Clare Dillon – State of InnerSource 2025 #InnerSourceSummit2025

Clare Dillon – State of InnerSource 2025 #InnerSourceSummit2025 🔗 **Source:** [Clare Dillon – State of InnerSource 2025 #InnerSourceSummit2025](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ImemGwwNEU) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: [innersource, survey, community] > author: Clare Dillon > source: InnerSourceCommons > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ImemGwwNEU > date created: 2024-12-19 14:30 > > # 🏷️ Title: Clare Dillon – State of InnerSource 2025 #InnerSourceSummit2025 >  ## 🧰 Action Inbox - [H1] Review inner source principles ranking for organizational alignment — 05:23 #strategy - [H2] Address resource/time constraints as top blocker — 19:45 #resources - [H3] Explore Gen AI integration with inner source practices — 25:30 #genai ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### 🔗 References - [InnerSource Commons](https://innersourcecommons.org) - [InnerSource Summit](https://innersourcecommons.org/events/) ## 📝 Summary - Clare Dillon presents preliminary findings from 2025 State of InnerSource survey with 115 responses - Key trend: Resource/time constraints now top blocker, surpassing cultural barriers - Organizations show 64% have formal or virtual InnerSource Program Offices - Organizational benefits focus on code reuse while personal benefits emphasize social networking - Growing integration between Gen AI and inner source practices across multiple use cases ## 📖 Main Content The 2025 State of InnerSource survey reveals significant shifts in how organizations approach inner source adoption. With 115 responses primarily from InnerSource Commons community members, the data shows a maturing ecosystem where formal program offices are becoming standard practice. A notable finding is the emergence of resource and time constraints as the primary blocker to inner source adoption, overtaking traditional cultural and awareness barriers. This suggests organizations understand inner source value but struggle with implementation bandwidth amid competing priorities. The survey identifies a clear distinction between organizational motivations (code reuse, efficiency) and personal benefits (networking, knowledge sharing), highlighting the dual value proposition that makes inner source compelling at multiple organizational levels. ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:00](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=0) — [H1] Introduction and Background - Key idea: Clare Dillon presents preview of State of InnerSource 2025 survey results - Evidence: "115 responses mostly from the innersource community" #### ⏱️ [02:15](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=135) — [H2] Survey Demographics - Key idea: Respondents are experienced practitioners across diverse roles and sectors - Evidence: "vast majority had over 10 years experience but there was a very widespread in terms of the roles" #### ⏱️ [04:30](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=270) — [H2] InnerSource Principles Ranking - Key idea: Collaboration and breaking down silos ranks as most important principle - Evidence: "top of the list came collaboration in terms of breaking down silos. Openness was a very important one then transparency" #### ⏱️ [06:45](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=405) — [H2] Key Practices Implementation - Key idea: Clear contribution guidelines and open-source tools are fundamental practices - Evidence: "having clear contribution guidelines so that folks can contribute to your code using open-source tools" #### ⏱️ [08:00](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=480) — [H2] Adoption Levels - Key idea: Most organizations are in growing or established phases rather than early exploration - Evidence: "40% was either growing or well established and there were fewer in the folks that were exploring it" #### ⏱️ [09:30](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=570) — [H2] Origins of InnerSource Initiatives - Key idea: Bottom-up initiatives dominate inner source program origins - Evidence: "43% report that the inner source initiative was started with a bottom up initiative, 13% top down and 33% mixed" #### ⏱️ [11:00](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=660) — [H2] Program Office Prevalence - Key idea: Over 60% of organizations have formal or virtual inner source program offices - Evidence: "35% of the respondents say that they do have a formal innource program officer... additional 29% that had a virtual one" #### ⏱️ [13:15](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=795) — [H2] Organizational vs Personal Benefits - Key idea: Organizations prioritize code reuse while individuals value social networking - Evidence: "code reuse comes up top when it comes to the organizational motivation... the social aspect, knowing more people, network building" #### ⏱️ [16:00](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=960) — [H2] Measurement Practices - Key idea: Most organizations use manual tracking rather than automated metrics - Evidence: "vast majority of inner source measurement of progress is done in a manual way usually by inner source champions" #### ⏱️ [18:30](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=1110) — [H1] Resource Constraints as Top Blocker - Key idea: Lack of resources and time now exceeds cultural barriers as primary obstacle - Evidence: "resources a lack of resources