@ale_fattorini

CREATING A COMMUNITY AROUNDHOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME

Alessio Fattorini

@ale_fattoriniATANASOFF-BERRY COMPUTERATANASOFF-BERRY COMPUTER

@ale_fattorini

JOHN VINCENT ATANASOFF

@ale_fattoriniSHOCKLEY - BRATTAIN - BARDEEN

@ale_fattoriniTHOMPSON - RICHIE

TO GO FAST, GO ALONE. TO GO FAR, GO TOGETHER.

African Proverb

HOWTO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

@ale_fattorini

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

ALESSIO FATTORINI

▸ Work at Nethesis (Italy)

▸ NethServer Community Leader

▸ Linux Sysadmin and Project manager

▸ Build Welcoming Communities

▸ Connect People and work with Open Source

▸ Prosecco Evangelist

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COMMUNITY?

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COMMUNITY IS THE KEY TO GOING FAR

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WHY?

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THE BEST WAY TO HAVE A GOOD IDEA IS TO HAVE A LOT OF IDEAS

INNOVATION

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HOWTO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

INNOVATION

▸ Having different points of view on your product is essential

▸ How many disrupting ideas can a company like Nethesis create?

▸ Ability to invite the entire world to continuously improve the product

@ale_fattorini

HOWTO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

COMMUNITY = IDEAS FACTORY

▸ No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.

▸ 90% of all community feedback is crap, this means 10% is gold! (J. Atwood)

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DEVELOPMENTTHE IVORY TOWER

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HOWTO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

THE IVORY TOWER DEVELOPMENT

‣ It’s dangerous to create an environment where developers have no idea who the users are

‣ Developers assume everyone else is a developer

‣ A community brings developers back to the reality and helps to stay grounded.

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HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

FROM THE OUTSIDE

▸ Enable the product/company to look at itself from the outside

▸ Catch your strengths and weaknesses

▸ Who the product audience is

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NETHSERVER IS AN OPERATING SYSTEM FOR LINUX ENTHUSIASTS, DESIGNED FOR SMALL OFFICES AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE

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NETHSERVER IS AN OPERATING SYSTEM FOR LINUX ENTHUSIASTS, DESIGNED FOR SMALL OFFICES AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE

@ale_fattorini

NETHSERVER IS AN OPERATING SYSTEM FOR LINUX ENTHUSIASTS, DESIGNED FOR SMALL OFFICES AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE

@ale_fattorini

COMMUNITY BENEFITS

@ale_fattorini

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

COMMUNITY BENEFITS

▸ Feedback

@ale_fattorini

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

COMMUNITY BENEFITS

▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons

@ale_fattorini

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

COMMUNITY BENEFITS

▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons

▸ Testing and bugs

@ale_fattorini

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

COMMUNITY BENEFITS

▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons

▸ Testing and bugs

▸ Content

@ale_fattorini

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

COMMUNITY BENEFITS

▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons

▸ Testing and bugs

▸ Content

▸ Support

@ale_fattorini

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

COMMUNITY BENEFITS

▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons

▸ Testing and bugs

▸ Content

▸ Support

▸ Spread the word

@ale_fattorini

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons

▸ Testing and bugs

▸ Content

▸ Support

▸ Spread the word

▸ Development

@ale_fattorini

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

▸ Feedback

▸ Comparisons

▸ Testing and bugs

▸ Content

▸ Support

▸ Spread the word

▸ Development

▸ Translations

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LOYALTYIN COMMUNITY YOU’RE BUILDING CONNECTIONS WITH PEOPLE WHICH IS WAY MORE POWERFUL THAN FEATURES

IT’S MUCH MORE HARDER TO LEAVE A GROUP YOU’RE CONNECTED TO THAN FACELESS PRODUCT/COMPANY

HOWTO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

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HOW TO BUILD A COMMUNITY?

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IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WON’T COME

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BUT MY PROJECT IS A GREAT IDEA AND MY CODE IS SOLID!

