InnerSource pattern "Creating an InnerSource Strategy"

[misappi]

I created a draft PR to start the discussion about that pattern. By intention, it only contains the most basic sections. Others will be added later based on feedback and the discussion in the community.

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[spier]

Thanks for sharing this @misappi ! I left some feedback inline, and will resolve the pieces that seem non-controversial (e.g. purely cosmetic/formatting changes).

One general question:
Your pattern made me thing of the existing Document your Guiding Principles. I am not saying that both are after exactly the same but there might be some overlap.

Curious to hear your perspective on this.

[spier]

The content for the "Context" section should focus on this:

Where does the problem exist? What are the pre-conditions? Unchangeable before the solution goes into place. The content here is often tied to the applicability of the pattern for other readers: "Do I have this same particular situation?"

What can we write here about the given context at an org where this problem exists?

Minor: In terms of formatting we recommend to use bullets, so that one can separate distinct points more clearly.

[misappi]

I turned that paragraph into a list of bullet points, but did not change the content since I am not sure what is required here. At least on a high level, the paragraph explains where the problem exists, IMO. It could be described in further detail. Is that what you mean or would you expect different content?

[spier]

@misappi we misunderstood each other here. I meant the "Context" section, not the "Problem" section.

[misappi]

OK, got it. I extended the context paragraph and converted it into a list of bullet points.

[spier]

@misappi left some comments related to the Context/Forces inline.

Do you want to revert the Problem section to its previous state? Typically we just use prose and no bullets there.

[misappi]

Thanks for sharing this @misappi ! I left some feedback inline, and will resolve the pieces that seem non-controversial (e.g. purely cosmetic/formatting changes).

One general question: Your pattern made me thing of the existing Document your Guiding Principles. I am not saying that both are after exactly the same but there might be some overlap.

Curious to hear your perspective on this.

Interesting. I did not know that pattern so far. You are right, there is an overlap to the strategy pattern since both are mentioning the purpose of introducting InnerSource to an organization.

Since this is the first pattern that I write, I am not sure how patterns are normally tailored at ISC. One possibility that I see is to adjust "Documenting your guilding principles" in a way that it focusses on the principles (and not the purpose - anyway the main part of the pattern is about principles). Purpose and the connection of InnerSource to the goals of an organization and its (business) strategy could be covered in "Creating an InnerSource strategy". Then, both patterns would nicely complement each other - at least IMO.

[spier]

This reads more like a general statement about InnerSource, than like Context of a specific org. I think you could leave away this bullet entirely without negatively impacting the content.

[spier]

If I were to rewrite this as "context of an organization that has this challenge", I might write it like this:

Suggested change

	- If InnerSource and its benefits is mainly explained and positioned in a rather abstract way, it might be difficult to convince management and a critical mass of the development teams
	- The program office at the organization has expressed an ambition to follow InnerSource practices throughout the organization. However InnerSource and its benefits have been explained in a rather abstract way, making it difficult to convince management and a critical mass of the development teams.

[spier]

Porting these potential forces here from the current "Problem" section.

Are these good "constraints that can be changed at a cost"? Is the solution that you are proposing "changing one or more of these forces in order to solve the problem"?

I am often confused myself between what goes into the Context and Forces section, party because these ideas from a rather scientific context. So I cannot blame you if you are confused here as well :)

Suggested change

	TODO
	- The InnerSource program itself is missing clear goals and/or approaches how to achieve those
	- Missing management support for the InnerSource program
	- Low awareness of the InnerSource program in some development teams

[spier]

Thanks for sharing this @misappi ! I left some feedback inline, and will resolve the pieces that seem non-controversial (e.g. purely cosmetic/formatting changes).
One general question: Your pattern made me thing of the existing Document your Guiding Principles. I am not saying that both are after exactly the same but there might be some overlap.
Curious to hear your perspective on this.

Interesting. I did not know that pattern so far. You are right, there is an overlap to the strategy pattern since both are mentioning the purpose of introducting InnerSource to an organization.

