Open source in the enterprise: It's about culture, not technology, says Github

Collaboration platform provider gives its top tips on 'inner source', the idea of adopting open source software development principles within the enterprise

Adopting open source methodologies within the enterprise is the fastest, most efficient way to produce software, and is more about cultural change than technology.

That's the view of Nigel Abbott of collaboration platform provider GitHub, speaking at IPExpo in central London today.

Abbott opened by discussing the trend that has seen all businesses effectively becoming software houses.

"We used to consume software, now we create it, and firms invest in the people, tools and processes surrounding it. UK banks, for example, now regard themselves as software houses with banking licenses," said Abbott.

And this evolution is more about cultural change than technology, according to Abbott.

"Every organisation has a choice around whether it evolves or doesn't. And failure to evolve and adapt leads to you sitting on the pavement, scratching your head and thinking 'What went on there?'.

"We've witnessed open source evolve as the most efficient method of developing software, with tools like Hadoop, Swift and Go being maintained by massive open source communities. That enables software to be built faster, go to market more quickly and be more robust," he argued.

He described the concept of 'inner source' as the power of open source but within the four walls of the enterprise, crediting Paypal with the term's creation.

"Inner source needs cross-functional collaboration between developers in different teams, with transparency of code, and a sense of community and mentorship. That's difficult because it's about cultural change."

Citing Spotify, Scania and IBM as high-profile inner source practitioners, Abbott went on to explain that the process and its software output needs to be shared with as wide an audience as possible, to encourage collaboration.

"With wider collaboration comes higher re-use and discoverability of code. But contributors must feel empowered and free to comment, regardless of their rank or time at the company. And that's a fundamental cultural change. The notion of individual empowerment tends to be the biggest blocker for firms trying to adopt the inner source concept. It needs support from the highest levels of management to nudge that need to change in this mindset."

Abbott argued that anyone should be able to start a conversation about a bug, give feedback and ask for features in an open and transparent manner.

"And you should be grateful for that feedback," he said.

Other principles of inner source include:

• Code can be worked on by anyone in the world at any time. "That's a scary concept for a lot of organisations," said Abbott.
• Communication that takes place asynchronously is written down alongside the code, enhancing that code.
• Everyone can and often does participate in software development. Everyone is invited to contribute, but not expected. "That fosters the notion that you have to give to get," Abbott added.
• The internal community will include code and non-code contributors who want to advance the product.
• All discussions will take place in public and stored for later reference.
• The community within the organisation gets to determine how it goes about its work and how its workflow looks.

Building scalable software quickly gives a company competitive advantage, but leveraging developers inside and outside the firm means you get there faster, said Abbott.

"Providing familiar tools, a supportive community and access to prior art - if you're a coder you're now an artist - do those things and you get cultural change and happier and more productive teams.

"An open and transparent culture is vital for open source to flourish. People can't thrive in an atmosphere of suspicion. That needs support from all levels of employees, so take everyone with you."

He concluded by exhorting businesses to automate.

"Automate the boring stuff, that frees you up to do way more creative stuff," he concluded.