go to All Things Open

[chadwhitacre]

Reticketed from #672.

A CONFERENCE EXPLORING OPEN SOURCE, OPEN TECH, AND THE OPEN WEB IN THE ENTERPRISE

https://allthingsopen.org/

October 26-27 in Raleigh. Speaker line-up seems full already, but early bird is only $149 (ends August 19th).

[chadwhitacre]

Pulling out. I want to build stuff! Going to Abstractions (#506) was good, but a) it was way cheaper, since I spoke and it was in Pittsburgh, and b) it took precious time. I'm already loading myself up with #672. I don't want to lose a week or more in October to another conference. We've got Platform Cooperativism (#756) the month after, which I think I'd be more inclined to go to to alternate FLOSS and New Economy. But even there I might rather stay home and hack, unless I'm invited to speak.

[chadwhitacre]

Okay! Reopening in light of an invitation in private email from @semioticrobotic and @jhibbets to participate in the All Things Open conference (thank you both for reaching out, and for the private conversation leading back to this ticket). In addition to a gracious offer from Red Hat to help with registration and travel costs, the invitation also includes:

• participation in an Open Organization Ambassadors (#672) event the day before the conference, and
• a five-minute lightning talk about open leadership on the main stage (looks like Thursday at 12:30pm).

This looks a lot like a slam dunk 🏀 from a community and marketing point of view, but let's let this mellow at least through the (long in the U.S.A.) weekend to make sure we're comfortable giving up the time otherwise spent on shipping product.

Thanks again, @semioticrobotic @jhibbets! Let's circle back here next week!

[semioticrobotic]

You bet, @whit537. Looking forward to the conversation.

[chadwhitacre]

Alright, haven't heard any pushback on this one. Let's go for it!

[chadwhitacre]

I've confirmed with @jhibbets in private email that I'm interested in participating in the lightning talks. Topic TBD ...

I was hoping you could talk about working in the open with your experience at Gratipay. I'm open to suggestions on what your talk could be about, but it must be in the realm of open source in order to fit with our content. I want to give you some flexibility, because I know you've got a few different directions you could take this if you want to have fun with us on the main stage.

[M]y plan is to collect title talks and bios soon. I would need to collect slides by October 14. Also, our plan is to record the talks and publish them on Opensource.com after the conference.

[chadwhitacre]

Reticketed the lightning talk as https://github.com/whit537/openorg/issues/6.

[jhibbets]

Main stage aspect ration = 16:9 Jason

[jhibbets]

Hello lightning talks speakers!

I have a few important details for you, please let me know if you have any questions between now and then. Thanks again for speaking.

1) In order to promote your talk and add it to the conference schedule, please complete this short form by October 7

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdvuPSxS0-cqAQ9xSUqRUHS58svZT_o-0BqYpgiiAUiFRYhGg/viewform

2) We have a very tight schedule on October 27. Talks will be strictly limited to 5 minutes. We have 1 minute between talks to transition. In order to help us stay on time, we ask that all speakers arrive at the front of the main stage at 12:15 pm. We will have reserved seating for all of you. We will also have a visible timer for you. (Grab a boxed lunch and join us in the main ballrooms.)

3) Slides are due on or before October 17. You can submit them to me or add them to the following Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/home/Events/All%20Things%20Open%202016

Submit your slides in PDF format so we don't lose any formatting you require.

Pro Tips:

• Include your Twitter handle and the conference hashtag, #ATO2016 on every slide

4) Practice, practice, practice. For those of you that have experience with lightning talks, you know these 5 minutes will go by fast. Be sure to get a couple of dry-runs under your belt.

5) Talks will be recorded and Opensource.com will publish them on our YouTube channel under a Creative Commons license.

We're excited! Jason

[chadwhitacre]

There was a semi truck on fire on the highway this morning 🔥 🚚 🔥 . Consequently, I was an hour late getting to the airport, and missed my flight. I'm on standby for another flight, about to find out if I get on. If so I may make Raleigh before dinner. Otherwise it's looking like I won't get there until almost 10pm. Airport wifi is spotty but I should be able to hack here for the afternoon if need be.

[semioticrobotic]

No! Sorry to hear that, Chad. Stay safe and try to relax (if that's possible at the airport!). Keep us posted.

[chadwhitacre]

Thanks @semioticrobotic. What's more, with the Steelers game yesterday, flights are very full leaving Pittsburgh. I was not able to get on the flight I was on standby for. I called the travel agency, and I believe they have me booked on a flight later this evening. Unfortunately, that means I'll have to miss the kick-off dinner tonight. Please convey my regrets. 😞

Fingers crossed, I will be in the Red Hat Tower lobby at 11:30 tomorrow morning for our Ambassadors session. For now I am posted up at the far end of the terminal with a sandwich and uncongested wifi. Time to get some work done! See you tomorrow!

[chadwhitacre]

Okay! I have my new boarding passes, which put me in Raleigh at 9:20. 👍

[techtonik]

@whit537 what talks do you plan to attend?

