”

25. What if we’d communicated
differently?
● Simpler message
● User research/personas/feedback
● InnerSource
● Contribution guidelines
● More time

26. Now we talk to people:
ExternalDNS
● Makes Kubernetes resources discoverable
via public DNS servers
● “The last bit of glue … for setting up an
ingress and start deploying services ...
actually putting them in DNS ”—Lachlan
Evenson, Microsoft/Azure (demo)
github.com/kubernetes-incubator/external-dns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HQ2XgL9YVI

27. User research w/K8s
community

28. Keep talking
○ Anticipate questions/needs
○ Ask questions
○ Stay responsive

29. Anticipating needs (empathy)
github.com/zalando/Patroni
(PostgreSQL + K8s)
● Solves difficult database problem, flexible,
responsive maintainers
github.com/zalando/zalenium
● Get a disposable, flexible, Docker-based
Selenium Grid infrastructure
● Simple script, video recording, dashboards
● Ask community for feedback on new
features

30. Listening + acting: Fashion-MNIST
https://github.com/zalandoresearch/fashion-mnist

31. Be friendly and welcoming
Requires no user research to
realize people want you to
be nice to them
Say thanks
Code of Conduct
Respond promptly to queries

32. Optimize for contributors
● “Deliberate choice to be welcoming ... &
community-oriented”
● Docker did so, “often at maintainer
expense” (Solomon Hykes)
● Onboarded newbies closely
● PRs “carried over” by maintainers to
support

33. Seek more user feedback
Even for your processes!
Checking in with your users
Try contextual interviews
● At their workstation, w/navigation
● Docs: do they work/are clear?
● Functionality: does it run?
Collect testimonials
Surveys in a pinch
Catch up with Jen Meow-Meow

34. Communicating pays off
● Engagement
● Goodwill
● Perspective
● Opportunities
● Friendships
Anyone can communicate well.

35. Thank you!
● zalando.github.io
● github.com/LappleApple/Feedmereadmes
● github.com/LappleApple/awesome-leading-and-managin
g
@lauritaapplez
lauri.apple@zalando.de