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foreign

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[Music]

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welcome to today's

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last are we all good to go

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cool hi welcome to today's last session

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um business as usual as we've been

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proceeding sort of throughout the

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conference we've got 35 minutes of a

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fabulous presentation followed by 10

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minutes of questions so it's a pleasure

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to introduce today's speaker called Owen

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Lansbury with his presentation why a

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culture of Open Source contribution is

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good for your business with the

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background in user experience design

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Owen's focus is on sustainable business

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and open source Community Management he

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was a founder of the Drupal South

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steering committee and was appointed to

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the global Drupal Association board of

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directors in 2019 just before the world

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fell apart in today's talk Owen will

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talk about how his company previous next

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has a culture based around contributing

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back to the Drupal open source project

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and how this has helped the bottom line

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over the years please join me in

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welcoming Ellen thanks Amy

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[Applause]

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so that was half my talk done so thank

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you

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and I was a little bit worried on

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preaching to the converter to the

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conference like this but it's good to

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see that there's a few of you sticking

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it out to the last session of the day to

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find out uh how a culture of Open Source

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contribution can be good for your

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business just a couple of other people

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coming in now

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so I won't run through too much of my

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bio because we just heard about that but

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previous next has been

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based on building large-scale Drupal

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websites for the past 15 years and we

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also have a hosting division called

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Skipper the t-shirt that I'm wearing and

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it's based around kubernetes so open

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source software has really permeated

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every aspect of our business since we

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founded but the focus of today's talk

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will be on the Drupal side of things and

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we made a really conscious decision to

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be strong contributors to the Drupal

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open source project and Community quite

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shortly after we found it as a company

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back in 2009 and as Amy said over the

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past few years a lot of my own

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contribution has been around Community

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involvement working with Drupal South

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which is our local conference and Drupal

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South is also backed by Linux Australia

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so all part of the same family and then

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my role on the Drupal Association board

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the Drupal Association is effectively

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what the Linux Foundation is to the

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Linux project just on a much smaller

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scale and the photo here is from Prague

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last year so there are a couple of perks

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about being on that board

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so in terms of what I'm going to talk

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about today I'll quickly go through my

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own open source Journey hi Donna

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um and just in the context of how it

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relates to previous next becoming a

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major contributor to Drupal I'll talk a

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little bit about drupal's open source

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contribution model because it is a

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little bit different to some other

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communities and then I'm going to get

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into the meat of why our company is a

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strong contributor and then hopefully

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through all of this there'll be some

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ideas that you can take to your own

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organizations or your own companies

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so without going too far back

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like many of you probably did my career

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started in the very early days of the

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web I Was A Fine Arts graduate so

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generally a lot of my experience was

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more on the design and user experience

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side of things and I've really tried to

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avoid mangling too much code through my

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career as much as possible

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and fast forward to 2007 most of my work

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was as a user experience consultant and

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mainly working with clients that were

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building large-scale sites handling

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large volumes of content and I kept

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seeing quite a few common patterns with

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how they were trying to manage their

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content the first one they were paying

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way too much to Big Enterprise platforms

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from companies like Oracle the second

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one was that they were still paying way

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too much money to smaller companies that

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were building proprietary platforms and

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then going out of business and leaving

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them stranded with unsupported systems

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or often the worst case was that they'd

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gone and built their own the cms's from

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scratch and then they'll start

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maintaining that with the very expensive

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in-house team

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and it was around this time that we did

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see a lot of the the nascent Open Source

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cmx Products emerge so Joomla it was

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released in 2005. WordPress was released

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in 2003 and both plone and Drupal

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started in 2001 so my question to the

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clients I was working with became

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increasingly why aren't you using an

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open source content management system

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instead of the thing that you currently

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are and through a process of my own

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research

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I did find that Drupal was the CMS that

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seemed to have the best feature set for

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what I was trying to use a Content

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management system for and again because

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of my lack of Dev skills it was the

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system that wasn't getting hacked at the

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moment that I installed it on cpanel

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and I think what I was also seeing was

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that internationally in North America

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and Europe I was seeing that Drupal was

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really getting adopted by similar

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clients to what I was working with so

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big media companies larger non-profits

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kind of mid to large scale Enterprises a

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lot of use in universities and then very

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importantly government agencies and

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departments and that was right up to and

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including Obama's whitehouse.gov

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adopting it in 2009 little bits happened

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since then but I think drupal's use on

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the White House site was really rocket

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fuel for its adoption within government

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now just remembering I'm not a developer

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so I did enlist the help of my now

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business partner Kim pepper to validate

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that Drupal could do what I thought it

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could do and despite him being a Java

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developer looking down his nose at

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something built in PHP he gave it his

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tick of approval and now he's of course

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a massive advocate for Drupal himself

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and 2009 was also the year that we kind

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of knuckled down and said all right well

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let's form a company around building

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Drupal websites for large-scale clients

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and off the back of that one of our very

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first projects was for New South

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wales.gov.eu and we're still working on

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the same site 15 years later still

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running on Drupal and also being hosted

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on now Skipper hosting platform

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now importantly around that time when

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we're starting our company we'd been

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drawn to Drupal in large part because we

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knew it had a dynamic Community around

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it and as soon as we had some cash in

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the bank from working on client projects

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we jumped on the plane to San Francisco

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to drupalcon which is one of the main or

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it is the main conference in in North

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America for Drupal and the shock of

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seeing more than 20 people sitting in a

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room talking about Drupal was quite a

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revelation and we discovered at that

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time that Drupal already had a

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catchphrase of comfort the software stay

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for the community and that's still the

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case today and that first trip we used

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it personally to meet a lot of the

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people that were were responsible for

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writing the code behind Drupal and

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started that understanding of how we

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could start contributing ourselves so a

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big fast forward 15 years later a lot of

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those principles that we put in place

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early on around open source

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contributions still apply today probably

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even more so and I would say they've

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been the absolute core of us being a

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sustainable business through that time

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and of course many of you probably seen

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people still use Drupal

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and I think like a lot of people outside

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the Drupal bubble uh

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um if you're not kind of embedded within

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it you're not that aware of what's

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actually going on within that Community

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but I can tell you that Drupal is still

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thriving uh in quite a big way so

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WordPress is by far and away the most

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dominant CMS across most categories but

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Drupal has found itself running 10 of

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the tops 10 000 most visited sites and

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to put that into context it's more than

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Adobe site called content full Joomla

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plane and braco and kentico combined

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and at the Drupal Association we've done

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some work around calculating the value

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of projects using Drupal each year and

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the figure that we've put on that is at

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least three billion US globally uh each

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year so that's on par with what Adobe

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earns from their digital experience

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platform based around Adobe experience

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manager so it's it's very easy to say

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that Drupal is as because Adobe in that

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context

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um and while overall install numbers for

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Drupal have tapered off in recent years

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as smaller sites have moved to SAS

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platforms uh that kind of drop-off is

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consistent with most CMS platforms as

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the markets become more Diversified and

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different platforms are targeting

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different sectors but the scale of the

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projects that Drupal services companies

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are working on these days has increased

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massively over the past five years or so

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and if you ask any Drupal company how

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business is going the consistent answer

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is great

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and a lot of these tests success success

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stems from the changes that were made to

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drupal's architecture when Drupal

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version 8 was released back in 2005 and

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this was a really big deal in the Drupal

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community at the time because up until

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that point we had a lot of hobbyist

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developers that were just using Drupal

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to build smaller sites and Drupal 8

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basically meant that you needed much

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deeper development skills complex

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workflows and we really pissed a lot of

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small users off but that was very

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intentional maybe not the pissing people

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off part but moving to a more

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standardized architecture that would

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scale for these bigger more complex

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websites and at the time drupal's

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founder driest pitett from Belgium he

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put a stake in the ground and said that

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Drupal was for ambitious websites and

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this is a little slide that he had at

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the time and bearing in mind that around

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2015 was the time that SAS platforms

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like Squarespace and Wix and Shopify

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really started hitting their stride and

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started hoovering up a lot of those

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smaller scale websites and while

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WordPress actively targeted that smaller

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segment with both SAS and self-managed

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versions Drupal made this very conscious

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decision to just Target the larger scale

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projects as its specialization and who

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is our main competitor in that space now

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well of course it's Adobe and the

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problem with competing with someone like

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Adobe is that adobe spends about 2

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billion dollars annually on their

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product development sales and marketing