[chadwhitacre]

Made it! O.o

[chadwhitacre]

@techtonik The six I have pre-picked out are:

https://allthingsopen.org/talk/morning-keynotes/ https://allthingsopen.org/talk/open-source-is-people/ https://allthingsopen.org/talk/panel-discussion-how-to-be-more-open-collaborative-and-inclusive-at-work/ https://allthingsopen.org/talk/civic-hacking-201-successful-techniques-for-civic-tech/ https://allthingsopen.org/talk/freeloaders-are-essential-and-other-open-source-product-truths/ https://allthingsopen.org/talk/designing-for-participation/

[jhibbets]

Really looking forward to this one: https://allthingsopen.org/talk/civic-hacking-201-successful-techniques-for-civic-tech/ ;) Guess I better get my slides done!

On Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 10:31 PM, Chad Whitacre notifications@github.com wrote:

@techtonik https://github.com/techtonik The six I have pre-picked out are:

https://allthingsopen.org/talk/morning-keynotes/ https://allthingsopen.org/talk/open-source-is-people/ https://allthingsopen.org/talk/panel-discussion-how-to- be-more-open-collaborative-and-inclusive-at-work/ https://allthingsopen.org/talk/civic-hacking-201- successful-techniques-for-civic-tech/ https://allthingsopen.org/talk/freeloaders-are-essential-and-other-open- source-product-truths/ https://allthingsopen.org/talk/designing-for-participation/

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/757#issuecomment-255919649, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADgoV6fYfYqEm6jSS7Ilno7EF03UAiwpks5q3WoVgaJpZM4JcAwP .

[jhibbets]

FYI - ground transportation has all your updated details for pick-up.

On Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 3:26 PM, Chad Whitacre notifications@github.com wrote:

Okay! I have my new boarding passes, which put me in Raleigh at 9:20. 👍

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/757#issuecomment-255840138, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADgoVxC1W2qFTMlK_YWvPLGkYYlYKLfSks5q3QZtgaJpZM4JcAwP .

[chadwhitacre]

Interesting day today at #ATO2016! Quite stimulating. ☕️ 💡

Today we had the Open Organization Ambassadors (OOA) meeting. The conference itself is tomorrow and the day after.

The Open Organization Ambassadors are a group assembled to discuss and further the ideas and values set forth in Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst's 2015 book, The Open Organization. There were ten of us in the meeting today, which kicked off at about 1:00, after lunch with the rest of the Opensource.com team, and wrapped up around 5:30, reconvening again with the rest of the team for dinner. We also were together with the whole team for an hour in the middle of the afternoon to meet with Jim. Of the ten Ambassadors present, half were from Red Hat. Going around the room:

• Allison Matlack*
• Jono Bacon
• Jason Hibbets*
• Rebecca Fernandez*
• Brook Manville
• Robin Muilwijk
• Sam Knuth*
• Chad Whitacre
• Laura Hilliger
• Bryan Berenshausen*

       * Red Hat

In a lot of ways, the meeting was reminiscent of the Open Company Initiative (OCI) events we held with Balanced in 2013 and 2014. Linkdump:

• http://www.opencompany.org/summit/
• http://www.opencompany.org/summit/2014/
• http://diane.bz/being-open-about-being-open
• http://blog.balancedpayments.com/open-business-open-house/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4E7kNQSBeY

That is, this was a similarly sized group of good folks, talking about similar themes. It turns out that another attendee, Sam, participated in another similar group, the Management Innovation Exchange (MIX), with a similar arc as OCI: a year or two of enthusiasm, which eventually dissipated once the prime movers got distracted. One crucial question today (in my view) was how OOA is going to succeed where OCI or MIX failed, seeing as how we are similarly constituted, and at about that two-year mark.

One approach that I sort of championed for much of the meeting was "having teeth." In other words, pulling together an institution to define what an open organization is and to drive adoption. Touchpoints here include OSI, CMMI, TOP, B Corporations, and PBCs, and to some extent cooperativism. Red Hat's own Open Decision Framework and attendant maturity model could in this scenario form the basis.

By the end of the meeting, it was clear that we are not ready to go this route—if indeed we'll ever be! Where we dialed it back to was basically where we are today, perhaps incrementally intensified: writing stories about open organizations, with a heightened focus on case studies, examples, and practical advice. Opensource.com at this point seems as good a place as any to house the conversation (Bryan made an interesting analogy to BuzzFeed, which uses the flood of listicles to fund the occasional heavy-hitting investigative piece). Interestingly, this is basically where OCI ended up. Though, interestingerly, I now find this ticket about an "open company pattern library" which refers to the blog tack as having been abandoned "for lack of interest." The concept of the "design pattern" did come up today (from Jono). This is reminiscent of Frederic Laloux's work, especially his wiki.

