product development in the open - openstack summit may 2014 atlanta

(open source isn’t just a developers’ thing)

Product Development in the Open

#rackstackatl

• Brian Rosmaita

– @br14nr

– IRC: rosmaita

• Cloud Images Product Manager at Rackspace

• OpenStack ATC since Folsom

– Mostly Glance and docs

• Glance driver

• Happy to be here, hope you’re enjoying the summit

About me

#rackstackatl

• Who cares about OpenStack?

• Open source code development vs. product development

• Why product development is important for open source

• Product development in the open

• What you can do

Outline

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• What you can do

• What you should do

Outline

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• What you can do

• What you should do

• What you must do

Outline

#rackstackatl RACKSPACE® HOSTING | WWW.RACKSPACE.COM

WHO CARES

ABOUT OPENSTACK?

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• Do end-users care about OpenStack?

Who cares about OpenStack?

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– I hate to say this, but probably not


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• Do end-users care about open source?


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– Probably not


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– Probably not

• Can we just ignore them?


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– Probably not


– Probably not


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– Probably not


– Probably not

– If you’re running a public cloud: definitely not


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– Probably not


– Probably not

– If you’re running a public cloud: definitely not

– If you’re running a private cloud: the “shadow IT” phenomenon


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• Do providers care about OpenStack?


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– I think current and potential cloud providers care about open-source


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• Providers want

– Stability


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• Providers want

– Stability

– Ongoing improvement


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• Providers want

– Stability


– Stability


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• Providers want

– Stability


– Stability

– Competitive features for end users


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• Providers want

– Stability


– Stability

– Competitive features for end users

– Stability


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• If your customer base primarily interacts with a control panel, you can swap out the control plane and customers might not even notice


2

2

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• Or you could switch to different cloud software that has a compatible API and customers might not even notice


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• Or you could switch to different cloud software that has a compatible API and customers might not even notice

It’s a jungle out there!


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• (I’m kind of scared to pose this next question)


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• Are software developers committed to OpenStack?


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• Are software developers committed to OpenStack?

– It’s pretty scary to even think about this question


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• Are you committed to OpenStack?


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• Am I committed to OpenStack?


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– What I’m committed to is the ongoing shared project of developing excellent open-source cloud software


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– OpenStack is the best game in town


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• “ongoing shared project” == the community


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• “ongoing shared project” == the community


TRUST + CONTRIBUTION

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• The community isn’t something to observe …

The OpenStack community


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• … it’s something to participate in



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• … it’s something to participate in

• The community requires constant care and nurturing if it’s to remain the vibrant and exciting entity it is today



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• What am I going to do with OpenStack?



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ASK NOT WHAT

OPENSTACK

CAN DO FOR YOU,

BUT WHAT YOU CAN

DO FOR OPENSTACK


OPENSOURCE CODE DEVELOPMENT

VS. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

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• Coding is done in the open

Open source code development

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• Anyone – cloud provider, ops team, developers, end-users, random passers-by

– Can read the source code

– Can see the peer reviews

– Can see the history of code development


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– Can look up the history of the ideas behind this piece of code


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• Mailing list archives


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• IRC meeting logs


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–“official” IRC meeting channels

» #openstack-meeting , #openstack-meeting-alt


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–“official” IRC meeting channels

» #openstack-meeting , #openstack-meeting-alt

–Project-specific meeting channels

»E.g., #openstack-glance


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• The history of the ideas behind a piece of code is important when reviewing it

Open source code archaeology

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• This code is acceptable because:

– It has no obvious flaws

– It doesn’t break compatibility with other parts of the code


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– It implements the feature correctly


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– It implements the feature correctly

– … and if there’s a migration path, it’s well thought-out


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• It would be good if the archaeology were not so “archaeological”



WHY PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

IS IMPORTANT FOR OPEN SOURCE

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• Customer-validated

Modern product development

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• OpenStack has two customer segments:

– Deployers (consumers of OpenStack software)

– End-users (consumers of cloud services)


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• Customer-validated

– We’ve got data indicating that a proposed feature will actually be used by real customers


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• Software development goes better when developers understand:

– The purpose of the feature they’re developing

– How it fits into the Big Picture

– That it will actually be used

Modern software development

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• Software development goes better when developers understand:

– The purpose of the feature they’re developing

– How it fits into the Big Picture

– That it will actually be used

• And, of course, code reviews can be more meaningful when these things are understood

Modern software development


PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

IN THE OPEN

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• Product-type people have a skill set that can contribute to the community

Product development in the open

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• Product-type people have a skill set that can make a serious contribution to the community


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• We can decrease the necessary amount of “archaeology” by treating OpenStack code development as part of product development


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• … rather than as an artifact around which to build a product


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• Product-types have a skill set that can make a serious contribution to the community



• Increase

– Developer satisfaction

– Deployer awareness

– Documentation readiness


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• Product-types have a skill set that can make a serious contribution to the community



• Increase

– Developer satisfaction

– Deployer awareness

– Documentation readiness

– User delight!



WHAT YOU CAN DO

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• Chris Vander Mey, Shipping Greatness (O’Reilly, 2012)

What you can do

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• Press release before the product is built

What you can do

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• FAQ before the product is built

What you can do

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• Documented use cases

What you can do

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• Customer validation

What you can do

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• Customer validation

• and …

What you can do

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• Examples

–https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Glance-property-protections-product

–http://tinyurl.com/ATL-BR-1

–https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Glance-tasks-api-product

–http://tinyurl.com/ATL-BR-E2

–https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Glance-v2-community-image-sharing

–http://tinyurl.com/ATL-BR-3

What you can do

https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Glance-property-protections-product







http://tinyurl.com/ATL-BR-1





https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Glance-tasks-api-product







http://tinyurl.com/ATL-BR-E2





https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Glance-v2-community-image-sharing









#rackstackatl

• OpenStack is more than code

• Community is key

• Product-type people can contribute to OpenStack

Take-aways

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• Product-type people should contribute to OpenStack

Take-aways

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• Product-type people should contribute to OpenStack

• Product-type people must contribute to OpenStack

Take-aways

#rackstackatl

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#rackstackatl

• I just wanted to address a few questions that came up

– The example docs are in their final state.

• What you don’t see is that there were several revisions as the discussion developed on the mailing list and in IRC meetings.

• Keep in mind the “archaeology” metaphor—the point of the “product” docs is to record community consensus, not to impose a particular view or to deliver a pre-designed API.

• You want to document the consensus enough so that a core reviewer can look them over and understand whether or not the code being reviewed meets the consensus requirements for the feature.

– Have a thick skin

• Expect to see eyes roll (or whatever the IRC equivalent is) when you first start participating in IRC meetings and design discussions.

• Some developers are more receptive to this kind of help than others. It may take some time to earn trust, don’t get discouraged.

Postscript

#rackstackatl

•Brian Rosmaita –@br14nr

–IRC: rosmaita

–[email protected]

About me

product development in the open - openstack summit may 2014 atlanta

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