Starting an Enterprise Community

Enterprise Communities are typically driven by a need to improve IP and software process internally or with 3rd party partners. Success of these communities is often measured by cost reduction, productivity, quality improvement and risk reduction. What makes a successful Enterprise community is one in which there becomes noticeable improvements in an organizations leanness, transparency, openness, quick release cycles, web based development. These are organizations who want to reap the benefits and proven successes of Open Source within their company boundaries.

If you're starting a new community within your Enterprise or Organization, you'll want to consider the following important concepts and write a Community Plan that covers

• CommunitySteps123: A practical, step-by-step approach to getting your Collaborative Software Development Community started

• CommunityGoals: Reuse, Accelerated OnBoarding, Breaking down silos, etc

• CommunityMetrics: How you measure the success of your community

• CommunityTaxonomy: How to categorize your projects

• CommunityCodeMigration: Migration options to consider for your community

• CommunityProjectOnBoarding: process for getting new projects created

• CommunityUserOnBoarding: how users register and get started in the community

• CommunityProjectGuidelines: public vs. private, contribution models, etc

• CommunityALM: Incorporating ALM into your community

• CommunityTeam: Community Manager, Community Support, Internal Sponsor/Representative/Spokesperson

• CommunityOutreachPlan: how to communicate important community information to the rest of the Enterprise

• CommunityTraining: Both Enterprise and Open Source Communities need a training plan, but how you go about training is slightly different for each

• CommunitySupportStructure: Tier 1,2,3 Support, Support metrics, FAQs, Community Support Page

• CommunityHomePage : What information you need to display on your Community Home page

Growing the Enterprise Community

Communities grow as users become aware of subcommunities’ benefits. Users discover resources outside their silos that provide valuable resources and the Community’s sphere of influence increases. If you're looking to grow your Enterprise Community, you'll want to consider the following important concepts

• CommunityMaturity: Many communities need time to mature before they are able to meet all of the community goals set forth

• SeedingtheCommunity : Identify where there are growth opportunities within the community

• NurturetheCommunity : Lower the barrier of entry for new contributors

Why You Need a Full-Time CommunityManager

Secure Transparency breeds Trust which drives Reuse

Attachments:

CommunityComponents.jpg [CMPlan/CommunityComponents.jpg]