2019 Presentations (Communicative Events)

Revisiting Open Source for Managers

Armintor, Benjamin J.

The late-90's moment of open source software (OSS) presented itself as an anti-hierarchical mode of organization. By the mid-00's, however, OSS projects were articulated to corporate managerial strategies and a decade later 'Open' organizational strategies inform corporate models from RedHat to the US Armed Forces. In the mode of "questions and provocations," this presentation acknowledges that trajectory and echoes Sebastian Rahz's "Open Source for Managers" back 15 years later to ask how consortial OSS might, in the context of trends in tech workforce organization and higher-ed resourcing, be a professional development ground for developers moving into management. It will suggest that such development represents a concrete benefit for sponsoring organizations wary of "the Community" as an end unto itself, with examples drawn from my experience working in several OSS communities of interest and learning on-the-job to lead a team of developers.