I was interested to hear references to Morning Star, Semco, and Gore—transition economy mainstays—alongside references to mainstream companies like J.P. Morgan, Microsoft, and General Motors. With Jim and Red Hat (10,000 employees, $2 B/yr in revenue and growing) driving the conversation, this seems like a moment where some of the work that has been happening around the edges could start to move towards the center. The task seems to be to make it accessible to the mainstream—CEOs, managers, and employees alike. Perhaps Red Hat signals the transition economy's shift to "early majority"?

Certainly Red Hat has the wherewithal to support this sort of effort much more effectively than the OCI partners did at the time, or the MIX folks from what I gather. That said, the open organization conversation is basically a "hobby" for Jim (someone else's words; his words: "I do have a day job"). Yes, Red Hat is able to sustain it—for now. But what about in five or ten years? We need to diversify for a number of reasons, existential security being one of them. Perhaps with Red Hat's help, we can reach critical mass.

Another topic of conversation squeezed in at the end of the day was the governance and process of the OOA itself. At a minimum we are looking at increasing the visibility of the publishing queue. A further step would be to open up more-or-less strategic decision-making to outside influence.

Okay! That's my summary. It was a full day with lots of contributions. Thanks especially to Laura and Brook for facilitating, and to Jason, Bryan, Allison, Rebecca, Sam, and the rest of Red Hat for hosting us. Here's to more open organizationing in 2017! 💃 🌻

[chadwhitacre]

The OOA group had a follow-up meeting with Red Hat CMO Jackie Yeaney this afternoon, summarizing yesterday's session. There were initial rumblings of a spring meeting.

I had lunch with Justin Dorfman today. He was a huge partner while at MaxCDN. Now he's at Sticker Mule. Our old leaderboard was a big part of MaxCDN's motivation for giving on Gratipay. I think we reach out to Justin again once we have something back along those lines.

I'm on for a chat tomorrow morning with Adam Stacoviak of Changelog. We did a show together in 2014.

[chadwhitacre]

Okay! Back to the room with a couple beers in me, had a great time with friends I didn't know were here, might have a new backend dev recruit ("Let's make it $6/wk so I can at least buy a beer." :D) Now eating leftovers from last night and ready to hack on https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/4148! I probably have four or five hours tonight. Let's go! :rage4:

[chadwhitacre]

I'm at the airport about to board. What a trip!

I met Brandon Keepers last night. He's the open source lead at GitHub. He shared an anecdote that recently he'd asked the design team to work on something, and they came back with a heart on a brown background. He said, "Ya, we can't use that," and showed them Gratipay. :-) ❤️

[chadwhitacre]

Back in Pittsburgh! Waiting for the penny puncher. I am excited to keep hacking and hustling! 💃 🌻

[chadwhitacre]

I'm on for a chat tomorrow morning with Adam Stacoviak of Changelog.

P.S. He stood me up. I caught him at the end of the day, and helped him pack up while waiting for his last interview. He was basically like, "Dude, why don't you give up already? I recommend you read The Dip." 😶

[chadwhitacre]

I also met Katrina Owen (also at GitHub), and we talked about https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/3481 and https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/3602 (cf. https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/637#issuecomment-246519445).

[chadwhitacre]

He was basically like, "Dude, why don't you give up already? I recommend you read The Dip."

Which gets me really h*ckin' 🔥 d up, to be honest.

[chadwhitacre]

I was actually pretty moved by the contrast between my experience as someone with access to Red Hat's corporate largesse, and the situations of some of the people I met on the street in downtown Raleigh. There was one dude in particular who was so happy for $4 to buy some McDonald's—and here I am, casually having a second plane ticket purchased for me at the last minute for $736.50. The point of Gratipay is to extend the boundaries of this community of abundance as wide as we can! 💸 It's not just about money, though, but also belonging—welcoming people into radically inclusive hospitable communities of work. Let's do it! 💃 🌻

[chadwhitacre]

casually having a second plane ticket purchased for me at the last minute

I interacted with two people at the travel agency during that episode. The first was Paula, and the second was Jeanie. When I called back just now to find out the price, I talked to Jeanie again—I assume that's how she spells it, but just now I wrote down Genie. Like, I have a genie who grants my wishes. 😳

[jhibbets]

It is Jeanie - and both her and Paula have been awesome to work with.

On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 11:44 AM, Chad Whitacre notifications@github.com wrote:

casually having a second plane ticket purchased for me at the last minute

I interacted with two people at the travel agency during that episode. The first was Paula, and the second was Jeanie. When I called back just now to find out the price, I talked to Jeanie again—I assume that's how she spells it, but just now I wrote down Genie. Like, I have a genie who grants my wishes. 😳

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/757#issuecomment-257330025, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADgoV1WXldooFYVlaNjZWzo1kYnBqvFqks5q5gzIgaJpZM4JcAwP .

[chadwhitacre]

Lightening talks are up! Here's mine. Not super high-energy, but gets across what I was trying to say, I think.

Thanks again for having me, @jhibbets @semioticrobotic et al.! :-)