Open Source Metrics to Inform Corporate Strategy

Samsung Open Source Group 1

Open Source Metrics to Inform Corporate Strategy

Ben Lloyd PearsonManager of Strategy and Operations

Samsung Open Source [email protected]


Who am I?

● IT generalist who specializes in open source methodology.

● I manage operations and strategy for a small team of open source engineers at Samsung.

● Two Directives...● Provide internal guidance

on use and development of open source software

● Serve as Samsung's representatives in external open source communities


Why am I Using GrimoireLab?

● Samsung relies on open source software for numerous products.

● Investing time and money into software always requires a strategic evaluation.

● It's not enough to evaluate a project solely on its technical merits, the community also has an impact on the strategic value of OSS.

● Public information about OSS communities allows for a much deeper evaluation than proprietary software.


...A Few Caveats

● Quantitative metrics only paint part of the picture, qualitative analysis is always required

● Many metrics require resources to be utilized in a specific way, this can't always be relied on in an open source community– e.g. Someone might submit a pull request using

their personal email while performing work for a company.


Three Major Concerns...

● Community Strength● Internal Strength● External Project Influences


Duel of the Display Servers


Community Strength


Community Strength

● Project Velocity – How fast is the project producing new code?

● Contributor Health – How successful are contributors at getting involved?

● Developer Ecosystem – How diverse and skilled are the developers in the community?


Community StrengthProject Velocity


Project Velocity

CommitsPer Month

YoY Change


Project Velocity

And ManyMore...


Community StrengthContributor Health


Growth of Contributor Community

New ContributorsPer Month

CumulativeContributors


Contributor Base

Total ContributorsPer Month

YoY Change


Time to Upstream

Time to CommitAll Contributors

Time to CommitNew Contributors

Average

Median


Contributor Growth vs. Inactivity

Inactivity Newest Contributors


Contributor Health – Wish List

● Evaluate cross-pollination between mailing lists, review platforms, and git contributions

● Contributor churn rate


Community StrengthDeveloper Ecosystem


Developer Ecosystem


Developer Ecosystem

Individual Organization


Developer Ecosystem



Developer Ecosystem - Wishlist


Community Strength

● Is the community mature enough to support the products & services we're building?

● If the project needs to mature more, how long will this take?

● Is the developer base improving or weakening?● If we need to hire developers, are there enough

in the community at the level of expertise and geographic location we need?


Internal Strength


Ability to Get Code Upstream


Ability to Get Code Upstream

Time to Commit


Internal Team Performance

OSG

OtherSamsung

Teams


Internal Team Performance


Gauge Internal Expertise

● What teams have the most success at getting code upstream? What teams are struggling?

● How does our performance compare to the open source community?

● Who are our best internal experts?● Who do we have that can act as a key mentor

internally?


External Influences


Leading Organizations

Percent of Total Cumulative


Leading Organizations



Organization Effort

IndividualContributors

CommitsBy

Company


Committer Influence

IndividualCommittersIndividual

Committers

CommitsBy

Organization


Committer Influence

IndividualCommitters

CommitsBy

Company


Company Focus Areas

Individual Repositories


Organizational Support

● What companies are involved in a project, and what technology domains are they focused on?

● Are any companies changing their focus?● Who sponsors the most important developers

and maintainers/committers?● Are there any potential conflicts of interest

between our company and the companies that sponsor the most committers?


One Final Note


Goals for the Future


Improve Corporate Operations

● Improve the success of upstream contributions to reduce code maintenance overhead.

● Increase influence over OSS to incorporate the improvements needed to support products and services.

● Ensure we're getting the most value possible out of involvement in OSS communities.


Improve Corporate Strategy

● Provide better evaluations of open source software.

● Provide unique competitive intelligence about open source industry.

● Keep Samsung informed about technical focus of industry leaders.


Thank You!

Blogs.s-osg.org/metrics

Open Source Metrics to Inform Corporate Strategy

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