The MGS Blog

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Research Exercise: Interview questions: Reflecting on open sourcing the thing we do/did!'

Context:
  • Did you have an idea of what 'success' or 'failure' would look like?
  • Why OS or community sourcing?
  • Was a pre-existing OS community seen to be relevant?
  • Who used the OS version of the product?
  • Where was the OS product used?
  • Why did they use the OS product?
  • Are they still using it?
Actors/Involvement:
  • How did the idea to OS the product/service come about?
  • How did the idea to OS 'get off the ground'?
  • How was the argument for OS positioned beside proprietary activities, products or services?
  • What role did the various actors play (engineering, services, support, executives, board)?
  • What did/do you have to do to get an OS product and community working?
Feeling:
  • How did/do you 'feel' about being involved on the OS side?
  • How did/do you 'feel' about OS and its relationship to the rest of the business?
  • How would you characterise other's 'feelings' about OS?
  • Who was identified with the OS side and the OS initiative?
  • Why do you think they became identified with OS?
Impact:
  • What kind of things were necessary for OS to operate (infrastructure, technology, social environment, market, marketing, people etc)?
  • Did the OS demand a different approach to product (software) engineering or any other activities?
  • What kinds of resistance were encountered?
  • What enabled the OS initiative?
  • Did anything arising from the OS initiative impact or drive internal or other proprietary activities (product development, support, services, marketing etc)?
Reflections:
  • How have things changed as a consequence of the OS work?
  • What can go wrong?
  • Would you do it again?