Run your business like an open source project

Businesses must make decisions about the different activities that they perform. They often classify activities as "drivers" and "supporting tasks" (or as "profit centers" and "cost centers"). Profit centers get funding; they are essential to the business and usually have a measurable return on investment (ROI). Cost centers get funding, grudgingly. They are considered a necessary evil and by definition they cannot provide ROI.

If you want to improve your ability to classify drivers and supporting utilities, look at open source projects. Not the software, but the projects that build the software. These projects often run with little or no funding, yet they succeed in delivering usable, quality software. They must be doing something right.

Any project that delivers usable, quality software is doing several things right. From setting objectives to managing resources, from marketing to coordinating activities, successful projects are... well, successful.

Open source projects are very good at identifying the drivers in their project, and focussing on them. They are also good at separating the supporting tasks, and either outsourcing them or automating them. Through outsourcing and automation, the project can drive the cost of supporting tasks to zero. Here, "outsourcing" does not mean "hire someone else" but "use external resources" which could be open web sites like Google Docs.

Open source projects use metrics to help them make decisions. They automate testing, which allows them to run tests often (and inexpensively). The results of the tests inform them of the quality of their product.

Open source projects don't think that they need special versions of everything. if a plain version control system is usable and lets them achieve their goals, they use it. If a plain compiler gets the job done, they use it. If allowing people to work around the world on schedules of their own choosing gets the job done, the project allows contributors to work around the world on their own schedule.

Very few open source projects -- successful open source projects -- can afford egos and custom stationery.

So are they all that different from a business?