6 MIN READ
The Linux Foundation | 16 December 2021
A wide range of open source topics essential for OSPO related activities occurred in 2021, featured by OS experts coming from matured OSPOs like Bloomberg or RIT and communities behind open source standards like OpenChain or CHAOSS.
The TODO Group has been paving the OSPO path over a decade of change and is now composed of a worldwide community of open source professionals working in collaboration to drive Open Source Initiatives to the next level.
One of the many initiatives that the TODO Group has been working on since last August has been OSPOLogy. With OSPOLogy, the TODO Group aims to ease the access to more organizations across sectors to understand and adopt OSPOs by open and transparent networking: engaging with open source leaders through real-time conversations.
“In OSPOLogy, we have have the participation of experienced OSPO leaders like Bloomberg, Microsoft or SAP, widely adopted project/Initiatives such as OpenChain, CHAOSS or SPDX, and industry open source specialists like LF Energy or FINOS. There is a huge diversity of folks in the open source ecosystem that help people and organizations to improve their Open Source Programs, their OSPO management skills, or advance in their OSPO careers. Thus, after listening to the community demands, we decided to offer a space with dedicated resources to make these connections happen, under an open governance model designed to encourage other organizations and communities to contribute.”
AJ – OSPO Program Manager at TODO Group
What has OSPOlogy accomplished so far?
Within OSPOlogy 2021 series, we had insightful discussions coming from five different OSPO topics:
- [August 4, 2021] How to start an OSPO with Bloomberg
- [September 1, 2021] Mentoring and Talent Management within OS Ecosystems with US Bank
- [October 13, 2021] The State of OSPOs in 2021 with LF
- [November 17, 2021] Academic OSPOs with CHAOSS and RIT
- [December 1, 2021] Governance in the Context of Compliance and Security with OpenChain
For more information, please watch the video replays on our OSPOlogy YouTube channel here
The format is pretty simple: OSPOlogy kicks off the meetings with the OSPO news happening worldwide during that month and moves to the topic of the day where featured guests introduce a topic relevant to OSPO and ways to set up open source initiatives. These two sections are recorded and published within the LF Community platform and the new OSPOlogy youtube channel.
Once the presentation finishes, we stop the recording and move to real-time conversations and Q&A section under Chatham house rules in order to keep a safe environment for the community to freely share their opinions and issues.
“One of the biggest challenges when preparing the 2021 agenda was to get used to the new platform used to host these meetings and find contributors to kick off the initiative. We keep improving the quality and experience of these meetings every month and thanks to the feedback received by the community, building new stuff for 2022”
AJ – OSPO Program Manager at TODO Group
TODO Mission: build the next OSPOlogy 2022 series together
The TODO Group gives big importance to neutrality. That’s why this project (same as the other TODO projects) is under an open governance model, to allow people from other organizations and peers across sectors to freely contribute and grow this initiative together.
OSPOlogy has a planning doc, governance guidelines, and a topic pool agenda to:
- Propose new topics
- Offer to be a moderator
- Become speaker
https://github.com/todogroup/ospology/tree/main/meetings.
“During the past months, we have been reaching out to other communities like FINOS, LF Energy, OpenChain, SPDX, or CHAOSS. These projects have become of vital importance to many OSPO activities (either for specific activities, such as managing Open Source Compliance & ISO Standards, measuring the impact of relevant open source projects or helping to overcome entry barriers for more traditional sectors, like finance or energy industry)”
OSPOlogy, along with the TODO Associates program, aims to bring together all these projects to introduce them to the OSPO community and drive insightful discussions. These are some of the topics proposed by the community for 2022:
- How to start an OSPOs within the Energy sector
- How to start an OSPOs within the Finance sector
- Measuring the impact of the open source projects that matters to your organization
- Open Source Compliance best practices in the lens of an OSPO
OSPOlogy is not just limited to LF projects and the TODO Community. Outside initiatives, foundations, or vendors that work closely with OSPOs and help the OSPO movement are also welcome to join.
We have just created a CFP form so people can easily add their OSPO topics for upcoming OSPOlogy sessions:
https://github.com/todogroup/ospology/blob/main/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/call-for-papers.yml
In order to propose a topic, interested folks just need to open an issue using the call for papers GitHub form.
The TODO Group’s journey: Paving the OSPO path over a decade of change
Significant advancements and community shifts have occurred since (the year when TODO Group was formed) in the open source ecosystem and the way organizations advance in their open source journey. By that time, most of the OSPOs were gathered in the bay area and led by software companies, requesting to share limited information due to the uncertainty across this industry.
However, this early version of TODO is far behind what it (and OSPOs) represent in the present day.
With digital transformation forcing all organizations to be open source forward and OSPOs adopted by multiple sectors, the TODO Group is composed of a worldwide community of open source professionals working in collaboration to drive Open Source Initiatives to the next level.
It is well known that the TODO group members are also OSPO mentors and advocates who have been working in the open source industry for years.
At TODO group, we know the huge value these experienced OSPO leaders can bring to the community since they can help to pave the path for the new generation of OSPOs, cultivating the open source ecosystem. Two main challenges mark 2022:
- Provide Structure and Guidance within the OSPO Industry based on the experience of Mature OSPO professionals across sectors and stages.
- Collaborate with other communities to enhance this guidance
New OSPO challenges are coming, and new TODO milestones and initiatives are taking shape to adapt to help the OSPO movement succeed across sectors. You will hear from TODO 2022 strategic goals and direction news very soon!