The unbridled success of Kubernetes can be attributed in part to being in the CNCF. Putting Kubernetes under a neutral foundation provided a level playing field where each of us could contribute, collaborate, and innovate as equals to create a widely adopted solution that we can all use. Open source projects that are controlled by a single company are at a greater risk of changes that are not aligned with community interests, whereas projects that are under neutral foundations have a lower risk both for end users and software vendors. With advantages that include community building, innovation, and wider adoption, we should consider contributing more of our open source projects to neutral foundations, like the CNCF. The audience will get practical advice about whether they should contribute their projects to neutral foundations along with how and when to do it.

1. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Collaborative Leadership:
Governance Beyond
Company Affiliation
Open Source Summit EU October 2020
Dr. Dawn M. Foster
Director of OSS Community Strategy
fosterd@vmware.com fastwonderblog.com
Open Source at VMware @vmwopensource
blogs.vmware.com/opensource

2. @geekygirldawn©2020 VMware, Inc.
Project Ownership: Foundations and Companies
Governance is About the People
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Leadership
Final Thoughts
Resources
2
Agenda
Photo by Marco Verch - CC BY 2.0

3. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn 3
whoami
• Geek, traveler, reader
• 20+ yr tech career focused on
community & open source
(Intel, Puppet, Scale Factory, …)
• OpenUK Board, CHAOSS Board and
Maintainer, Bitergia Advisory Board
• Kubernetes contributor & CNCF
Contributor Strategy SIG
• PhD from the University of Greenwich
focus on Linux kernel collaborationPhotos by Mom, Josh Bancroft, Don Park

4. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Project Ownership
Photo by K-nekoTR - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

5. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Lower risk:
participate as equals
5
Neutral Foundations

6. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Higher risk:
single company
in control
6
Company
Originated
Photo by Jan Fidler - CC BY 2.0

7. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Give up control for
increased collaboration
7
Contributing
to Foundations

8. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Image by the CNCF CC BY-NC 2.0
Governance
Materials from the CNCF Contributor Strategy SIG, Governance WG
provided some of the content for this section
Image by the CNCF CC BY-NC 2.0

9. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Processes for how
people collaborate
and make decisions
9
Governance is
about People
Photo by Allen and Allen - CC BY 2.0

10. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Licensing, code of conduct,
contribution, and
communication process
10
Minimum
Documentation
Photo by Jenni C - CC BY 2.0

11. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Process for
reporting and
responding to
security issues
11
Security
Image by darwin Bell CC BY-NC 2.0

12. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Opportunity
and
responsibility
12
Leadership
Image by the CNCF CC BY-NC 2.0
https://github.com/cncf/sig-contributor-strategy/tree/master/governance

13. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Code of conduct,
leadership,
and community
13
Diversity and
Inclusion
Photo by David Jakes - CC BY 2.0
https://chaoss.community/metrics

14. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Never “done”
can always
be improved
14
Governance
Evolves
Image by Cristine CC BY-NC 2.0

15. ©2020 VMware, Inc. @geekygirldawn
Setting expectations
reduces uncertainty
and makes people
feel welcome
15
Final Thoughts
on Governance
Image by the CNCF CC BY-NC 2.0

16. @geekygirldawn©2020 VMware, Inc. 16
Resources
Linux Foundation’s TODO Group
https://todogroup.org/guides/
CNCF Contributor Strategy SIG
https://github.com/cncf/sig-contributor-strategy
The Open Source Way Guidebook
https://github.com/theopensourceway/guidebook/
Photo by Vicente - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

17. @geekygirldawn©2020 VMware, Inc.
Dr. Dawn M. Foster
fosterd@vmware.com
fastwonderblog.com
Open Source at VMware
blogs.vmware.com/opensource
@vmwopensource
17
Thank You!
Photo by Thangaraj Kumaravel - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0