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InnerSourceCommons
Contributor Journey Optimization
Description
Contributor Journey Optimization (CJO) is a method, currently under ideation and development, that describes how a project can be evaluated for the creation of concrete tasks for the adoption of InnerSource, specifically aiming to facilitate the journey of project stakeholders in becoming contributors, trusted committers and/or maintainers.
Results
- Miro Board - Contributor Journey Optimization (Idea Board) - use this link to get access to comment (requires login) - contact @dellagustin-sap to get access to edit.
- Planned: Creation of a new pattern
- https://github.com/InnerSourceCommons/InnerSourcePatterns/pull/787
- 2025-03-13 - Presentation on the InnerSource Gathering Berlin
- Slides - https://dam.sap.com/mac/u/a/jtmWHNd?rc=10&doi=SAP1193221
- 2025-05-13 - Presented on an InnerSource Community Call - recording
- Slides - still to come
- 2025-05-19 - Presented and discussed on the ISPO WG sync call
Related Meetings
- ISPO Working Group Meeting - 2024 - 12 - 16
- https://gatherings.innersourcecommons.org/berlin-2025/
Related issues
- https://github.com/InnerSourceCommons/InnerSourcePatterns/issues/786
Links and References
- Patches Welcome - Contributing To Apache Projects In A Nutshell, Slide 11 shows a "ladder" for contributor engagement, that is similar to the idea of a Contributor Journey in CJO. Shared by @MaineC as a follow up to the CJO presentation on the InnerSource Gathering Berlin.
- 2012-12-21 - The Apache Way - Slide 21 shows "The Chain of Merit", showing a "ladder" from User to Foundation Member. Shared by @MaineC as a follow up to the CJO presentation on the InnerSource Gathering Berlin.
- 2019-02-22 - An approach to community building from Apache Beam - Blog post. Shared by @MaineC as a follow up to the CJO presentation on the InnerSource Gathering Berlin.
- Shared by @Erioldoesdesign:
- https://github.com/mozilla/open-leadership-training-series/blob/gh-pages/_articles/building-communities-of-contributors/bring-on-contributors-using-personas-and-pathways.md#pathways
- https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPO1b7zg=/?moveToWidget=3458764537015570052&cot=14
- https://opensource.guide/ - shared on the ISPO WG call, 2025-05-19 (I think it was suggested by @meller13)
- Slide deck Program Guide for ISPOs and OSPOs - shared on the ISPO WG call, 2025-05-19
- Growing Contributors - book The Open Source Way - shared by @spier
@dellagustin-sap the idea looks interesting. I understand it as reducing the barrier to entry i.e. making contributions as easy as possible.
I have access to the miro board linked above, and left some comments there.
Have you already checked if there open source community has already created documentation related to this problem space?
Further I am wondering if in InnerSource additional methods can be used that would be harder to implement in open source.
@dellagustin-sap let us know how this is going (or if it is still something being worked on?
@rrrutledge , I have not done much since I presented it in Dec 16, but I'm still working on it. I will present it on the InnerSource Gathering in Berlin.
@dellagustin-sap that Gathering is March 12th I believe.
I would love to help with this.
My experience is that people will contribute more easily to an existing pattern, rather than starting from zero.
Therefore my aim here would be to have a version of this pattern merged to the repo ahead of the Gathering.
Then we can give people something that they can disagree with, if you know what I mean :)
@spier , that's also my goal, I want to have a v1 of my idea board completed and at least a merged initial pattern before the gathering.
@dellagustin-sap I did a little experiment with ChatGPT about this: https://gist.github.com/spier/724794bb1e18060c5b9fdce77a18a5dd
I do like the stage names that it made up. unaware/aware and supporter sound useful.
Also note the amazing examples of hallucination related to the existing patterns. ChatGPT really invented pattern names (and even URLs) that should existing but don't :)
That’s crazy - is ChatGPT just glorified pattern matching?
Hehe, I would argue it does a little bit more interesting stuff than this :) In this example I found ChatGPT to be a great brainstorming-buddy.
Moved forward a bit, @dellagustin-sap will follow up on the PR.
The idea was presented to the Berlin Gathering.
There will be also a community call on May 13th about Contributor Journey Optimization.
At FOSS Backstage I had a chat with @Erioldoesdesign about CJO after their session (Open Design Guide). Afterwards I got some nice references from them that have touch points with CJO:
- https://github.com/mozilla/open-leadership-training-series/blob/gh-pages/_articles/building-communities-of-contributors/bring-on-contributors-using-personas-and-pathways.md#pathways
- https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPO1b7zg=/?moveToWidget=3458764537015570052&cot=14
Turns our someone is already using the term Contributor Journey, but that's no surprise.
Several notes added from an ISPO WG meeting: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13CMHXUv9laT1NxjR34UN-f6dhd0J394ceZwTo1WsQ28/edit?tab=t.0
Presented on the InnerSource Community call on 2025-05-13 - https://youtu.be/GbyoWtW5ul8 Presented and discussed it on the ISPO WG call on 2025-05-19 @meller13 and I will have a working session on this topic next week at 16:30 CEST.
