Lessons from the Java.net Migration: Managing an Open Source Community through Major Change
Abstract
This presentation will cover the highlights of the planning process, the migration itself, and analysis of the current disposition of the community. Though most communities will never have to go through an intentional transition this big, there were many useful lessons that can be applied to smaller changes within a community as well. The process starts with a lot of questions:
What were we trying to accomplish with this change? What impact would this have on the community as a whole and on individual members? How do you break down any change into manageable pieces of work? How much disruption is acceptable? How transparent should this be to the community? How do we define success when we are finished?
With answers to those questions we put together a process. Some things worked, some things didn’t. We learned a lot and would do a few things quite differently if we ever had to do this again. Were we successful? Across the board, I’d say yes, but with a list of caveats.
Less annoying Java standards