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all of that information is available in

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their their annual report but the Drupal

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00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:16,320
Association budget for this year that I

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oversee is Treasurer it's it's 3.5

281
00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:22,019
million so 600 times smaller

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and that's just from One commercial

283
00:11:22,019 --> 00:11:27,120
competitor that Drupal has in the the

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CMS market and that market as a whole is

285
00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:31,980
about 50 billion U.S annually so there's

286
00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:34,200
a lot of attention on it but the good

287
00:11:31,980 --> 00:11:36,839
news is is that we have continued to

288
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evolve Drupal since Drupal 8 was

289
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launched in 2015 and we just had Drupal

290
00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:44,820
10 get released Before Christmas in 2022

291
00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:46,740
and there's a suite of new features and

292
00:11:44,820 --> 00:11:48,779
a modernized user interface that really

293
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help us keep Pace with those commercial

294
00:11:48,779 --> 00:11:53,100
competitors

295
00:11:50,399 --> 00:11:55,440
now one of the big issues that we're

296
00:11:53,100 --> 00:11:57,360
grappling with uh since Drupal 8 was

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released is that the balance of

298
00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:01,980
contributors have Ma has markedly

299
00:11:59,399 --> 00:12:04,680
shifted from individuals contributing

300
00:12:01,980 --> 00:12:07,019
their own time uh to people working

301
00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:09,060
within organizations that effectively

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00:12:07,019 --> 00:12:11,940
sponsor them to contribute to the

303
00:12:09,060 --> 00:12:15,000
project now unlike the Linux Foundation

304
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the Drupal Association doesn't have 180

305
00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,860
million dollars to direct a strategic

306
00:12:16,860 --> 00:12:22,320
projects each year or have companies the

307
00:12:19,860 --> 00:12:25,500
size of Intel Google or IBM all sponsors

308
00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:27,480
of this event paying their teams on on

309
00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:30,540
quite a big scale to contribute to the

310
00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:32,640
project in the Drupal ecosystem we do

311
00:12:30,540 --> 00:12:35,459
have one billion dollar company which is

312
00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:39,720
Aquia also started by the founder of uh

313
00:12:35,459 --> 00:12:42,240
of Drupal and it employs about 10 people

314
00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:44,700
full-time to work on drupals so they're

315
00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:47,700
by Far and Away the biggest contributor

316
00:12:44,700 --> 00:12:49,880
to the project and the rest of drupal's

317
00:12:47,700 --> 00:12:52,019
contributing companies like our own

318
00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:53,579
some of them might be lucky they have

319
00:12:52,019 --> 00:12:56,220
one person that's effectively full-time

320
00:12:53,579 --> 00:12:58,620
working on Drupal contribution but most

321
00:12:56,220 --> 00:13:00,899
of us are basically spreading our time

322
00:12:58,620 --> 00:13:02,820
across climb projects as well but

323
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despite that we've got about 7 000

324
00:13:02,820 --> 00:13:07,399
individual developers who contribute and

325
00:13:05,700 --> 00:13:10,620
that's backed by about 1200

326
00:13:07,399 --> 00:13:14,279
organizations of course in that context

327
00:13:10,620 --> 00:13:17,459
the 80 20 rule applies so 80 of the work

328
00:13:14,279 --> 00:13:20,579
done is definitely done by 20 or less of

329
00:13:17,459 --> 00:13:22,380
the people in that mix

330
00:13:20,579 --> 00:13:24,480
um but it's very fair to say that

331
00:13:22,380 --> 00:13:26,639
without companies like our own

332
00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:28,800
sponsoring their staff to contribute to

333
00:13:26,639 --> 00:13:31,019
Drupal the project really would have

334
00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:34,079
died a quick death uh quite a long time

335
00:13:31,019 --> 00:13:37,139
ago so the Drupal Association is in the

336
00:13:34,079 --> 00:13:38,639
midst of trying to to boost this

337
00:13:37,139 --> 00:13:40,740
um and there's things like the Drupal

338
00:13:38,639 --> 00:13:43,560
certified partner program that I'll talk

339
00:13:40,740 --> 00:13:45,120
about uh a little bit later that

340
00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:47,339
contribute to that

341
00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:50,339
so that the current mechanism that we do

342
00:13:47,339 --> 00:13:52,920
use within the the Drupal ecosystem to

343
00:13:50,339 --> 00:13:56,279
measure contribution is what we have is

344
00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:57,959
a a credit system and credits are

345
00:13:56,279 --> 00:14:00,899
weighted based on their importance to

346
00:13:57,959 --> 00:14:02,820
the project so if you're writing some

347
00:14:00,899 --> 00:14:05,279
code for a little extension module that

348
00:14:02,820 --> 00:14:07,560
only a handful of sites use it's

349
00:14:05,279 --> 00:14:09,540
obviously weighted far less than Drupal

350
00:14:07,560 --> 00:14:12,500
core code that everyone benefits from

351
00:14:09,540 --> 00:14:14,639
and we can track that within

352
00:14:12,500 --> 00:14:18,000
drupal.org so you can see here this is

353
00:14:14,639 --> 00:14:19,620
our profile page on drupal.org you can

354
00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:22,339
see how many issues we've worked on the

355
00:14:19,620 --> 00:14:24,959
past three months how many roles we have

356
00:14:22,339 --> 00:14:26,579
within the project how many different

357
00:14:24,959 --> 00:14:28,200
projects we support so things like

358
00:14:26,579 --> 00:14:29,639
modules

359
00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:32,040
um and then things like events that

360
00:14:29,639 --> 00:14:34,860
we've sponsored so all of that's

361
00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:37,260
trackable and from what we understand uh

362
00:14:34,860 --> 00:14:39,300
this credit contribution system is

363
00:14:37,260 --> 00:14:41,220
relatively unique in the open source

364
00:14:39,300 --> 00:14:43,440
world and we've actually just been

365
00:14:41,220 --> 00:14:45,779
collaborating with Git lab over the past

366
00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:48,720
year to see how we can roll that

367
00:14:45,779 --> 00:14:50,279
Paradigm into gitlab itself so that then

368
00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:52,519
it can be applied to any other open

369
00:14:50,279 --> 00:14:55,320
source project

370
00:14:52,519 --> 00:14:58,260
now one of the main paradoxes that we

371
00:14:55,320 --> 00:15:01,320
have with Drupal projects getting bigger

372
00:14:58,260 --> 00:15:03,540
and more lucrative is that Drupal

373
00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:05,760
services companies have had less

374
00:15:03,540 --> 00:15:07,680
resources to actually dedicate to Drupal

375
00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:11,880
contribution it's that classic chicken

376
00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:14,160
and egg thing so to address this uh the

377
00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:17,399
Drupal Association is just starting to

378
00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:20,160
Embark upon assessing how we can have

379
00:15:17,399 --> 00:15:21,839
strategic funding for Innovation

380
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:24,839
projects within the Drupal project

381
00:15:21,839 --> 00:15:26,699
similar to the model the the Linux

382
00:15:24,839 --> 00:15:30,360
Foundation has where there's funded

383
00:15:26,699 --> 00:15:32,339
development of the course software now

384
00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:34,199
this is no small task in the Drupal

385
00:15:32,339 --> 00:15:37,320
Community because the Drupal Association

386
00:15:34,199 --> 00:15:39,300
has always been very arm's length to the

387
00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:41,940
actual software development it's always

388
00:15:39,300 --> 00:15:43,260
been positioned as just facilitating the

389
00:15:41,940 --> 00:15:44,940
community to go off and do the

390
00:15:43,260 --> 00:15:47,040
contribution rather than actually

391
00:15:44,940 --> 00:15:48,959
directing it so there's a lot of

392
00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:51,000
historical reasons for that that I'm not

393
00:15:48,959 --> 00:15:53,279
going to go into in this talk but there

394
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:55,740
is recognition that that model needs to

395
00:15:53,279 --> 00:15:57,620
change now that the bulk of contribution

396
00:15:55,740 --> 00:16:00,000
is happening from within organizations

397
00:15:57,620 --> 00:16:03,420
like my own company

398
00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:05,820
and it's not all plain sailing like any

399
00:16:03,420 --> 00:16:09,120
software projects or Community drewville

400
00:16:05,820 --> 00:16:11,399
has Myriad challenges that it needs to

401
00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:13,680
address and that's everything from