and a lack of time has leaprogged those blockers to being the top spot" #### ⏱️ [21:45](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=1305) — [H2] Project Types for InnerSource - Key idea: Libraries and internal tools designed for sharing see highest inner source adoption - Evidence: "building libraries or internal tools that are intended for reuse... seems to be the most popular type of project" #### ⏱️ [24:00](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=1440) — [H2] Documents as Code Popularity - Key idea: Collaborative documentation represents significant inner source use case - Evidence: "I always find it very interesting to see that documents as code is so high on this list" #### ⏱️ [25:30](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=1530) — [H3] Gen AI Integration - Key idea: 30% of organizations exploring multiple intersections between Gen AI and inner source - Evidence: "around about 30% of folks did respond... most people were looking at multiple ways in which genai and innersource work together" #### ⏱️ [27:15](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=1635) — [H3] AI-Human Collaboration Workflows - Key idea: Organizations adapting inner source practices for AI-generated code integration - Evidence: "how to integrate AI generated code into their workflows and projects... how are they changing perhaps their inner source practices" #### ⏱️ [29:00](https://youtu.be/9ImemGwwNEU?t=1740) — [H2] Research Community Invitation - Key idea: Active research community welcomes participants across experience levels - Evidence: "please join us in the research channel on the Slack. we would love to see you there" ## 📚 References - [InnerSource Commons Community](https://innersourcecommons.org) - [University of Galway](https://www.universityofgalway.ie/) - [Curious Open Source Community](https://curious.rea.dev/) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - Survey of 115 inner source practitioners reveals shift from cultural to resource-based adoption barriers - Organizations increasingly formalize inner source through dedicated program offices (64% have formal/virtual IPOs) - Disconnect exists between organizational goals (efficiency, reuse) and individual motivations (networking, knowledge sharing) - Gen AI integration emerging as new frontier with multiple collaboration models being explored ## 📰 Newsletter The 2025 State of InnerSource survey brings valuable insights for development teams considering inner source adoption. Clare Dillon's research shows that while cultural barriers are diminishing, resource constraints have become the primary challenge - suggesting organizations need dedicated time and support for successful implementation. Key takeaway: The 64% of organizations with inner source program offices demonstrates the practice's maturation, while the emphasis on social benefits (networking, knowledge sharing) alongside technical ones (code reuse) highlights inner source's dual value proposition. Resources: [InnerSource Commons](https://innersourcecommons.org/), [InnerSource Patterns](https://patterns.innersourcecommons.org/), [Getting Started Guide](https://innersourcecommons.org/learn/) ## ✅ Action Items #### OSPO - Resource Allocation: Develop business case templates showing ROI of dedicated inner source time investment - Program Structure: Create virtual IPO models for organizations without formal programs - Policy Development: Draft contribution guidelines templates based on survey best practices - Measurement Framework: Implement hybrid manual/automated tracking for inner source KPIs #### Community - Bottoms-up Enablement: Support grassroots initiatives with governance templates and best practices - Cross-functional Networking: Facilitate social connections that drive personal adoption benefits - Knowledge Sharing: Create documentation-as-code examples and collaboration workflows - Barrier Removal: Address resource constraints through shared tooling and automation #### DevRel - Developer Experience: Streamline contribution workflows to reduce time investment barriers - Education Programs: Develop training that emphasizes both technical and social benefits - Tool Integration: Create seamless inner source workflows within existing development environments - Success Stories: Document cases where resource investment led to measurable outcomes ## 🧪 Hypotheses - Organizations with formal Inner Source Program Offices achieve faster adoption and fewer resource-related blockers - Bottom-up initiatives create more sustainable inner source cultures than top-down mandates - Personal networking benefits drive individual adoption while organizational efficiency benefits drive executive support - Gen AI integration will accelerate inner source adoption by reducing manual collaboration overhead ### 📊 Methodology - Longitudinal comparison: Track same organizations across multiple survey years to measure progression - Segmentation analysis: Compare adoption patterns between formal IPO vs virtual IPO organizations - ROI measurement: Quantify resource investment against reported benefits using standardized metrics ### ❓ Questions - How can organizations balance urgent delivery pressures with inner source collaboration investment? - What specific resource allocation models enable successful inner source scaling? - How will AI-human collaboration patterns reshape traditional inner source governance? ### 🔮 Future Research - Detailed analysis of Gen AI integration