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How To Sponsor an Open Source Sprint

Posted by samzenpus on from the it's-what-the-cool-kids-are-doing dept.

Esther Schindler writes "Does your favorite open source project need just a little extra functionality? As Esther Schindler explains in this IT World article, your company can encourage the developers to add the features you've been yearning for — for far, far less money than you imagine. She interviews companies who have sponsored 'code-a-thons' for Drupal, Plone, simwiddy, and a set of applications for British Telecom, and provides specific pointers. From the article: 'To ensure that the event happens and that it meets its goals, you must connect with the right members of the community and motivate them to work with you. "It's not like these people are paid to work for your interests," points out Brightcove's Whatcott. If your business already has project committers on its staff, then it's just a matter of leveraging existing relationships. But, says Stahl, "Someone less 'core' in the community might well have a harder time.'"'

1 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Re:um by ushering05401 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The whole article seems wrongheaded in exactly the way you point out.

    Let's see how many people can figure out the target audience of this article... So lets see..

    1. We are targeting an audience that doesn't know what a Code Jam is:

    A sprint (sometimes called a Code Jam or hack-a-thon) is a short time period (three to five days) during which software developers work on a particular chunk of functionality.

    2. This audience doesn't know why an IT manager might want a code jam, but hey, it might be cheap! :

    For many IT managers, the most compelling reason for the company to sponsor a sprint is financial, because you just might be able to cover the costs out of petty cash.

    3. The target audience is likely to relate to a comparison of the cost of this 'Code Jam' to monthly marketing costs, specifically, client
    dinners :

    In short: In an open source sprint, you can add new functionality to your most important application for less money than your marketing department spent last month on a single fancy client dinner.

    Any guesses on who this author wants to start trying to exploit the OSS dev webs?