Since this is the first pattern that I write, I am not sure how patterns are normally tailored at ISC. One possibility that I see is to adjust "Documenting your guilding principles" in a way that it focusses on the principles (and not the purpose - anyway the main part of the pattern is about principles). Purpose and the connection of InnerSource to the goals of an organization and its (business) strategy could be covered in "Creating an InnerSource strategy". Then, both patterns would nicely complement each other - at least IMO.

Your idea sounds good too me. Let's keep your PR here as a separate pattern.
Covering the connection of InnerSource to the goals of an organization and its (business) strategy would surely be great new content to have. The more specific we can make this pattern about that area the better :)

[misappi]

Thanks for sharing this @misappi ! I left some feedback inline, and will resolve the pieces that seem non-controversial (e.g. purely cosmetic/formatting changes).
One general question: Your pattern made me thing of the existing Document your Guiding Principles. I am not saying that both are after exactly the same but there might be some overlap.
Curious to hear your perspective on this.

Interesting. I did not know that pattern so far. You are right, there is an overlap to the strategy pattern since both are mentioning the purpose of introducting InnerSource to an organization.
Since this is the first pattern that I write, I am not sure how patterns are normally tailored at ISC. One possibility that I see is to adjust "Documenting your guilding principles" in a way that it focusses on the principles (and not the purpose - anyway the main part of the pattern is about principles). Purpose and the connection of InnerSource to the goals of an organization and its (business) strategy could be covered in "Creating an InnerSource strategy". Then, both patterns would nicely complement each other - at least IMO.

Your idea sounds good too me. Let's keep your PR here as a separate pattern. Covering the connection of InnerSource to the goals of an organization and its (business) strategy would surely be great new content to have. The more specific we can make this pattern about that area the better :)

Since it's about goals and (business) strategies of organizations, it is not that easy to be specific since these things are most likely internal/confidential. But I agree to you, we should be as specific as possible.

[spier]

Since it's about goals and (business) strategies of organizations, it is not that easy to be specific since these things are most likely internal/confidential. But I agree to you, we should be as specific as possible.

We could possibly use an imaginary org and strategy? And then explain the solution suggested in this pattern based on that example? Would require some story telling but could work.

[spier]

@misappi I hope my comments on this PR did not get you disheartened to continue working on this pattern? :)

As your PR describes a pattern in the "Initial" stage, we can take shortcuts if you like, to get this PR merged in some shape or form, to at least get the pattern integrated in our repo. That will increase discoverability by others.

Then you (and others) can continue to improve this pattern in further PRs afterwards.

I am also saying that as I would like to prevent this PR from going stale.

[misappi]

@misappi I hope my comments on this PR did not get you disheartened to continue working on this pattern? :)

Not at all. I just had no time to work on it.

As your PR describes a pattern in the "Initial" stage, we can take shortcuts if you like, to get this PR merged in some shape or form, to at least get the pattern integrated in our repo. That will increase discoverability by others.

Then you (and others) can continue to improve this pattern in further PRs afterwards.

I am also saying that as I would like to prevent this PR from going stale.

That make sense. Would be great if you could do that. Thanks!

[welcome]

Congrats on merging your first pull request! 🎉 We here at The InnerSource Commons are proud of you! 💖 Thank you so much for your contribution 🎁

[spier]

I made minor changes but could not push those back to your branch due to a permission issue:

To github.com:misappi/InnerSourcePatterns.git
 ! [remote rejected] misappi/main -> misappi/main (permission denied)
error: failed to push some refs to 'github.com:misappi/InnerSourcePatterns.git'

Therefore I pushed straight to main myself.

This pattern draft is now available here:
https://github.com/InnerSourceCommons/InnerSourcePatterns/blob/main/patterns/1-initial/creating_an_innersource_strategy.md

Let's continue the conversation on slack and in future PRs 🥳

[misappi]

Thanks, @spier. Let's do so.