Got to this issue from the associated YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbyoWtW5ul8
Hi @dellagustin-sap ! I don't think we've connected yet. :wave: I'm helping the Marketing team with newcomer experience and onboarding and working on our own "Contributor Journey" (although that name doesn't entirely fit for us because the path here is a little different-- not everyone who comes to the InnerSource Commons is interested in becoming a contributor).
This thread is super interesting to me! I've been in open source a long time and worked with @erioldoesdesign on personas for another open source project I am the community manager for. I would love to nerd out with you sometime on how we can collectively make the onboarding experience better. :D
Would it be possible for me to have access to the Miro Board you linked above?
I would like to use this idea and materials in my orgnanization.
@dellagustin-sap we have one potential user here (an early adopter, admittedly) ;)
Still, should be publish this as a draft pattern? We can even link from there to the miro board, if we like.
Hi @dellagustin-sap ! I don't think we've connected yet. 👋 I'm helping the Marketing team with newcomer experience and onboarding and working on our own "Contributor Journey" (although that name doesn't entirely fit for us because the path here is a little different-- not everyone who comes to the InnerSource Commons is interested in becoming a contributor).
This thread is super interesting to me! I've been in open source a long time and worked with @Erioldoesdesign on personas for another open source project I am the community manager for. I would love to nerd out with you sometime on how we can collectively make the onboarding experience better. :D
Would it be possible for me to have access to the Miro Board you linked above?
Miro board should all be openly accessible https://miro.com/welcomeonboard/WkJCUStuOXN2RmMvbEVJZmc1ZEhtR3IwYkJlTDRxS0NjV0d6WnJra1FUUVpxbzhoWjJyTksvSHJiSjJtWTROSGNvSEZyZCtzTGxacEM2eDRTYTljZ2VMeXlRNTV6UnRCSk5IZ3N4dlpBTEtIalErWUZYOUoxYnQ4U0wwZkJ0ZmFBS2NFMDFkcUNFSnM0d3FEN050ekl3PT0hdjE=?share_link_id=786321183197
Hello @ElizabethN , incredible that we did not had a chance to talk yet. Miro works in mysterious, but please try the links on the issue description again, I set it now that anyone with the link should be able to view it. The link that @Erioldoesdesign shared should give allow you to request access to comment, as long as you are logged in.
"Contributor Journey" (although that name doesn't entirely fit for us because the path here is a little different-- not everyone who comes to the InnerSource Commons is interested in becoming a contributor).
I chose the name because people associate InnerSource with receiving contributions, but that is only one part of InnerSource. The idea is more of a general stakeholder journey optimization and should help anyone land where they should be in relation to the project.
@spier , I remember I wanted to change something in the pattern before publishing, but I don't recall what. Unfortunately working on this topic has been something of a side job inside the job, so I'll need to find a quite hour to work on the pattern and give you a go on publishing the Draft, I'll try to do it this week.
Its funny how everything seems intertwined. @dellagustin didn't we watch the talk about the FOSS Backstage 2025 talk about the Open Design Guide together?
Its funny how everything seems intertwined. @dellagustin didn't we watch the talk about the FOSS Backstage 2025 talk about the Open Design Guide together?
Possibly. I watched that session, but I can't recall if we watched it together.
This issue is stale because it has been open 30 days with no activity. It will be closed in 5 days if no further activity occurs.
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@dellagustin I found this link today, which specifically talks about "growing contributors": https://guidebook.theopensourceway.org/growing-contributors
A general question about this:
Are you open to releasing "some version" of a pattern for this idea, so that we have something in our patterns repo that we can refer to? Could be a modified version of https://github.com/InnerSourceCommons/InnerSourcePatterns/pull/787, or something else entirely, up to you.
Asked the other way around: Is there anything preventing you from "releasing early and often" on this topic? ;)
Hi @spier , thank you for sharing the reference, I heard about this book before and forgot to consult it for this topic.
Asked the other way around: Is there anything preventing you from "releasing early and often" on this topic? ;)
Two things:
- Miro, where I created the original content with the idea for the pattern, is now blocked on my enterprise device, so every time I need to consult this resource I need to switch to my private device
- Lack of bandwidth, simply could not dedicate any time to this topic, even bringing the first draft into something that reflects my idea enough was something I could not do yet 😢
Concerning lack of bandwidth: Sometimes it helps to find this bandwidth when instead of working on something alone there is a group for bouncing ideas back and forth and writing things down together.
Wild idea: What if we dedicated one of our community calls to the goal of finalizing a first version of this pattern? Do you think that might help you @dellagustin? Do you think that would be something that is doable @ElizabethN ?
This issue is stale because it has been open 30 days with no activity. It will be closed in 5 days if no further activity occurs.