Hi Joe,
Here is draft that I've promised. Can you please review it and
tell me if I can post it in "Success at Apache" and in my
personnal blog also (through a link to the ASF) .
Best
Etienne
title: *My experience with the Apache Way: a perfect society ?*
🕥 7 min.
Introducion
I have been working in software engineering for more than 15
years. I've always contributed to Open Source software as a
user or a coder. But I've been contributing toASF
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>projects
such asApache Flink
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>,Apache
Beam
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>orApache
Spark
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>
for
nearly 6 years. It is long enough for me to say that I
find*the Apache Way* is almost the best way to collaborate on
software engineering.
I will not describe the Apache way here as there are a lot of
good content about that already. I will rather link tothe
official Apache documentation
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>.
I humbly suggest that you read what it is if you don't know it
already.
My point here is to describe the consequences of the Apache
Way as I see them. Of course, every Apache community is
different, but what I wanted to emphasize is that applying the
Apache Way by the book could lead to what I'd call a "perfect
society" even if this word seems a bit naive and over
optimistic or even utopian.
A perfect society
/Actually, working with the Apache way was a revelation to me !/
The Apache Way leads in many ways to Open Source Communities
behave like a sort of perfect society:
The community is governed by merit: everything is about what
you do inside the community and at some point your efforts are
noted and you get credit for your work by obtaining more
rights (direct access to the project repositories, election
ofcommitters
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>etc..).
Merit also drives decisions, discussing solutions and voting
for the best one leads to the best possible state of the
project in the end. The best idea always wins in the long term.
The software is not driven by money: no private concerns
should take over. When the incubation process is well
advanced, before graduation, theASF bord
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>makes
sure that the aspiring community is well developed (users and
developers communities are big enough), healthy and also not
owned by a single company and its private financial
considerations. This ensures best decisions for the software
itself but also a long term maintenance of the software.
It is inclusive: every voice matters, everyone is considered
equal no matter your personal background, your education,
ethnic or nationality, every contribution is good to take.
Community members recognize that people skills may be
different and complementary to theirs. So contributions might
come from anyone, from anywhere and in any form (blog post,
documentation, talk, code, website...)
Communities are welcoming: they always search for new talents
to join their forces. Be welcoming is always very important to
build and grow a community. The Open Source community is also
a great place for people to grow. The way people collaborate
is generally by mentoring. Experienced contributors help new
comers or experts share their thoughts with others. It is
really also a good way for mentors to share their passion and
inspire mentorees. Mentoring is even in the DNA of the ASF
starting withthe incubator
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>
when
the podling community profits from the experience and advice
of a mentor to grow in the Apache Way and become atop level
project
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>.
Communities are self-organised: there is no manager but
only technical leaders and mentors. People are self-motivated
and I must say that it is the best form of motivation ever!
Decision making is both simple and efficient: there is no
solely decision, feedback is always very important. People are
willing to share their thoughts and solve the problems together.
Community members are always benevolent: they are always
willing to share their thoughts, review PRs, share advice,
accept change requests or bug tickets. People are wiling to
accept criticism without being defensive. The master word is
transparency.
Last but not least, people behave friendly: public
communication (one of the ASF master words is "what did not
happen publicly never happened") forces people to communicate
in a positive way: for example by asking questions or
suggesting rather than affirming or asking for thoughts rather
than disagreeing bluntly. An Open Source contributor always
tries to put himself in the other person's shoes, trying to
not hurt his feelings and to not demotivate him.
=> Considering all of this, what I can tell is that it is the
way we all would like people and society in
general to behave, no ?
Daily life
The funny thing is that it goes even further, after some years
of applying this philosophy (I was told lately that it felt
almost like a religion 😄) at work on a full time basis, you
start applying it to daily life outside of work. It becomes
your standard way of behaving in society: meritocracy becomes
a second nature, for example you reward your home builders
with gifts and public credit because they did a good job, you
reward your kids for good school work etc... You also start to
give time to others and share your knowledge, mentoring
becomes a second nature.Another big thing which is very
visible is that you now always take good care to give positive
communication, leading to positive and constructive thinking.
Positivism also becomes a second nature.
On a professional basis, an important thing is that merit
never expires. So, if you gain committership on a project, or
become aPMC member
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>or
even anASF member
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>,
it is for life ! So your skills are recognized by your pairs
for your whole career. This is an incredible credit and a
tremendous trust mark !
Can be a bit challenging
In order to avoid being seen as a total idealist 😉, I need to
temper a bit:
I remember when I first joined an Open Source community, I
felt intimidated. Community members are generally very senior
level and very high skilled developers. But, remember what is
written above: every contribution is good to take. And, with
time and mentoring, everyone deserves his place inside the
community.
The other thing I felt a bit difficult when I joined is to
find where to start: some projects are old enough to have a
large community so the amount of code is pretty high. But here
again mentoring comes into play: mentors can give you pointers
on hot topics, starter tickets or simply areas that need
maintenance. And within time, you'll be recognized as an
expert in a given area and the exciting subjects will come to
you. And if you feel like you want to join a smaller community
try joining a project which is still in the incubator
<https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1438124655819523792/141840252120770949#>
phase
!
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed these insights and I hope it gave you the
envy to join a Open Source community.
Le 25/02/2022 à 09:38, Etienne Chauchot a écrit :
Hi Joe,
Thanks for your answer and your views !
Yes, I'll send a draft webpage here before publishing. Then,
after review, we could publish to the ASF blog in "Success at
Apache" and I can definitely link to the ASF blog post in my
personal blog so that there is only one publishing place.
Regarding the Apache Way, I mentioned it only for new comers
to be informed, but I totally agree, it would be redundant.
So I propose that we just link an article about the Apache
Way at the beginning of my article. Do you have a good link
to send me ?
I'll then describe my experience in the continuation of the
article, that was indeed the whole point of the article !
WDYT ?
Thanks.
Etienne.
Le 18/02/2022 à 19:23, Joe Brockmeier a écrit :
Hi Etienne,
Sorry for the delayed response - missed this the first
go-around.
Can you shoot a draft *before* posting to your site? Ideally
we'd post in one place. If not we can always promote it on
Twitter and LinkedIn.
From the initial email, though - I'd steer away from
describing "The Apache Way" and focus on your experience
instead. The Apache Way has been covered, at length,
already. I'd focus on what your success looks like.
Describing how The Apache Way has informed your success
would be great.
Thanks!
jzb
On Fri, Feb 18, 2022 at 4:52 AM Etienne Chauchot
<echauc...@apache.org> wrote:
Hi Bertrand!
Thanks. I totally agree. I'll post on my personal blog
post and send a
link here.
Best
Etienne Chauchot
Le 18/02/2022 à 10:48, Bertrand Delacretaz a écrit :
> Hi Etienne,
>
> Le ven. 18 févr. 2022 à 10:43, Etienne Chauchot
<echauc...@apache.org> a écrit :
>> ...Any news about this proposal ? Can I start writing
the blog post ? ...
> I don't have decision power on what's published in
"Success at Apache"
> but I'd say go for it!
>
> An actual draft is IMO the best way to convince
people, and if they're
> not convinced there's lots of other places where you
can post.
>
> -Bertrand
--
Joe Brockmeier
Vice President Marketing & Publicity
j...@apache.org