402
00:16:11,399 --> 00:16:15,779
competing with well-funded proprietary

403
00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:17,459
platforms to just having an aging

404
00:16:15,779 --> 00:16:18,959
demographic of developers who've been

405
00:16:17,459 --> 00:16:20,940
working on the platform for 20 years

406
00:16:18,959 --> 00:16:22,260
quite a lot happens in those 20 years

407
00:16:20,940 --> 00:16:24,240
families

408
00:16:22,260 --> 00:16:26,339
running businesses all of those types of

409
00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:28,380
things and so they're not easy problems

410
00:16:26,339 --> 00:16:31,380
to solve but the heartening thing is is

411
00:16:28,380 --> 00:16:34,260
that people are going to keep needing to

412
00:16:31,380 --> 00:16:36,779
manage content in the long term and

413
00:16:34,260 --> 00:16:38,940
Drupal is still very well placed to meet

414
00:16:36,779 --> 00:16:41,759
that need

415
00:16:38,940 --> 00:16:45,320
so this brings me to why previous next

416
00:16:41,759 --> 00:16:45,320
still contributes to Drupal

417
00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:52,380
and the first point that I want to make

418
00:16:49,860 --> 00:16:55,139
here is that long ago we did separate

419
00:16:52,380 --> 00:16:57,779
any Notions of pure altruism from

420
00:16:55,139 --> 00:17:00,120
commercial reality around our open

421
00:16:57,779 --> 00:17:02,880
source contributions so for us it's

422
00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:04,799
never just been a feel-good exercise we

423
00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:07,079
do it because it makes a lot of business

424
00:17:04,799 --> 00:17:09,179
sense for us and it helps our company

425
00:17:07,079 --> 00:17:11,459
remain very sustainable in the long term

426
00:17:09,179 --> 00:17:14,339
and it just so happens that our own

427
00:17:11,459 --> 00:17:16,199
selfish commercially driven reasons also

428
00:17:14,339 --> 00:17:19,079
help everyone else that contributes to

429
00:17:16,199 --> 00:17:21,120
Drupal so it's a win-win and from that

430
00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:22,980
perspective

431
00:17:21,120 --> 00:17:25,199
um and one of the questions that we ask

432
00:17:22,980 --> 00:17:28,140
ourselves is if Drupal disappeared would

433
00:17:25,199 --> 00:17:29,940
we even have a business uh and as for

434
00:17:28,140 --> 00:17:32,040
that reason that we've always had very

435
00:17:29,940 --> 00:17:34,500
close involvement with the direction of

436
00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:37,500
the platform because it has been

437
00:17:34,500 --> 00:17:40,020
responsible for our business success and

438
00:17:37,500 --> 00:17:41,880
long-term viability up to this point so

439
00:17:40,020 --> 00:17:43,980
we could easily run a Drupal services

440
00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:46,200
company that has zero involvement with

441
00:17:43,980 --> 00:17:48,840
the project or Community plenty of

442
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,340
companies do that but from our

443
00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:52,919
experience they don't tend to stick

444
00:17:50,340 --> 00:17:55,080
around as Drupal services companies very

445
00:17:52,919 --> 00:17:56,840
long because they never develop the

446
00:17:55,080 --> 00:18:00,120
depth of expertise

447
00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:02,580
to really deliver on a consistent basis

448
00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:04,320
so the classic case is a client comes to

449
00:18:02,580 --> 00:18:06,660
them and says hey can you build a Drupal

450
00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:08,460
site for us they say yes they get maybe

451
00:18:06,660 --> 00:18:11,700
one or two projects off the back of that

452
00:18:08,460 --> 00:18:13,500
but because they don't have that depth

453
00:18:11,700 --> 00:18:16,500
of expertise they move on to the next

454
00:18:13,500 --> 00:18:18,900
shiny new thing for us as a company on

455
00:18:16,500 --> 00:18:20,880
the other hand yes we could probably

456
00:18:18,900 --> 00:18:23,220
retool if Drupal disability appeared

457
00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:25,320
we've got a lot of smart people but

458
00:18:23,220 --> 00:18:27,780
we're here precisely because of that

459
00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:29,640
depth of expertise in Drupal and so

460
00:18:27,780 --> 00:18:31,020
we've got a vested interest in ensuring

461
00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:33,840
that the project as a whole is

462
00:18:31,020 --> 00:18:36,000
maintained as a sustained long term and

463
00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:37,860
from our perspective who is a client

464
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,299
going to choose to work with the one

465
00:18:37,860 --> 00:18:41,640
that's got a couple of Drupal projects

466
00:18:39,299 --> 00:18:43,559
in their portfolio or the one that has

467
00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:46,020
people on the global Drupal security

468
00:18:43,559 --> 00:18:47,760
team that contributes code to Drupal

469
00:18:46,020 --> 00:18:50,280
core that's written and maintains

470
00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:52,380
hundreds of truthful modules that speaks

471
00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:54,660
at all the Drupal conferences and has

472
00:18:52,380 --> 00:18:57,419
leadership in the governments of the

473
00:18:54,660 --> 00:18:59,460
community so sure we'll lose on the

474
00:18:57,419 --> 00:19:02,880
basis of price occasionally but we'll

475
00:18:59,460 --> 00:19:04,440
never lose on the basis of expertise and

476
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:06,539
I think the really nice thing about the

477
00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:08,880
drubal community is that it is a classic

478
00:19:06,539 --> 00:19:10,980
democracy so if you're interested in

479
00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:13,020
something you can get involved and just

480
00:19:10,980 --> 00:19:15,240
get on with it it's not to say that

481
00:19:13,020 --> 00:19:17,580
Drupal has a perfect Community free of

482
00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:19,620
disagreements or politics but overall

483
00:19:17,580 --> 00:19:22,260
overall we found it a very welcoming

484
00:19:19,620 --> 00:19:25,679
place where help is appreciated if it's

485
00:19:22,260 --> 00:19:27,000
offered and that's how we myself and Kim

486
00:19:25,679 --> 00:19:29,460
pepper originally came into the

487
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,440
community and how we introduce our new

488
00:19:29,460 --> 00:19:33,539
team members into the community as well

489
00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:35,700
if they're Keen to get involved

490
00:19:33,539 --> 00:19:37,980
themselves

491
00:19:35,700 --> 00:19:39,900
um and four new staff that are joining

492
00:19:37,980 --> 00:19:42,500
us uh that haven't been active within

493
00:19:39,900 --> 00:19:45,539
the Drupal Community before joining us

494
00:19:42,500 --> 00:19:47,880
we often use our open source

495
00:19:45,539 --> 00:19:50,039
contribution model as the main method of

496
00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:52,860
onboarding them and helping them develop

497
00:19:50,039 --> 00:19:54,360
best practices in their own coding and

498
00:19:52,860 --> 00:19:56,280
then using their involvement in the

499
00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:57,980
Drupal project as part of their

500
00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,480
professional development

501
00:19:57,980 --> 00:20:02,160
and a big part of that professional

502
00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:05,160
develop development is building

503
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:07,380
relationships and learning and mentoring

504
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:09,900
from people outside of previous next

505
00:20:07,380 --> 00:20:13,140
we're a small company of 20 something

506
00:20:09,900 --> 00:20:15,179
people so it really helps broaden the

507
00:20:13,140 --> 00:20:18,720
perspectives of the team outside of what

508
00:20:15,179 --> 00:20:20,460
we can do as a company ourselves and in

509
00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:22,200
many cases our team members are working

510
00:20:20,460 --> 00:20:26,220
alongside some of the brightest Minds in

511
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:27,900
open source technology and it's not an

512
00:20:26,220 --> 00:20:29,340
exaggeration to say that many of the

513
00:20:27,900 --> 00:20:32,640
smartest people I've ever worked with

514
00:20:29,340 --> 00:20:35,160
have been through the Drupal community

515
00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:37,080
um and in a similar vein working on open

516
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:39,480
source contribution does help team

517
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:41,340
members to maintain an interest by

518
00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:44,160
working on things that just aren't your

519
00:20:41,340 --> 00:20:45,960
run-of-the-mill client projects so our

520
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:47,700
own company we're quite pigeonholed in

521
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,559
terms of the types clients we work with

