5. 1. 3  Project management

In this section, we will describe in detail the aspects of project management that, as founders of the same, we must keep in mind to guarantee success.

The concepts we describe in this section supplement those of the above sections, since they allow us to specify and improve the various actions considered. Hence, it is possible to find direct and indirect coincidences with these arguments.

To indicate the basics of the management of projects based on free software, we will take into account the considerations set down in Karl Fogel's Producing Open Source Software, particularly Chapter 5, entitled "Money".

Recommended website

K. Fogel (2005). Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project (Chapter 5 "Money"). (http://producingoss.com/en/money.html).

Funding

The special features of free software projects mean that many contributions are informally subsidised (for example, when a company employee publishes the adaptations it has made to the code during his/her daily activities).

Donations and grants are also made, contributing direct income to keep the project going, but we must take into account the management of these funds, since much of the support afforded to a free software project is based on the credibility of its participants.

Types of participation

There are many types – and possible combinations – of financial participation in a free software project. This funding model also influences aspects that depend not only on the project but also on its environment and context of action.

Broadly speaking, participation in a free software project is related to the collaboration of its participants, the business model exploited by the company that promotes it (where applicable), the marketing activities undertaken, the licensing of the products involved and the donations made.

Open-ended contracts

The application's team of developers is very important for the development of the project and its future evolution. The stability and permanence of the participants in their posts of responsibility will strengthen the foundations and credibility of the project vis-à-vis the user community.

A stable project

Credibility is essential for all actors directly or indirectly involved in the project, since this cannot be transferred to substitutes. Moreover, loss of credibility can affect the future of the application and the project to varying degrees, so we need to take the appropriate measures to actively monitor and manage the project.

Decentralisation

One of the most relevant – and desirable – features of free software user communities is the distribution and decentralisation of the decisions taken in the project.

Hence, the project organisation should consider this structure as a way to motivate and strengthen the community of application users, ensuring that the consensus emerges from interaction between its members.

Transparency

The above aspect of decentralisation gives us an idea as to the transparency and justification that should exist in the relationship between the project and the community.

Both the aims of the project and lines of evolution of the application must be clear and well known to all those involved in it. The influence of the founder on future behaviour must be exercised in a sincere and transparent way in order to guarantee the credibility of the project.

One example is the Openbravo manifesto (http://www.openbravo.com/es/about-us/openbravo-manifesto/).

Credibility

Project credibility (both overall and of its individual members) has cropped up in a number of the issues we have already discussed. Its relevance is closely related to the free software user community and it is an important prerequisite for maintenance of the project over time.

Money or a hierarchical position cannot generate the necessary credibility in the actions of individual members at any given time. In other words, the established methodology, procedures or protocols, or the workings or operation must be the same for everybody, without exception.

Contracts

Employee hiring is another aspect to take into account, particularly in free software projects, due to its impact on structure and operation. We need to ensure that all of the details and processes of recruitment are open and transparent.

In fact, it is important to review and approve these changes with the collaboration of the user community, to the extent that, in some cases, it may be preferable or desirable to contract developers directly from the community with write permissions on the official repository (committers).

Resources

Free software projects are based not only on the evolution and maintenance of the code of an application based on free software; they must also consider additional aspects of support.

Additional resources

This is the case of the quality management of the code produced, the legal protection of contributions, the documentation and utility of the application, and the provision of infrastructure resources for the free software community (websites, version control systems, etc).

These resources can generate significant differences in the dissemination and popularisation both of the application and of the project in the free software user community.

Marketing

Lastly, although we are dealing with a project based on free software, we should implement marketing measures for the dissemination and popularisation of the application and of the project as a whole.

Hence, we must remember that the full workings of the project are in the public eye and that each of the claims made may be easily demonstrated or proved wrong. The establishment of measures to control the image and operation of the project must enable it to gain credibility, transparency and verifiability.

These measures include the importance of maintaining an open, honest and objective policy on rival projects. Firstly, because it encourages a certain value for the user community, and secondly, because it fosters the development of coopetition strategies with aligned projects.