Every Good Open Source Product Starts with Scratching a Shared Itch
Producing Excellent Open Source Products
Me
https://www.adamhyde.net
- NZer (now in SF)
- starter of things including - FLOSS Manuals, Booktype, BookJS, Coko (coFounder), Book Sprints, Cabbage Tree Method and more
- Shuttleworth Fellow
- Ex Artist and stuff
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3751620/little_1.jpg)
Coko
https://coko.foundation
- Solving scholarly publishing problems with open source
- Building good faith networks
- Building infrastructure eg: PubSweet, INK, Editoria, XSweet
Itch to Scratch
The fact that it is your itch is important
The developer is:
-
the use case specialist
-
the code specialist
Knowing your itch gives you insights and motivations. It is an important qualitative and experiential factor.
What is it good for?
✓ Infrastructure
✓ Developer Tools
x User-facing solutions
Why is it failing open source in the 'user space'
...because we are scratching someone else's itch
a developer is
a code specialist
a user is
a use case specialist
Scratching someone else's itch
If we want to 'solve the users problem (itch)' they must be central to designing the solution.
Design First
Design with the User
An Example
The Cabbage Tree Method
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3712992/cabbagetree_colour_big.jpg)
https://www.cabbagetree.org
Good for
- Building platforms
- Working with orgs
- Fixing workflows
Facilitated Design
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3714240/facilitator_colour_big.jpg)
Users Use Case Specialists
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3760757/setup1_lines.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3713128/L1020158.jpg)
Use case Speciaists Designing Their Own Software
Iterative Design→Build Sessions
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3751670/ctmcycle_lines.jpg)
The Flow
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3751669/cokoflow.jpg)
An Example
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3713128/L1020158.jpg)
The Users Scratch
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3713134/component-small.jpg)
The Summary
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3713140/component-draw_small.jpg)
The Mock
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3713145/01_TOC_Division-1_cropped.png)
The Working Code
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3177549/Screenshot_from_2016-09-15_02-15-17.png)
The Working Code
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/603295/images/3714220/mockup.png)