The existence of Open Source within the technology sphere is ubiquitous. Certainly inside the realm of software development, either for internal usage or in service to software product offerings, the usage of open source is common-place. But how it is perceived in those arenas, how it is actually used, varies widely. By not wisely leveraging open source, you are missing out on the opportunity for significant strategic success.

Why is this so? Why do some companies and organizations not ‘grok’ the real-world advantages that strategic open source provides? Some of it is, no doubt, culturally based. Even in this day and age, the “Not Invented Here” (“NIH”) syndrome refuses to die. Among some, there is still this prevailing notion that only software developed “here” has any intrinsic value, which immediately discounts and diminishes any software developed “over there.” There is also a mistaken and, dare I say it, old-fashioned attitude towards IP, that all software has both equal and deep value. Maybe there was a day, long ago, when that was the case; where software was unique enough, and limited enough, that all code was “worth something.” But we are living in the 21st century where a lot of software is, fundamentally, a commodity. The chances that your own, internally self-brewed ESB will be significantly improved over, say, Mulesoft, are extremely remote. Yet there are still loads of managers and executives (and even engineers) who continue to spend time and resources re-doing what has already been successfully done and is available as open source.

Of all the attitudes towards open source, this is the one which, personally, confuses me the most. I simply can’t see the rationale behind ignoring such potential. It’s like walking on a beach and coming upon a bar of gold, and simply continuing to walk on.

Fortunately, this class is quite rare, and getting rarer. Instead, most entities see how open source is deeply woven into what they do, and realize that, somehow, they have to handle it. But again, we see distinctions on how some proceed.

There are, after all, some who see open source as a necessary evil. OK, well, maybe not “evil,”, but the attitude is, “Well, we need to handle it, so we might as well make sure we’re compliant.” For these entities, leveraging open source is little more than an administrative procedure. Is the License acceptable? Check. Is the code up to date? Check. Do we need to provide contributions? Check.

Now I am not saying, of course, that these considerations and actions are not important, even vital, to successful strategic open source. They are. But they are not, or at least, should not be, the beginning and the end of how one approaches open source. Open source is a valuable resource, and, as with all resources, should be looked at strategically. Yet many organizations simply don’t.

Again, there are various reasons behind this. One is, for lack of a better word, simple ignorance, in that they really don’t understand nor appreciate how open source is a valuable resource. After all, how valuable can it be when you can simply download it and use it? You “get what you pay for,” right? 

Another is that they lack the internal resources required to use it as a strategic resource. They don’t have an Open Source Project Office (OSPO) or, if they do, their mission is simple and basic administration. And being incredibly short-sighted, the company can’t see the value in providing additional resources for the OSPO to do any more.

Finally, we get to those organizations who see Open Source for what it is, what it can be, and what it provides: a strategic advantage in providing true business value. But even here, a spectrum exists.

There are those who follow the ideal of “open source all things.”. Open source is seen almost as a kind of software pure research; you never know where cool stuff will pop up. Unfortunately, such an approach can be problematic: first of all, it is incredibly resource intensive, which is an issue for all but the most profitable companies. But more importantly, it also incurs a lack of focus, where the potential opportunity of open source becomes more important that the actual usage of open source. In other words, it’s the tail wagging the dog.

Now sure, for the developer and engineer, being paid to “play around with open source” is a dream come true; but for companies, there needs to be a focus on how it actually helps the business. What is the value?

And so, as with most things, a much more pragmatic view is really the best one, a much more strategic one. Leveraging open source allows one to use their most valuable resources, their employees, to focus on specific code and implementations that both differentiate one from their competitors (their so-called “special sauce”), but also provide deep business and customer value.

Now, while consuming (using) open source is vital, it is just as important to contribute back, and to create and maintain a healthy reputation in the community. Some open source projects will be critical commodities, and, as a user heavily reliant on it, you want to be in a position to be able to help guide, direct, and influence how that project proceeds. This can only be done by being a valued member of that community. Also, it will inevitably happen that you will be required to change the source code at some point, and those changes really have to be contributed back to the community. Now, of course, some open source licences require this, but even if they don’t there are two big reasons to do so. The first is that it is a key factor in membership within that community. But just as importantly, you need to avoid technical debt. If you don’t upstream those changes, then you are basically maintaining your own separate fork of the project, and as the two codebases diverge, as they inevitably will, the risk and the drag imposed on doing so becomes significant.

In many ways, strategic open source can be seen as the software equivalent of applied research. Success is imperative with balancing risk and resources, but at the end of the day, a true appreciation of open source can drive innovation and true business value.

Jim Jagielski is a well-known and acknowledged expert and visionary in open source, an accomplished coder, and frequent engaging presenter on all things open, web, blockchain, and cloud related. As a developer, he’s made substantial code contributions to just about every core technology behind the internet and web and in 2012 was awarded the O’Reilly Open Source Award. In 2015, he received the Innovation Luminary Award from the EU and in 2019 was picked by InterCon as one of their Top 50 Tech Leaders. He’s likely best known as one of the developers and cofounders of the Apache Software Foundation, where he has previously served as both chairman and president and where he’s been on the board of directors since day one. He’s served as president of the Outercurve Foundation and was also a director of the Open Source Initiative (OSI). He’s Salesforce’s Open Source Program Office lead, and he credits his wife Eileen with keeping him sensible

The Featured Blog Posts series will highlight posts from partners and members of the All Things Open community leading up to the conference in October.