522
00:20:47,700 --> 00:20:50,539
it's primarily higher education and

523
00:20:49,559 --> 00:20:53,220
government

524
00:20:50,539 --> 00:20:55,620
but if people are working on Drupal

525
00:20:53,220 --> 00:20:57,780
contributions they're often scratching

526
00:20:55,620 --> 00:21:00,660
different itches that they might have in

527
00:20:57,780 --> 00:21:02,340
terms of technology and they're able to

528
00:21:00,660 --> 00:21:04,799
work on a way bigger scale than anything

529
00:21:02,340 --> 00:21:07,440
that we could do as a company ourselves

530
00:21:04,799 --> 00:21:09,840
and a classic example that I always use

531
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:12,539
is one of our younger developers

532
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:15,360
maintains a module that's used on 125

533
00:21:12,539 --> 00:21:17,460
000 websites and that's a huge impact to

534
00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:21,179
have as a young developer and way

535
00:21:17,460 --> 00:21:23,580
outsized uh beyond what we could do as a

536
00:21:21,179 --> 00:21:27,480
company ourselves

537
00:21:23,580 --> 00:21:29,400
um now in terms of expertise what we've

538
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:32,039
really honed in on is the notion of

539
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:34,200
expert driven marketing and we learned

540
00:21:32,039 --> 00:21:36,179
quite early on with previous next that

541
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:38,220
spending money on traditional forms of

542
00:21:36,179 --> 00:21:40,799
marketing whether it's paid advertising

543
00:21:38,220 --> 00:21:43,860
or just putting sponsor booths at random

544
00:21:40,799 --> 00:21:45,840
Tech conferences not this one really

545
00:21:43,860 --> 00:21:48,539
wasn't relevant for us as a company in

546
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:51,000
terms of winning business and we quickly

547
00:21:48,539 --> 00:21:52,860
found that referred projects from people

548
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:55,020
that considered us to be experts in

549
00:21:52,860 --> 00:21:58,140
Drupal or where all the best

550
00:21:55,020 --> 00:21:59,580
opportunities were coming from and why

551
00:21:58,140 --> 00:22:01,740
do people think that we're Drupal

552
00:21:59,580 --> 00:22:03,360
experts it's because all of our

553
00:22:01,740 --> 00:22:05,760
marketing budget that we would have

554
00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:07,559
otherwise spent elsewhere was directed

555
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:10,140
to getting team members to conferences

556
00:22:07,559 --> 00:22:12,240
like this often talking about things

557
00:22:10,140 --> 00:22:14,760
that were closely related to their open

558
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:17,940
source contributions and often doing

559
00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:19,679
very deep technical dives into that so

560
00:22:17,940 --> 00:22:22,380
over the years we've just embedded this

561
00:22:19,679 --> 00:22:24,600
approach into how the team works so they

562
00:22:22,380 --> 00:22:27,179
contribute Drupal and paid company time

563
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:29,700
they blog about it they submit talks to

564
00:22:27,179 --> 00:22:31,500
conferences and awareness of us as a

565
00:22:29,700 --> 00:22:34,320
company as Drupal experts is built and

566
00:22:31,500 --> 00:22:36,780
maintained accordingly and one of the

567
00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:38,940
funniest experiences I'll regularly have

568
00:22:36,780 --> 00:22:40,860
is going to an overseas Drupal

569
00:22:38,940 --> 00:22:43,380
conference mentioning that I work for

570
00:22:40,860 --> 00:22:45,360
previous next and people go oh wow you

571
00:22:43,380 --> 00:22:47,280
guys must be so big and I was like well

572
00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:50,820
we're actually 20 people in Australia

573
00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:53,220
and there's usually gasps of I'm not

574
00:22:50,820 --> 00:22:55,340
sure whether it's shock or horror after

575
00:22:53,220 --> 00:22:58,080
that

576
00:22:55,340 --> 00:23:00,559
and just getting back to this notion of

577
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:03,299
a drivable certified partner program

578
00:23:00,559 --> 00:23:05,520
like I said our open source contribution

579
00:23:03,299 --> 00:23:07,260
approach is driven by pragmatic

580
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:09,260
capitalism we're not going to do it if

581
00:23:07,260 --> 00:23:11,700
it's not going to win us projects

582
00:23:09,260 --> 00:23:13,559
and one thing that the Drupal

583
00:23:11,700 --> 00:23:16,799
Association has introduced in recent

584
00:23:13,559 --> 00:23:18,780
years that I've been part of in my role

585
00:23:16,799 --> 00:23:20,520
on the Drupal Association board is

586
00:23:18,780 --> 00:23:23,220
developing as a certified partner

587
00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:25,559
program where the idea is that we can

588
00:23:23,220 --> 00:23:27,419
measure the volume of contribution that

589
00:23:25,559 --> 00:23:29,940
individuals within a particular company

590
00:23:27,419 --> 00:23:32,280
are making to the project and this then

591
00:23:29,940 --> 00:23:34,799
translates into different tiers of

592
00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:37,740
certified partner with varying levels

593
00:23:34,799 --> 00:23:39,299
and of exposure and benefits

594
00:23:37,740 --> 00:23:41,220
um and it's definitely been a big boost

595
00:23:39,299 --> 00:23:43,380
for us as a company to be able to go

596
00:23:41,220 --> 00:23:45,539
into a client pitch and say well we're

597
00:23:43,380 --> 00:23:48,840
the only Platinum certified Drupal

598
00:23:45,539 --> 00:23:52,559
partner in Australia and it's the type

599
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:54,480
of thing that most organizations put a

600
00:23:52,559 --> 00:23:56,460
lot of value on and pay a lot of

601
00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:58,320
attention to

602
00:23:56,460 --> 00:23:59,820
and the final thing that I really want

603
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:04,140
to talk about in terms of why we do it

604
00:23:59,820 --> 00:24:06,360
is employee retention so uh like I said

605
00:24:04,140 --> 00:24:09,360
our investment open source contribution

606
00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:12,360
is as much about our team's professional

607
00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:15,059
development and as a small company we

608
00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:17,220
probably can't compete with the big tech

609
00:24:15,059 --> 00:24:19,500
companies in terms of Staff training

610
00:24:17,220 --> 00:24:21,960
budgets and sending people off on

611
00:24:19,500 --> 00:24:23,880
expensive courses all the time but we

612
00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:26,640
can connect them into a community of

613
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:28,980
very smart engaged mentors to work on

614
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:32,820
complex challenging projects outside

615
00:24:28,980 --> 00:24:34,260
their normal client work and we also

616
00:24:32,820 --> 00:24:36,720
then use our local Drupal South

617
00:24:34,260 --> 00:24:39,539
conferences as an opportunity to get the

618
00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:41,460
whole team together in one place at

619
00:24:39,539 --> 00:24:43,260
least annually so that's something

620
00:24:41,460 --> 00:24:45,299
that's been very important for us as a

621
00:24:43,260 --> 00:24:47,220
company even before covert we're very

622
00:24:45,299 --> 00:24:49,919
distributed since covered we're

623
00:24:47,220 --> 00:24:51,799
completely distributed and these are the

624
00:24:49,919 --> 00:24:55,200
core elements of our company culture

625
00:24:51,799 --> 00:24:56,820
that we in large part attribute to our

626
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,640
high rates of employee routine function

627
00:24:56,820 --> 00:25:01,559
so I checked what it was just before I

628
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,299
put this talk together and we're

629
00:25:01,559 --> 00:25:05,820
currently sitting at seven years average

630
00:25:03,299 --> 00:25:07,620
tenure across the whole team and if

631
00:25:05,820 --> 00:25:09,179
you're aware of what the stats are for

632
00:25:07,620 --> 00:25:10,700
most large tech companies it's about

633
00:25:09,179 --> 00:25:13,700
triple the average

634
00:25:10,700 --> 00:25:16,200
and the benefits of us having such a

635
00:25:13,700 --> 00:25:18,419
long-term stable team that's

636
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:21,780
consistently working together at just

637
00:25:18,419 --> 00:25:24,059
immense and it was that high rate of in

638
00:25:21,780 --> 00:25:25,860
employer retention that pushed us

639
00:25:24,059 --> 00:25:28,559
towards starting an employee ownership

640
00:25:25,860 --> 00:25:30,360
Model A couple of years ago there's a

641
00:25:28,559 --> 00:25:34,320
whole nother conference talk in in that

642
00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:38,760
but everything kind of moves towards

643
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:41,419
that as we have such a a long-term

644
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,419
engaged team

645
00:25:41,460 --> 00:25:45,000
um so just in terms of specific

646
00:25:43,020 --> 00:25:46,799
approaches that we take and things that

647
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:50,880
you might be able to adapt to your own

