Building an open source community beyond the code by Carolina Portugal

so hello and everyone I'm GNA talk about building an open source uh Community beyond the codes this talk is a bit uh comes from a frustration of mine uh I work with pmot and I've Been Working for with them for like the past two years and I've been in many many many open source events there I get there and all they can have talk about Community is code contributions is commits is GitHub issues and then I'm like man we could go a little beyond that we have more people that could be contributing that is not necessarily a code or can be a developer but it can contribute in other ways no so hopefully here I don't have to tell anyone why design is important I hope here everybody it's already convinced that is an important thing uh I'm kolina I'm Brazilian but I base in Madrid and if you were not here yesterday and didn't H uh was with the talk of Timothy that was great about pmot I'm just going to little little bit introduction so you have a bit context so pmot is this collaboration too for Designing Cod so you can do mockups prototyping and also open source yes so uh uh our product is going great our community is is growing day by day so we have more than 600k users uh a lot of project many GitHub stars and 42 language that is been translating for uh This Global audience so uh how we are trying to make this community a little bit more open inclusive Erse sometimes uh people can think just because we open source uh we're open everybody going to known us everybody going to just come and be part of this amazing Community not necessarily we have to do some thought to make it actually open and inclusive so our first mental by is open by default so we try to do everything open uh this was already mentioned yesterday but we do have our uh product management to open for the public you can go there and you can see whatever is happening when it's happening who is doing that uh why they're doing that with the descriptions and why maybe we're not doing things that we the community want so uh people can just go there even they can comment no what this it's okay you even can comment if you have something to add on oh I think that approach would be better than these ones that you guys thought but well it's there for everyone to see and uh but we also try to constantly uh share uh updates so not only on tigga that it has more or less the progress but you also try to go to the community and say hey this is how it's going what you guys think uh what we could do different is it is it going in the right direction so we are always like every part of the process trying to be transparent with the community we also seek for diversity can be diversity rooll makes sense we are a design and developer so we need both of them there uh but it also can be gender in abilities or even geography I'm not going to talk about all because then it will be too long talk here I'm going to just focus on the why what we are doing for geography so three things that we're doing uh uh actively right now so we try to do uh diversity geography also in and uh offline so that means we're going to events that is many places uh as I'm here I was in Asia last month but we are also making sure that when we are doing organizing our event and we are bringing people from all all over the place it's easy to be uh geographically diverse when you're online but it makes a little bit more effort trying to do it uh when you're on the offline world other thing we're doing is the top tier countries this is just a fence way to say we are small we cannot think on every single one of the countries in the world so we decided uh actively to choose one every single continent that we think that is most influential in open source also influential in the the area and also makes sense for us to make sure that our impact is arriving there because it's easy for us to oh no yeah just we doing English everybody going to know oh we're we're we're trying to go everywhere but no if we're like actually thinking on let's go to Nigeria let's work with this person who is doing this in that area let's go there and make sure that that uh special uh place is is being taken care and one of these uh from this one of the things we did is we are translating for three West Africa language uh pbot we're paying for local people to translate uh it's it's makes sense it's easier to use a a a platform that is in your own language even sometimes you are a good enough in English it it makes more comfortable it makes more you feel home when you get there it's like oh it's in my own language uh sorry if anyone is marketing here but uh we say de to the tone of voice we are people it doesn't mean that bot as a product doesn't have a ton of voice it does the marketing girls they're there doing great with that but in the community space and we say that we're people so I'm not a technical person I'm not even a ux designer uh so if I go there and explain if my w words maybe someone who's just starting can understand better if our top top designer come and super explain everything we are doing so maybe different people with different roles and different expertises needed different people explaining that so I sometimes someone super technical go there and write something and just go there like sorry I don't get what you're asking can you explain it again and then they explain another way and then every other people can understand and go and and talk so um so we're trying to create inclusivity also in the right spaces uh as any other open source project we started in a repository and doing everything all the documentation all the isues uh there and then we at some point we like doesn't make any sense for us uh it's not a welcoming place for a designer the average designer is going to go there and say like oh what I'm doing here I don't even know I know the the the devs US this too but it's not my space so we Chang we now have a forum that is more like friendly for people that are not in that level of and also we are trying to do it the right way so again designers are more visual designers are more uh Express in in in in this this sense so it made sense that we go away from the text block and go for more the visual scenes so we start to use a lot of like uh video uh our team use a lot of free software to do the video of the blenders and so on and it makes a lot of sense for us to go more visual um another rule Community not support well sometimes so we think this is a so uh the way we like to think about the community we don't think them like them and us or we are always thinking them as is the were part one more team member because I oh I want to share this with my team but I don't want to put in the community yet because it's not that great yet but why you sharing someone the team though if it's able enough to share with someone in the team is going to be good enough to share with the community so is something that for us it makes sense we're not only there for support we're also there for support if you need but we also there for feedback and ideations and sharing the comments with them and the last rule that we always like is to uh acknowledge and appreciate every single contribution so even if it's a typo even if it's a small hey guys maybe uh this translation for English English is not the best it happens we're all the Spanish companies so sometimes the our English is not the best English so we do appreciate that small details and this is just an Inception is US telling thanks for one contributor and then this own contributor telling thanks thanks you for the cont yeah Inception everybody thaning each other here so that was great and also but how this all this community this uh people around us is actually helping to shape them but so uh we always like to say that we're great first contribution for anyone is just to say hi is just to say I'm here I'm using penot I like it I'm here for anything so any of the first first first contribution for us in any case is high so but we are trying to think in other ways to make the the community able to to to contribute so Librarians in templates is quite specific for our uh project wait sorry uh so but it's a way that people that are maybe not technical or maybe just starting