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WHY?

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KEEP YOUR VALUES ALWAYS IN CHECK

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START SMALL AND GROW ORGANICALLY

DON’T LAUNCH A COMMUNITY

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AN EMPTY PLACEDON’T INVITE PEOPLE TO

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CREATE ACTIVITYYOU MAY NEED TO MANUFACTURE THE FIRST INTERACTIONS

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CREATE A FOUNDERS GROUP

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BRING EVERYONE THERECREATE A UNIQUE PLACE TO CONGREGATE

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HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

BE WELCOMING

▸ First experience is critical

▸ Feel acknowledged

▸ Know what to do first

▸ First post -> prompt response

IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW FUN AND AMAZING YOUR PROJECT IS. IF PEOPLE DON’T FEEL SAFE THEY WONT’ CONTRIBUTE.

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HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

BE INCLUSIVE

▸ Create an environment where people feel safe

▸ Be humble - don’t patronize

▸ Read the fuck manual is not an answer (RTFM)

▸ Create some rules and lead by example

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@ale_fattorini

@ale_fattoriniATANASOFF-BERRY COMPUTER

Thank you Toolset

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BE SUPPORTIVE

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HOWTO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

BE SUPPORTIVE

▸ Be responsive

▸ Close the loop

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HOWTO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

TRAIN YOUR COMMUNITY TO SUPPORT

‣ They join community to get help not to give it

‣ Social Debt -> Offer opportunities to members to give help in return

‣ Call upon specific people to help other specific people

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AUTONOMY

@ale_fattoriniDOCUMENTATION, MANUALS

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HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

LISTEN TO YOUR COMMUNITY

▸ You will tempted to steer the discussion too much

▸ Be open-minded and be ready to change your mind

▸ Be ready to discuss and ask people to do the same

WHEN WE’RE CLOSE TO IDEAS, WE HEAR CRITICISM. WHEN WE’RE OPEN TO CRITICISM WHAT WE GET IS ADVICE.

Simon Sinek

HOWTO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

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AND ASK PEOPLE TO DO THE SAMEBE READY TO DISCUSS

@ale_fattoriniHALF BAKED IDEAS

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HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

BE OPEN AND TRANSPARENT

▸ Introducing community is a huge cultural shift

▸ You will tempted to keep your discussions private. Tell your people to stop doing that.

▸ Try to work out loud

@ale_fattorini

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

BE OPEN AND TRANSPARENT

▸ Show what kind of contributions your looking for and how much they matter

▸ Document everything. Document clearly

▸ THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU!

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OPENESS?HOW DO YOU PRACTICE THAT

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HOWTO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

OPEN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

▸ All bugs, roadmap and development planning are completely public on our github (Input from others to reproduce the problem)

▸ All feature requests are collected on our community platform

▸ Refine proposal, members can start working on ideas

▸ Make beta and Rc versions of NethServer regularly available.

▸ Follow development

▸ Early feedback

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DRAWBACKS

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DEFINITELY TAKES SOME TIME AND RESOURCES

SUPPORTING YOUR MEMBERS AND LEADING THE DISCUSSIONS

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WHEN THEY LOOK AT IT AS A TACTICCOMPANIES FAIL AT COMMUNITY

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A CORE PART OF THE BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY

INSTEAD OF MAKING IT

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HOW TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

COMMUNITY IS NOT

▸ Marketing

▸ An efficient short-term strategy

▸ Very small representation of the full potential value

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HOWTO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT AWESOME BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND

IT CAN DO SO MUCH MORE

▸ Completely set your business apart from every company in the field

▸ Redefine markets

▸ Inspire milions of people

▸ Give them a sense of belonging

▸ Make them feel an incredible bond

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A WHOLE LOT OF MONEYIT CAN MAKE YOU

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WILL ALWAYS WINCOMMUNITY-DRIVEN COMPANIES

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THANK YOU

@ale_fattorini alessiofattorini nethserver.org

nethesis.it