648
00:25:46,799 --> 00:25:52,559
organization uh the key thing is that

649
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:55,260
everything is ingrained in our company

650
00:25:52,559 --> 00:25:57,480
policies so the day someone joins

651
00:25:55,260 --> 00:26:00,480
previous next they're given a a detailed

652
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:03,000
company handbook where all of our open

653
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:05,460
source contribution policies are laid

654
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,200
out and sure we have been through

655
00:26:05,460 --> 00:26:09,480
periods where we took a more

656
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:11,940
laissez-faire approach to open source

657
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,919
contribution but our contribution levels

658
00:26:11,940 --> 00:26:16,260
plummeted because they weren't being

659
00:26:13,919 --> 00:26:19,020
mandated by the company owners and and

660
00:26:16,260 --> 00:26:22,500
Senior managers within the business so

661
00:26:19,020 --> 00:26:24,779
you do need to to have that ingrained

662
00:26:22,500 --> 00:26:26,279
from I don't like saying top down

663
00:26:24,779 --> 00:26:28,260
because they're all kind of owners of

664
00:26:26,279 --> 00:26:30,120
the company these days but people need

665
00:26:28,260 --> 00:26:31,620
to be given permission to to go off and

666
00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:33,299
do it

667
00:26:31,620 --> 00:26:35,700
um now one of the main components that

668
00:26:33,299 --> 00:26:38,640
we adopted quite early on is the notion

669
00:26:35,700 --> 00:26:41,580
of 20 time we stole that straight from

670
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:44,400
Google uh who were quite vocal about it

671
00:26:41,580 --> 00:26:46,080
back when we started our own company uh

672
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,059
I'm not sure if they use it that much

673
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:50,100
these days I think Marissa Meyer said

674
00:26:48,059 --> 00:26:53,880
that their dirty little secret is their

675
00:26:50,100 --> 00:26:56,279
20 time is more like 120 percent time

676
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:58,260
um but I think importantly for us we've

677
00:26:56,279 --> 00:27:01,159
always had quite a strong no overtime

678
00:26:58,260 --> 00:27:03,320
policy to avoid this exact problem

679
00:27:01,159 --> 00:27:05,779
unless of course there's a big emergency

680
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:08,700
luckily we don't have too many of them

681
00:27:05,779 --> 00:27:10,620
and what the way that we achieve that is

682
00:27:08,700 --> 00:27:13,320
that we only ever have team members

683
00:27:10,620 --> 00:27:16,140
booked 80 on billable projects for for

684
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,760
clients and the onus is then put on each

685
00:27:16,140 --> 00:27:21,059
team member to ensure that they're

686
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:23,340
meeting that 80 billable average so

687
00:27:21,059 --> 00:27:25,860
people become very self-managed in their

688
00:27:23,340 --> 00:27:27,840
time off the back of that and then we do

689
00:27:25,860 --> 00:27:30,000
a lot of detailed tracking on people's

690
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:33,360
time to ensure that we're just

691
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:35,039
maintaining those average is do we force

692
00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:37,740
people to do open source contribution

693
00:27:35,039 --> 00:27:40,080
absolutely not so if people just aren't

694
00:27:37,740 --> 00:27:42,659
personally that interested in it or

695
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:44,700
their role isn't that suited to higher

696
00:27:42,659 --> 00:27:46,679
levels of contribution than we just

697
00:27:44,700 --> 00:27:48,260
expect them to be more billable on on

698
00:27:46,679 --> 00:27:51,059
client projects

699
00:27:48,260 --> 00:27:53,460
but what we have been doing recently is

700
00:27:51,059 --> 00:27:56,100
running full team hack days we had one

701
00:27:53,460 --> 00:27:58,080
yesterday and they're a great way to get

702
00:27:56,100 --> 00:28:00,900
everyone engaged on a very consistent

703
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:02,880
basis and even just spending a day

704
00:28:00,900 --> 00:28:04,200
scratching an itch and trying to work

705
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,120
out something that's been bugging

706
00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:08,100
someone for a while all of those things

707
00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:10,440
then feed back into the the client

708
00:28:08,100 --> 00:28:12,059
projects that we work on and also the

709
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:14,520
the open source contribution that we're

710
00:28:12,059 --> 00:28:16,860
doing and I think the point to make here

711
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:19,260
is that the consistency of doing those

712
00:28:16,860 --> 00:28:21,059
types of activities is key as long as

713
00:28:19,260 --> 00:28:24,059
it's consistent and baked into the

714
00:28:21,059 --> 00:28:27,059
culture then people know that they're

715
00:28:24,059 --> 00:28:29,820
allowed to do it and are encouraged to

716
00:28:27,059 --> 00:28:33,059
do it I think importantly we don't have

717
00:28:29,820 --> 00:28:34,919
a tools down approach to this 20 time so

718
00:28:33,059 --> 00:28:37,140
it's not like people work Monday to

719
00:28:34,919 --> 00:28:39,779
Friday and then every Friday is uh

720
00:28:37,140 --> 00:28:41,460
purely contribution time if Project work

721
00:28:39,779 --> 00:28:44,220
does need to get finished it does take

722
00:28:41,460 --> 00:28:45,659
priority and the way that we've been

723
00:28:44,220 --> 00:28:48,659
able to measure it over the years is

724
00:28:45,659 --> 00:28:51,960
that 20 time averages out over the year

725
00:28:48,659 --> 00:28:53,760
as client work Ebbs and flows and I

726
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:56,100
think the biggest upside for us as a

727
00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:58,320
company in all of this is that now we

728
00:28:56,100 --> 00:29:00,840
have this incredibly robust culture of

729
00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:03,240
time tracking of people self-managing

730
00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:05,520
their own time we've got strong analysis

731
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:08,179
and Reporting around all of that and

732
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:12,020
that makes us a very productive

733
00:29:08,179 --> 00:29:12,020
well-run company as a result

734
00:29:12,659 --> 00:29:17,520
um another model that I wanted to talk

735
00:29:14,460 --> 00:29:19,620
about is direct sponsorship so we do let

736
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:21,840
people contribute on paid company time

737
00:29:19,620 --> 00:29:24,480
which is effectively sponsored time

738
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,919
where previous next is picking up the

739
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,860
cost of people's time rather than

740
00:29:25,919 --> 00:29:30,840
expecting them to volunteer but a

741
00:29:28,860 --> 00:29:33,179
trigger with the Drupal certified

742
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,620
partner program is that we need to

743
00:29:33,179 --> 00:29:36,539
maintain a consistent level of

744
00:29:34,620 --> 00:29:38,640
contribution to maintain our partners

745
00:29:36,539 --> 00:29:40,320
here and while we haven't been too

746
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:43,559
concerned about meeting that we did have

747
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:46,500
an opportunity last year to guarantee

748
00:29:43,559 --> 00:29:49,559
that contribution level by paying a

749
00:29:46,500 --> 00:29:52,500
Drupal contributor who doesn't also work

750
00:29:49,559 --> 00:29:53,880
on on previous next client work and we

751
00:29:52,500 --> 00:29:55,620
adopted this model with a new

752
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:57,980
zealand-based developer some of you

753
00:29:55,620 --> 00:30:00,740
might know Victoria spagnolo

754
00:29:57,980 --> 00:30:03,960
and I'm sure she does a lot more

755
00:30:00,740 --> 00:30:05,700
contribution in her own time but she at

756
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:07,919
least has consistent income from

757
00:30:05,700 --> 00:30:10,559
previous next paying her for a minimum

758
00:30:07,919 --> 00:30:13,080
40 hours a month to work on contribution

759
00:30:10,559 --> 00:30:15,419
and then we get the benefit of those

760
00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:18,000
contribution credits maintaining our

761
00:30:15,419 --> 00:30:19,740
certified partner status and we have

762
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:23,100
compared the cost of doing that against

763
00:30:19,740 --> 00:30:24,720
more traditional forms of marketing and

764
00:30:23,100 --> 00:30:27,120
we definitely feel we've got a much

765
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:29,100
better return on our investment by

766
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:30,480
sponsoring her

767
00:30:29,100 --> 00:30:32,880
um in parallel with sponsored

768
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:35,039
contribution we also bake in time in our

769
00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:36,539
client project budgets to contribute