or maybe just wanting to contribute some way they are going there and they can see and they can share and also people who are coming also can work over uh other people's project so you don't maybe don't have to start from the zero you can already have one template and start from there so it's this idea of working over the each other another thing that I already mentioned is translations we're uh 42 language right now not all in 100% so we have a lot in 100% translations but as you can see we could not be able at all to translate this as uh only our team uh it has even language that I don't know where they're from and I had to Google say like oh where this language from so that's great because it makes sense uh someone may not be a designer may not be a developer but still are somehow interested in pimpa like go there and you can put in your your own language and you can translate it so it's one of ways that people can interact uh with our project and we have many other ways of contributing that can be of course reporting bugs we always uh trying to find bugs and making sure that the the the platform run smoothly documentation that sometimes mentioned when I was going to that conference that we're only talking about codes when they're going a little bit forward and cod they talk oh maybe you can help us to document it it's true it's also nice a good do uh contribution for us maybe you're missing something maybe you can fix something on the communication just joining the community uh space and be part of that and be helping with other people comments other people can creating tutorials so if you are good on making videos or even if you're not that great you still can make tutorials you can still help people to uh to use and just advocacy and Outreach so just talk about our product it's also great contribution for us and the less and one not least is using just use just make sure that uh uh the the platform makes sense for the people but not everything is flowers not everything is easy even as we are uh struggle on the uh like this product design core contributions uh and we have some idea why they are hard uh so for example um a lot of designment there doesn't know even exist so uh sometimes we talk with designers and they yeah I know about open source I know it exist but they don't even know that is a possibility to be part of it and but even that uh the designers are actively in the community uh maybe the tools were not well integrated with open source uh we have great methodology we have great workflows for how to do c contributions and also the platforms for the code made it easier but we didn't we don't have that uh figured out yet for how to do open-source design contributions and the less uh point there is it's unclear and a really complex uh process so maybe you have your open source design that is available in a tool that makes sense but then someone maybe have to to get the file and then get H making the changes and then go back and then how I'm going to prove that change uh is a good design what is a good design it is good enough how going going to tell them it's not good enough so it it adds some complexity that we are trying to figure it out we had our first let's say car design contribution last week with the canonico team there are the the the team that builds Ubuntu and during their H hober Fest they did this week of trying to make a core contribution to pmot it was specifically for the grid layout uh that was mentioned last uh yesterday and it was a complex uh situation because we were in contact with them and they were in contact with us so it was not like uh a easy way but I want to highlight that canono is thinking on how to make uh more product design open source so if you are interesting if you are a ux designer or just interesting on this figuring out this they are starting a a design product uh group to discuss how can we as open source Community start to have better workflows and better methologies so just go to their page and you you find them uh but it's it's great it's great that the the community is trying to push this is trying to figure it out how we can do better design in open source uh one thing that that is also good for us is trying to facilitate the information so yeah we have the FAQs we have user guide we have technical guide contribute guide everything there for people who wants but also we try to really uh load bar one of the things we're doing uh is starting initiative so if we do have initiative that we want the community to take over uh but we don't know how we do start a little bit of it and then we just document and then then expect someone it keep pushing so that was made uh that that was what we did with export figma to pmot uh that was something that was really really asked when Adobe tried to buy figma but uh we were not able in that moment to fully commit on uh making this export so we did a little bit of push and then the community kept going it's still not 100% so now we decide to that it's time for us to to finish so let's say like it was kind of like we started the communi keep pushing and now we're finishing to make the whole package so that was great because we had this uh uh work together with the community to make this another thing that we try to really make clear is how to start the typical good first issues on GitHub but you can go forward you can say oh the good first issues for design what that means what can the people do maybe for you make maybe a logo please try to think a little bit more than a logo because that's the first all first good issues that uh for a designer always but maybe it may make sense for you to be a Liber templates for us or maybe is even a user testing you you have this uh nice to that is been there for a while but you have no idea if people using or they're using the right way or how they're using so maybe ask for a designer to just come and make a user testing for you is maybe it can give you better insights for so but all these I would say that you need to prioritize you need to spend time you need to make a clear clear path for how people can contribute if you don't spend time on uh helping people to contribute it's going to be even harder and even even more trouble for the person to actually contribute I've been in many workshops of on uh open- Source design in this years and I heard the both sides I heard the people saying uh like uh Managers from the products and like oh I really want designers contribute I would love to have them I I have no idea and then I ask her like oh wow cool what do you have for them like have you put anything up for asking help for help oh actually know and I'm like how they going to even figure it out that you're wanting help and the same you hear from the designers like I would love to help I would love but I go to the the the repositories and I have no idea when I even start not even how contact to someone not how I can talk to someone I make open a issue but I'm like sometimes even afraid to to ask for if I can help and I sometimes I even start to ask but they don't know they know they know they want me to help but I have no idea how can I help so making sure that you're providing this clear path of how people can contribute to your project ER and makes way smoother that for this contribution actually happening so I will finish don't forget uh to be open open source not necessarily mean open you have to do a little bit beyond just the put code in a repository you have to make sure that it being open uh you have to make sure that you seek for diversity um uh making sure that people are coming are from many places can bring uh your project Beyond uh that it was going to be if you have only the same people coming and and contribut an knowledge and appreciate even if it's the smallest typo or even if it's uh just something quite uh small U makes this little effort of a person that that makes them even more willing to do a bigger thing in the next time and prioritize these contributions uh I I I know it makes uh sense but a lot of people don't actually stop and do it sometimes you're like oh really I really wish wish that people just come and contribute more like but how much you are putting to them actually come and do and do these contributions so thank you