Navigating Open Source Risk: A Strategic Approach - Dawn Foster, VMware
Channel: The Linux Foundation
Date: 09/10/2021

Navigating Open Source Risk: A Strategic Approach - Dawn Foster, VMware

Many business decisions include a strategic element of risk and making tradeoffs, but we don’t always think about open source project risks and how those risks can impact our business and product strategies. For example, if we build our business or products on top of an open source technology, we’ll want to manage our risk. On the other hand, if we’re using an open source project as a part of some non-critical infrastructure, we can accept more risk. This talk will: * Compare the risk between projects under neutral foundations vs. those controlled by companies. * Provide details about how governance impacts risk for leadership selection, decision-making processes, and communication. * Evaluate business risk in terms of contributors and organizations to determine the level of risk associated with individuals or organizations leaving the project. * Discuss how certain behaviors within the community can increase or decrease the risk of using and contributing to a project. * Talk about the strategic implications of our open source project decisions. The audience will walk away with practical advice about how to strategically assess risk and evaluate projects for your organization.