770
00:30:35,039 --> 00:30:38,240
patches and new modules that we

771
00:30:36,539 --> 00:30:40,260
developed back into the Drupal ecosystem

772
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,700
and that means that we've got a

773
00:30:40,260 --> 00:30:43,440
consistent flow of code being

774
00:30:41,700 --> 00:30:45,840
contributed back to Drupal that we would

775
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:47,640
have done anyway but we just made sure

776
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:49,380
that we understand our clients

777
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:52,140
understand the value of it being rolled

778
00:30:49,380 --> 00:30:54,059
into their project budgets and that they

779
00:30:52,140 --> 00:30:56,640
can even receive credits for it on

780
00:30:54,059 --> 00:30:58,559
drupal.org as clients that sponsor that

781
00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,299
development and that becomes more

782
00:30:58,559 --> 00:31:02,580
relevant with large clients that are

783
00:31:00,299 --> 00:31:04,620
looking to hire Drupal developers to

784
00:31:02,580 --> 00:31:07,559
then point to the fact that we're a good

785
00:31:04,620 --> 00:31:10,260
truthful citizen by having sponsored all

786
00:31:07,559 --> 00:31:13,559
of this contribution already

787
00:31:10,260 --> 00:31:15,960
um events and volunteering so non-code

788
00:31:13,559 --> 00:31:18,779
forms of volunteering help us sustain

789
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:20,520
the project in other ways and all of our

790
00:31:18,779 --> 00:31:22,640
budget and focus in this regard has been

791
00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:25,260
focused on our local region

792
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:27,720
and we'll do things like sponsor the

793
00:31:25,260 --> 00:31:29,580
Drupal South code Sprint paying for the

794
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:32,520
venue hiring catering and then mentoring

795
00:31:29,580 --> 00:31:35,039
people and then like I said we have a

796
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:36,960
lot of team members speaking at Drupal

797
00:31:35,039 --> 00:31:39,360
events sharing their knowledge again

798
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:42,539
it's good for us as company but it also

799
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:44,340
drives the the project forward and

800
00:31:42,539 --> 00:31:47,700
related to this is community leadership

801
00:31:44,340 --> 00:31:50,039
so as I noted earlier Drupal is a

802
00:31:47,700 --> 00:31:51,600
democracy and if you just want to see

803
00:31:50,039 --> 00:31:55,020
things happen you jump in and get them

804
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:57,299
done as Donna did for many years and

805
00:31:55,020 --> 00:31:59,159
this has been a great way for me who

806
00:31:57,299 --> 00:32:01,919
doesn't have coding skills to be able to

807
00:31:59,159 --> 00:32:03,539
contribute myself and while these roles

808
00:32:01,919 --> 00:32:05,640
can often be time consuming and

809
00:32:03,539 --> 00:32:07,919
potentially frustrating they can be

810
00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:10,740
incredibly rewarding and intellectually

811
00:32:07,919 --> 00:32:13,140
challenging so we're walking working on

812
00:32:10,740 --> 00:32:14,880
a small thing like a strategy for the

813
00:32:13,140 --> 00:32:16,679
future of the Drupal open source project

814
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:19,440
at the moment

815
00:32:16,679 --> 00:32:21,840
and then cold heart caches is the final

816
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:23,460
thing that we contribute so this mainly

817
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:25,500
comes in the form of paying our Drupal

818
00:32:23,460 --> 00:32:27,659
Association uh

819
00:32:25,500 --> 00:32:29,159
certified partner fees and all of that

820
00:32:27,659 --> 00:32:30,840
goes to pay for the underlying

821
00:32:29,159 --> 00:32:33,240
infrastructure that the Drupal

822
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:35,520
Association manages and most companies

823
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:37,200
they won't blink spending 50 000 bucks a

824
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:38,760
year with it lasting infinite jira

825
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:41,220
subscription

826
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:43,380
um but when it comes to donating funds

827
00:32:41,220 --> 00:32:45,419
to an open source project there's this

828
00:32:43,380 --> 00:32:47,220
strange barrier but we just view it as a

829
00:32:45,419 --> 00:32:50,580
cost of doing business

830
00:32:47,220 --> 00:32:52,620
and our total cost to the business uh

831
00:32:50,580 --> 00:32:54,840
it's not something we obsess over and

832
00:32:52,620 --> 00:32:57,840
track on a detailed basis but I did take

833
00:32:54,840 --> 00:33:00,440
the chance to look at this before I did

834
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:03,360
this talk so our 20

835
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,799
internal contribution time that's about

836
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:07,080
a hundred thousand dollars in salary

837
00:33:04,799 --> 00:33:09,179
costs that we have our direct

838
00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:11,520
sponsorships and donations is about 50

839
00:33:09,179 --> 00:33:13,980
Grand sending people to conferences

840
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:15,299
there's another 50 and then I'm sure

841
00:33:13,980 --> 00:33:17,059
there's another 50 in there something

842
00:33:15,299 --> 00:33:19,260
that we haven't been tracking that well

843
00:33:17,059 --> 00:33:21,179
but the message here is that that's

844
00:33:19,260 --> 00:33:23,399
about five percent of our gross revenue

845
00:33:21,179 --> 00:33:25,380
and that's right on par with the bottom

846
00:33:23,399 --> 00:33:27,360
end of most companies marketing budgets

847
00:33:25,380 --> 00:33:30,659
we really don't have a marketing budget

848
00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:33,179
beyond that and remembering of course

849
00:33:30,659 --> 00:33:35,159
it's all tax deductible we've even used

850
00:33:33,179 --> 00:33:37,500
research and development tax credits on

851
00:33:35,159 --> 00:33:38,880
our open source contribution so at the

852
00:33:37,500 --> 00:33:40,980
end of the day

853
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:43,140
is there really a financial cost to us

854
00:33:40,980 --> 00:33:45,419
that's that's not really the way that we

855
00:33:43,140 --> 00:33:46,860
look at it so that's probably a lot to

856
00:33:45,419 --> 00:33:48,659
take in

857
00:33:46,860 --> 00:33:51,840
um so I'm just going to end with three

858
00:33:48,659 --> 00:33:54,539
takeaways to finish with uh the first

859
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:56,700
thing is Define your policies so start

860
00:33:54,539 --> 00:33:58,500
with defining what your organization

861
00:33:56,700 --> 00:34:01,080
policies are around open source

862
00:33:58,500 --> 00:34:03,120
contribution do you have an agreed

863
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:05,820
proportion of time that people can spend

864
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:07,740
during their pain working hours do you

865
00:34:05,820 --> 00:34:09,540
contribute open source code by default

866
00:34:07,740 --> 00:34:10,379
on client projects that you're working

867
00:34:09,540 --> 00:34:14,700
on

868
00:34:10,379 --> 00:34:16,619
second thing is set budgets so do you

869
00:34:14,700 --> 00:34:18,720
have a set budget to support events like

870
00:34:16,619 --> 00:34:20,580
this to support your team to go and talk

871
00:34:18,720 --> 00:34:23,040
at events to attend workshops and code

872
00:34:20,580 --> 00:34:27,379
Sprints and then the final thing is

873
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:29,659
connect with your community so uh you're

874
00:34:27,379 --> 00:34:32,339
relying on something

875
00:34:29,659 --> 00:34:34,379
for the success of your business and

876
00:34:32,339 --> 00:34:36,899
your involvement in that Community is

877
00:34:34,379 --> 00:34:39,179
the absolute best way to keep Pace both

878
00:34:36,899 --> 00:34:42,240
with the technology and then to maintain

879
00:34:39,179 --> 00:34:43,440
a profile with both potential staff and

880
00:34:42,240 --> 00:34:45,839
clients

881
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:49,859
so I think we're bang on time for some

882
00:34:45,839 --> 00:34:52,500
questions if anyone has any

883
00:34:49,859 --> 00:34:54,780
yes I think a round of applause that was

884
00:34:52,500 --> 00:34:56,899
great thank you

885
00:34:54,780 --> 00:34:56,899
thank you

886
00:34:57,980 --> 00:35:01,740
does anyone have any questions about

887
00:35:00,060 --> 00:35:04,640
Owen

888
00:35:01,740 --> 00:35:04,640
so let's start over here

889
00:35:05,220 --> 00:35:09,780
so thank you very much for a very

890
00:35:06,780 --> 00:35:12,119
interesting talk so my question is

891
00:35:09,780 --> 00:35:16,020
related to non-code contribution because

892
00:35:12,119 --> 00:35:18,540
I know a lot of businesses that do code

893
00:35:16,020 --> 00:35:21,180
related contribution but do you have a

894
00:35:18,540 --> 00:35:23,160
policy in a way that you deal with uh

895
00:35:21,180 --> 00:35:25,680
non-code contribution from people who

896
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:30,020
are not coders in the company and does

