About me

• My name’s Damien Clochard
• Founded a PostgreSQL consulting company in 2005
• Involved in the Postgres community at various levels
• https://github.com/daamien

About PostgreSQL

Most Advanced Database in the Universe !

• Started in 1995
• Decentalized community
• Focus on documentation
• No Steering Committee / No Roadmap
• « Do What You Want »
• Competing with Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, …

Our story

We built a FLOSS company using FLOSS principles :

• Worker-owned / Cooperative
• Transparency by default
• Open discussions
• Decentralized / Working remotely
• Horizontal structure / Elected management

Problems

• Consensus does not scale

• Dull meetings + Hundreds of endless email threads

• « Did we decide something ? »

• Silent Disapproval

• Not taking a decision is a decision itself

The Open Decision Framework

• Developped by Red Hat, published on github in 2016

• We translated it in French in 2017

• Then we “forked” it to our fit our own needs

What is an “Open Decision” ?

Open decisions are made using open source principles:

• Transparent
• Inclusive
• User-Centric

Key points

• Open exchange
• Participation
• Release early + often
• Meritocracy
• Community

You can’t please everyone

• Let people you hear and value their critics
• Provide safe communication channels
• Define the common values and group culture
• Let people contribute at any level
• Give visibility to avoid surprises
• If you fail, learn from your mistakes

4 basic steps

1. Concept, Define, Plan, Ideate
2. Research, Analyze, Complexify
3. Design, Develop, Test
4. Launch, Deploy, Close

PHASE 1

Concept, Define, Plan, Ideate

Questions

• What is the problem ?

• Whose problem is it ? Who else could be impacted?

• How will we make the decision?

• Who is likely to disagree, dissent, reject, or opt out?

• What’s the roadmap

Potential Flamewars

• Communication channels

• Confidentiality

• Deadlines

PHASE 2

Research, Analyze, Complexify

Questions

• Who already tried to solved this? How did it work?
• What are the hidden problems behing this?
• Get user Feedback
• Who is likely to disagree, dissent, reject, or opt out?

This is the most difficult part

• Most people want to rush to a solution

• Embrace complexity

• Maintain a safe environment and let people expose their problems

• Take your time

PHASE 3

Design, Develop, Test

Questions

• What if…. ?
• Where are the beta-testers and early adopters ?

This is the fun part

• Build a prototype

• Search for alternative solutions

• In the end, simplify and reduce the options

• Prepare an escape plan :)

PHASE 4

Launch, Deploy, Close

Questions

• Did we answer the initial question ?
• How do we monitor the impacts of our decision ?
• How do we make revisions based on feedbacks ?
• What are we leaving to the “future generation” ?
• What have we learned ?
• Do we need to revisit the decision later ?

Be proud !

• Write an announcement

• Tell “the story” of your decision

• Contribute upstream

• Stay engaged with those who reject the decision

In practice

We used the framework in 6 different workgroups for marketing decisions

• Each phase can take between 1 and 4 hours
• Each group is composed of 3-5 persons
• Some people find the framework a bit awkward
• For other it’s easier to get involved

Result : Success

We solved a particular problem that was bothering everyone for the last 5 years.

We found a compromise in a situation with 2 strong opposite groups

Result : Failure

It’s not magic : some decisions failed…

… but they failed fast ;-)

Build your own framework

Red Hat
https://github.com/red-hat-people-team/open-decision-framework

Gitlab
https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/leadership/#making-decisions

Valve
http://www.davidmidgley.net/2013/01/valves-cabal-system-for-game-design/

Hack your company !

Let’s use FLOSS principles for corporate management

Treat your company like an open source project !

Thanks !

Contact
damien@dalibo.com

Twitter
daamien

Feedback
https://submission.fosdem.org/feedback/6112.php