The ASF State of the Feather report from ApacheCon EU 2016

1. State of the Feather

2. Growth (Nov 2015 – Nov 2016)
• 10 new project committees
• 175 committees
• Managing 294 projects
• 7 Retired

3. Incubator Growth (Nov 2015 – Nov 2016)
• 30 new podlings (59 active )
• 4 retired
• 7 graduated

4. Not a language monoculture…

5. Not a topic monoculture…

6. Why is the ASF still growing?
• We are not defined by a temporary alliance of business leaders
• We are defined by the people who do the work

7. Why is the ASF still growing?
• It ultimately boils down to being a foundation that is not defined by
some central governance
• We are defined by the people who do the work, the people who
• Define the code
• Write the code
• Test the code
• Document the code
• Evangelize the code
• Use the code

8. No backroom deals (there is no backroom)
• We are often approached with a proposal that goes something like this:
• We would like to sponsor the Foundation
• In return we would like you to make ____ happen
• Often this is some loose consortium of partners
• But that’s not how we work
• Take it to the community
• Technically superior to alternatives
• More attractive to the broader community

9. No Leaders, we are all leaders
• She who does the work leads the way
• Anyone with a legitimate technical or community concern can force
that concern to be addressed
• We are consensus based, but we do not require unanimous consensus
• If an objection gets reasonable traction in the community then it must be
addressed
• If no traction then let it drop

10. For the Public Good
• Apache is a 501(c)(3)
• “a public charity” (Wikipedia)
• Most foundations are 501(c)(6) organization
• “a business league” (Wikipedia)

11. Apache leads the way
• The Apache Group created the HTTPd project
• Tomcat became the go to implementation of key Java standards
• Hadoop led the march into Big Data
• Managing scale with Mesos and friends
• Streaming analytics

12. Recognizing Merit:
Diversity in Contributions
• All contributions must earn merit
• Because a healthy community brings more contributions
• It’s a virtuous circle

13. Invest Resources not Cash
• The foundation is successful because it is defined by the people doing
the work
• Not by the people paying the money
• If you want influence, if you want a project to improve then invest in
people
• We don’t want your money (fly away)
• You want marketing – invest in marketing, we have a staff member
ready to help coordinate
• You want specific infrastructure – give us the people to manage it
• You want better documentation – give us some technical authors

14. ASF is an enabler
• Innovation through collaboration
• Building of communities focusing on common problems
• Differentiating in the marketplace
• Collaborating in the ASF

15. apache.org/foundation/contributing.html

16. apache.org/foundation/sponsorship.html

21. Non-Cash Contributions
• We need you and your team
• Technical Documentation
• Marketing
• Design
• Testing
• Infrastructure
• Consensus building/Mediation
• Brand management
• … if it helps the community we want it