897
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:33,000
that also affect employee retention yeah

898
00:35:30,020 --> 00:35:35,400
so the main thing that we have is

899
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:38,220
opportunities for people to volunteer

900
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:40,680
their time into the community into the

901
00:35:38,220 --> 00:35:42,839
Drupal community so we've got quite a

902
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:45,839
few people that work as project managers

903
00:35:42,839 --> 00:35:48,060
that at our event in New Zealand in a

904
00:35:45,839 --> 00:35:51,480
few weeks time are there helping out on

905
00:35:48,060 --> 00:35:53,660
booths and some helping with speaker

906
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:56,540
selection and and those types of things

907
00:35:53,660 --> 00:35:59,640
we also have something written in our

908
00:35:56,540 --> 00:36:01,800
handbook is that if there's something

909
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:04,320
that's completely unrelated to to what

910
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:06,180
we're doing in terms of software

911
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:09,060
that people want to contribute time to

912
00:36:06,180 --> 00:36:11,820
that's on a not-for-profit basis then

913
00:36:09,060 --> 00:36:13,079
we'll support that as well we haven't

914
00:36:11,820 --> 00:36:15,359
actually found that people have really

915
00:36:13,079 --> 00:36:17,599
taken that up but it is sitting there in

916
00:36:15,359 --> 00:36:20,700
our our policy handbook if they want to

917
00:36:17,599 --> 00:36:23,160
take advantage of that so

918
00:36:20,700 --> 00:36:25,859
um but I think with any software

919
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:28,560
Community then there's usually a limit

920
00:36:25,859 --> 00:36:31,160
of how much non-code contribution you

921
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,160
can actually do

922
00:36:33,900 --> 00:36:37,339
yes question over here

923
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:43,380
I was just curious about the employee

924
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:45,000
ownership model could you tell us just a

925
00:36:43,380 --> 00:36:48,020
teeny well funnily enough I've got a

926
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:48,020
whole nother presentation here

927
00:36:49,980 --> 00:36:55,560
um where do I start with that

928
00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:58,020
um so I think the thing for for us

929
00:36:55,560 --> 00:37:00,480
having started the company having people

930
00:36:58,020 --> 00:37:03,060
working with us over a long period of

931
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:05,280
time we did reach a point where it was a

932
00:37:03,060 --> 00:37:08,940
case of thinking okay

933
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:11,220
um if we are now moving into our 50s and

934
00:37:08,940 --> 00:37:13,079
scaling back from the business what does

935
00:37:11,220 --> 00:37:16,079
the sustainability of the company look

936
00:37:13,079 --> 00:37:19,980
like if we're not heavily involved on a

937
00:37:16,079 --> 00:37:22,099
day-to-day basis long term and option

938
00:37:19,980 --> 00:37:24,480
one is selling a company to someone else

939
00:37:22,099 --> 00:37:26,579
we have been down that path a couple of

940
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:29,040
times talking to other companies that

941
00:37:26,579 --> 00:37:30,839
did want to buy us every time the

942
00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:33,000
conclusion was most of the people that

943
00:37:30,839 --> 00:37:35,460
work for us would probably leave in the

944
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:37,560
first week if we sold ourselves and so

945
00:37:35,460 --> 00:37:39,720
then we started looking into well what

946
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:42,000
does it look like if we moved to an

947
00:37:39,720 --> 00:37:44,160
employee ownership model it has been

948
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:48,300
quite complex to do that in Australia in

949
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:51,060
the past so the tax laws in a very brief

950
00:37:48,300 --> 00:37:54,680
summary meant that if you uh gave

951
00:37:51,060 --> 00:37:57,300
someone shares in a company in Australia

952
00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:59,339
they were taxed at the moment they

953
00:37:57,300 --> 00:38:01,680
received that share option not when

954
00:37:59,339 --> 00:38:03,780
those shares vested that's all changed

955
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:06,420
in the last few years and so it's opened

956
00:38:03,780 --> 00:38:08,480
up a lot more opportunities and the

957
00:38:06,420 --> 00:38:11,160
trigger for us was that one of our

958
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:15,240
comparable companies in the US went down

959
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:18,540
this employee ownership path a few years

960
00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:21,480
ago and we we saw that that was probably

961
00:38:18,540 --> 00:38:23,280
the model that we could follow so the

962
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:25,560
structure that we have is that there's a

963
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:29,099
an employee Trust

964
00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:31,320
that has units that have shareholdings

965
00:38:29,099 --> 00:38:34,859
within the company and then all of the

966
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:37,020
employees have a stake in that trust

967
00:38:34,859 --> 00:38:39,480
so and there's a lot more complexity to

968
00:38:37,020 --> 00:38:41,520
it beyond that but it's uh it's quite an

969
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:43,940
interesting model

970
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:43,940
yep

971
00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:50,579
hello Owen thank you for a marvelous

972
00:38:49,079 --> 00:38:53,339
talk and

973
00:38:50,579 --> 00:38:55,920
um I I am thinking to myself as I I

974
00:38:53,339 --> 00:38:58,500
listen to your um suggestions that this

975
00:38:55,920 --> 00:39:00,420
sounds like a kind of solution

976
00:38:58,500 --> 00:39:03,420
um for the problem that was raised by

977
00:39:00,420 --> 00:39:05,220
Jeffrey in the last session about how do

978
00:39:03,420 --> 00:39:07,099
governments

979
00:39:05,220 --> 00:39:11,220
um understand or start to understand

980
00:39:07,099 --> 00:39:13,440
software and open source methods so I

981
00:39:11,220 --> 00:39:15,780
wondered if you could share your

982
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:18,660
thoughts on communicating those open

983
00:39:15,780 --> 00:39:20,700
source methods and promoting visibility

984
00:39:18,660 --> 00:39:24,260
and awareness of this community

985
00:39:20,700 --> 00:39:27,180
back up towards government

986
00:39:24,260 --> 00:39:28,560
organizations yeah so we've had a lot of

987
00:39:27,180 --> 00:39:30,480
interaction with government over the

988
00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:32,880
years through the the project work that

989
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:35,220
we've done drupal's got a huge footprint

990
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:37,380
uh within the Australian government at

991
00:39:35,220 --> 00:39:39,480
all levels

992
00:39:37,380 --> 00:39:42,300
um and it definitely has been a

993
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:45,540
challenge to communicate that

994
00:39:42,300 --> 00:39:48,720
um we've done quite a lot of push over

995
00:39:45,540 --> 00:39:50,460
the years to get them up to Pace there's

996
00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:53,760
been little efforts here and there that

997
00:39:50,460 --> 00:39:56,640
have had some success but there hasn't

998
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:58,380
been a cultural shift to it so it's it's

999
00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:00,619
still something that needs to be

1000
00:39:58,380 --> 00:40:04,500
addressed long term

1001
00:40:00,619 --> 00:40:06,180
my own advice would be that any

1002
00:40:04,500 --> 00:40:08,460
organization whether it's a commercial

1003
00:40:06,180 --> 00:40:12,480
organization or non-profit or government

1004
00:40:08,460 --> 00:40:14,700
organization can adopt the kind of 20

1005
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:18,320
time or 10 time or five percent

1006
00:40:14,700 --> 00:40:21,359
contribution time model very very easily

1007
00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:24,300
where there's a recognition that our

1008
00:40:21,359 --> 00:40:27,140
organization relies on this software and

1009
00:40:24,300 --> 00:40:30,060
without us more deeply engaging with it

1010
00:40:27,140 --> 00:40:32,400
at some point that software may

1011
00:40:30,060 --> 00:40:33,599
disappear from us and then we'll have to

1012
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:36,079
move to something

1013
00:40:33,599 --> 00:40:39,359
that's going to be a lot more costly

1014
00:40:36,079 --> 00:40:42,480
and so I think having that approach is

1015
00:40:39,359 --> 00:40:45,420
probably the the simplest First Step

1016
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:48,320
um and then beyond that engagement at

1017
00:40:45,420 --> 00:40:48,320
events like this

1018
00:40:51,119 --> 00:40:55,800
I can ask a question of my own so

1019
00:40:55,079 --> 00:40:57,660
um

1020
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:59,220
your presentation was relatively well

1021
00:40:57,660 --> 00:41:00,480
defined and I think these are principles

1022
00:40:59,220 --> 00:41:02,160
that you've worked out over a long

1023
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:04,560
period of time with a lot of iteration

1024
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:06,720
yeah what mistakes haven't been included

1025
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:08,520
in here so what sorry what did you try

1026
00:41:06,720 --> 00:41:10,880
that didn't quite make it into the

1027
00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:13,440
presentation yeah so like I alluded to

1028
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:15,780
the moment that you take a laissez-faire

1029
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:17,460
approach to well we've told people they

1030
00:41:15,780 --> 00:41:20,160
can contribute to open source so why

1031
00:41:17,460 --> 00:41:21,720
aren't they doing it

1032
00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:24,060
um that that's probably the biggest

1033
00:41:21,720 --> 00:41:26,400
thing that we faced early on where we

1034
00:41:24,060 --> 00:41:29,220
had said yep we've got this 20 time

1035
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:31,680
policy but there was no active

1036
00:41:29,220 --> 00:41:34,380
engagement to say okay well how are you

1037
00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:36,480
using that time we don't direct anyone's

1038
00:41:34,380 --> 00:41:38,700
time necessarily

1039
00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:40,260
um so it's kind of up to people to

1040
00:41:38,700 --> 00:41:42,440
choose what they're interested in in

1041
00:41:40,260 --> 00:41:46,040
their contribution time

1042
00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:48,839
but we do have very regular

1043
00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:50,460
development team meetings where a lot of

1044
00:41:48,839 --> 00:41:52,560
the time they're talking about their

1045
00:41:50,460 --> 00:41:55,440
contribution that they're doing as

1046
00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:58,800
opposed to client work so just baking

1047
00:41:55,440 --> 00:42:01,440
that in into regular interactions and

1048
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:04,020
Communications is the key and then like

1049
00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:07,920
I said making sure that it's very clear

1050
00:42:04,020 --> 00:42:10,260
that it's a a mandated thing that we

1051
00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:11,339
expect you to be doing and if you're not

1052
00:42:10,260 --> 00:42:15,240
doing it well what are you actually

1053
00:42:11,339 --> 00:42:17,099
doing with that 20 time and again all of

1054
00:42:15,240 --> 00:42:18,720
the tracking that we've kind of baked in

1055
00:42:17,099 --> 00:42:20,760
around that really helps us as well

1056
00:42:18,720 --> 00:42:23,400
where if we can see that someone's

1057
00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:24,780
tracking around 70 billable and we're

1058
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:26,579
not really seeing that they're engaged

1059
00:42:24,780 --> 00:42:29,099
in any contribution then there's a

1060
00:42:26,579 --> 00:42:31,380
conversation to be had

1061
00:42:29,099 --> 00:42:34,079
um so all of that's really helped us

1062
00:42:31,380 --> 00:42:36,420
just refine our business practices as

1063
00:42:34,079 --> 00:42:38,280
much as anything yeah absolutely and I

1064
00:42:36,420 --> 00:42:39,960
think leading from the front you you

1065
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,640
know yeah or something what you preach

1066
00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:44,640
as well yeah practicing what we preach

1067
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:46,800
and um I mean like I said I don't like

1068
00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:49,460
saying it's a top-down thing but people

1069
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:52,200
need to know that it's expected of them

1070
00:42:49,460 --> 00:42:54,000
as opposed to they've just been given

1071
00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:57,440
permission yeah

1072
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,440
absolutely any final questions

1073
00:43:02,220 --> 00:43:06,000
I don't

1074
00:43:03,780 --> 00:43:07,260
um it seems to me as though you're I

1075
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:08,579
think you said it early on that you're

1076
00:43:07,260 --> 00:43:10,859
sort of very wetted to the Drupal

1077
00:43:08,579 --> 00:43:12,420
Community yeah I don't want to for a

1078
00:43:10,859 --> 00:43:14,400
moment suggest that this might happen to

1079
00:43:12,420 --> 00:43:17,400
the Drupal Community but sometimes awful

1080
00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:19,079
things do happen absolutely

1081
00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:21,240
um best case you might end up with a

1082
00:43:19,079 --> 00:43:24,540
fork worst case the community might die

1083
00:43:21,240 --> 00:43:27,240
we've had a fork do do you have Disaster

1084
00:43:24,540 --> 00:43:32,579
Recovery plans for handling that kind of

1085
00:43:27,240 --> 00:43:34,619
thing so it's a very complex issue but

1086
00:43:32,579 --> 00:43:36,300
it's it's the issue that is constantly

1087
00:43:34,619 --> 00:43:38,339
talked about at a board level within the

1088
00:43:36,300 --> 00:43:42,359
Drupal Association

1089
00:43:38,339 --> 00:43:45,240
um and so I think the good thing for the

1090
00:43:42,359 --> 00:43:46,980
Drupal world is that when clients choose

1091
00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:49,319
to use Drupal they're making a decision

1092
00:43:46,980 --> 00:43:53,160
that's at least a five to ten year

1093
00:43:49,319 --> 00:43:55,079
adoption plan and that is definitely

1094
00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:56,000
related to working at the higher end of

1095
00:43:55,079 --> 00:44:00,180
the market

1096
00:43:56,000 --> 00:44:02,880
like I talked about the fork with or the

1097
00:44:00,180 --> 00:44:05,160
shift with Drupal 8 was a huge thing

1098
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:06,960
within the community because all of a

1099
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:10,319
sudden all of these smaller end users

1100
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:12,599
felt abandoned and I won't say that they

1101
00:44:10,319 --> 00:44:14,520
were but I can understand why they might

1102
00:44:12,599 --> 00:44:17,700
have felt that way

1103
00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:22,079
um so I think it's it's definitely

1104
00:44:17,700 --> 00:44:25,740
around what are we doing to maintain the

1105
00:44:22,079 --> 00:44:28,260
pace of Innovation for the platform and

1106
00:44:25,740 --> 00:44:30,420
keeping it relevant long term and and

1107
00:44:28,260 --> 00:44:32,280
that's the primary focus of the Drupal

1108
00:44:30,420 --> 00:44:34,140
Association at the moment we've just

1109
00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:36,060
hired a new CEO that comes from more of

1110
00:44:34,140 --> 00:44:38,400
a product background there's a

1111
00:44:36,060 --> 00:44:40,859
recognition that the association itself

1112
00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:43,579
needs to get more involved in funding

1113
00:44:40,859 --> 00:44:46,560
strategic initiatives within the project

1114
00:44:43,579 --> 00:44:50,040
there's a recognition that drupal's

1115
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:51,680
marketing as a whole could be existent

1116
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:54,660
because it's

1117
00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:57,780
because it's not and we've got 10 market

1118
00:44:54,660 --> 00:44:59,880
share with zero marketing budget so

1119
00:44:57,780 --> 00:45:04,040
there's a lot of these types of issues

1120
00:44:59,880 --> 00:45:04,040
that we're we're starting to address

1121
00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:08,520
who we'll see how that plays out in the

1122
00:45:06,420 --> 00:45:10,619
next five to ten years but there is this

1123
00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:13,440
definite recognition that unless you're

1124
00:45:10,619 --> 00:45:17,420
actively engaging and working on it then

1125
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:17,420
it can just dry up so

1126
00:45:17,460 --> 00:45:20,040
great well um we'll have to leave it

1127
00:45:19,079 --> 00:45:21,780
there because we've run out of time

1128
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:22,920
thank you so much for your questions and

1129
00:45:21,780 --> 00:45:25,200
thank you so much for a fantastic

1130
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:27,839
presentation so if you do want to ask

1131
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:31,920
more feel free to talk to me afterwards

1132
00:45:27,839 --> 00:45:34,500
you can email me a blatant plug for the

1133
00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:36,900
Drupal South Conference in Wellington uh

1134
00:45:34,500 --> 00:45:42,000
17th to 19th of May if you're interested

1135
00:45:36,900 --> 00:45:43,980
in Drupal or not come and join us and um

1136
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:46,400
enjoy the rest of the conference thanks

1137
00:45:43,980 --> 00:45:46,400
Ellen

1138
00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:50,599
thank you

1139
00:45:47,819 --> 00:45:50,599
foreign