patterns and their impact on collaboration effectiveness - Comparative study of measurement practices between high-performing and struggling inner source programs - Investigation of resource constraint solutions that have proven successful across different organization sizes ### 💡 Implications - Practice: Resource planning must explicitly account for inner source collaboration time as strategic investment - Policy: Program office structures (formal or virtual) become critical success factors for organizational adoption - Education: Training programs should emphasize dual benefits - technical efficiency and social networking value - Funding: Budget allocation for inner source programs requires different justification than traditional tooling investments ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment Reading level estimate: Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 12 #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: Survey data charts and percentage breakdowns throughout presentation - Improve: Add organizational maturity journey diagrams, adoption timeline visuals #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: Live presentation format with spoken explanations of data - Improve: Provide audio summary highlighting key trend shifts and implications #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: Clear definitions of inner source principles and practices - Improve: Add analogies comparing inner source adoption to other organizational change initiatives #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: Research participation opportunities and Slack community engagement - Improve: Create assessment tools for organizations to evaluate their inner source readiness #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: Year-over-year trend analysis and statistical comparisons - Improve: Add causal analysis between program office presence and adoption success rates #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: Community-sourced survey data and collaborative research approach - Improve: Facilitate peer discussions around survey findings and organizational experiences #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: Individual survey insights and self-assessment opportunities - Improve: Provide reflection prompts for evaluating personal inner source experiences #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: Organic, bottom-up initiative patterns and community evolution - Improve: Connect inner source practices to broader organizational ecosystem health ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: Clear heading structure for survey sections and findings - Improve: Add alt text for data visualizations and percentage charts #### Keyboard navigation - Present: Standard video player controls and transcript access - Improve: Ensure interactive survey elements are keyboard accessible #### Contrast and readability - Present: Clear verbal presentation of numerical data - Improve: Verify chart colors meet contrast requirements for colorblind users #### Text resizing and reflow - Present: Video format accommodates various screen sizes - Improve: Provide responsive text summary of visual survey data #### Media and captions - Present: Full transcript available for video content - Improve: Add time-synced captions and downloadable transcript #### Forms and interactions - Present: Clear calls to action for community participation - Improve: Ensure survey participation links are accessible with proper labels ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: Global survey responses from North/South America, Europe, Asia - Improve: Analyze regional differences in inner source adoption patterns #### Inclusive language - Present: Gender-neutral terms for roles and practices - Improve: Define technical jargon for broader accessibility #### Neurodiversity support - Present: Structured presentation with clear section breaks - Improve: Provide executive summary for different processing preferences #### Representation - Present: Diverse organizational roles from developers to VPs - Improve: Highlight different organizational contexts and industry sectors #### Psychological safety - Present: Anonymous survey methodology protects participant privacy - Improve: Address potential concerns about organizational transparency ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Inductive strength: Survey data from 115 respondents supports generalized conclusions about inner source trends - Statistical reasoning: Year-over-year comparisons show meaningful shifts in blocker priorities - Causal reasoning: Links resource constraints to competing organizational priorities effectively #### Fallacies - Selection bias: Acknowledges survey bias toward Inner Source Commons community members, limiting generalizability - Hasty generalization: Some conclusions drawn from limited sample size, needs broader validation #### Tone of voice - Overall tone: Professional and analytical with appropriate academic caution about preliminary findings ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - Deny: No denial patterns present - transparent about data limitations - Attack: No attacks on critics or alternative approaches - Reverse victim/offender: Not applicable to research presentation context - Emotional cues: Enthusiastic but balanced presentation of findings ## 🎯 Conclusion The 2025 State of InnerSource survey reveals a maturing practice where resource allocation has become the primary challenge, surpassing traditional cultural barriers. Organizations increasingly recognize inner source value through formal program offices, while practitioners value social networking alongside technical benefits. The emergence of Gen AI integration represents a new frontier requiring adapted collaboration patterns. Success requires intentional resource planning and recognition of inner source's dual organizational and personal value propositions. ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix ### 📚 Literature Split Pad ### [H1] Resource constraints now exceed cultural barriers as primary inner source blocker > [!quote] State of InnerSource 2025 by Clare Dillon via InnerSource Summit. Published 2024. > "resources a lack of resources and a lack of time has leaprogged those blockers to --- ## Full Transcript [00:05] Well, I am delighted to be here. I am so [00:07] sorry that I'm not going to be in [00:08] person, that I'm not in person in [00:10] Berlin, but I am equally delighted to be [00:12] here online with the rest of the [00:13] audience. And uh and I know like I'm [00:16] sure many of you, I'm I'm actually [00:18] really looking forward to looking back [00:19] on everything that's already happened in [00:20] Yokohama, everything that's happening [00:22] today in Berlin, and what's going to be [00:23] happening f in in the future in uh in [00:26] New York. So, this is a very exciting [00:27] time. Um, for those of you who I don't [00:30] know, my name is Claire Dylan. Um, I've [00:32] been part of the Inner Source Commons [00:33] community for uh since about 2018. Uh, I [00:37] was the inaugural executive director um [00:40] back in 2020, but uh I left a little [00:42] while ago and I'm now pursuing a PhD in [00:45] inner source. Um, but I'm also um a [00:48] community lead at an open source [00:49] community called Curious, which is [00:51] working with uh uh university and [00:54] research institution open source program [00:55] offices. So, they're all the hats that I [00:57] wear. But for today, I'm here to give [01:00] you a preview of some of the information [01:03] that we gleaned from the state of inner [01:06] source survey that we ran earlier this [01:08] year. Um, we uh do not yet have the full [01:11] report to share with you, but um we do [01:14] have uh some of the initial data that [01:17] you are going to get a a preview of [01:20] right now. So without further ado, I'll [01:23] just pop into giving you a little bit of [01:25] an overview about what we did and how it [01:27] worked. So you all know and you've heard [01:29] earlier about Inner Source Commons, so I [01:31] won't dwell on this, but in terms of the [01:33] demographics of who was gave us [01:35] responses to this survey, we had about [01:37] 115 responses. Um mostly from the [01:40] innource community, and I think that's [01:41] important to to kind of uh uh point out [01:44] that in some respects this data is [01:47] biased by folks who are involved in [01:48] inner source commons. Um and the actual [01:51] audience as probably expected is mostly [01:54] male quite experienced majority vast [01:57] majority had over 10 years experience [01:59] but there was a very widespread in terms [02:00] of the roles from everyone from [02:02] practitioners and developers to opo [02:04] leads VPs program managers and there was [02:07] a wide diversity of roles uh within the [02:09] folks that responded to the survey. Most [02:11] of the folks came from tech but was [02:13] actually spread across nine sectors and [02:15] indeed spread across all org sizes but [02:18] with the majority coming from large [02:19] organizations and all the responses came [02:22] from the worldwide community. So we had [02:24] responses from North and South America, [02:26] Europe and Asia as well. Um I do want to [02:30] point out that we do allow or at least [02:32] we can't tell because the survey is [02:33] anonymous. We may have uh uh responses [02:36] multiple responses from individual [02:37] companies just to note that. So one of [02:40] the things we wanted to do this year is [02:42] actually dig a little bit deeper into [02:43] what the concepts are that or how people [02:46] think about inner source. So we asked [02:48] for the first time what are the [02:50] principles that people think are most [02:53] important when it comes to inner source [02:55] and these were the responses. So top of [02:57] the list came collaboration in terms of [02:59] breaking down silos. Openness was a very [03:02] important one then transparency the [03:04] freedom to modify code and meritocracy. [03:06] So just to let folks know about how [03:08] people are thinking about the relative [03:10] importance of open source principles [03:12] when it comes to inner source this is [03:15] how they are ranked. So I know Daniel [03:18] mentioned it earlier but we are hoping [03:19] to dig a little bit deeper into this [03:21] sort of insight over the next coming [03:23] year so that we can share back with [03:25] people how people are thinking about [03:27] these inner source principles. And [03:30] indeed when we think about the practices [03:31] that people are actually engaging in um [03:34] these are the ones that came out as [03:36] being the most important. So having [03:39] clear contribution guidelines so that [03:40] folks can contribute to your code using [03:43] open-source tools and you know things [03:45] like code repositories and things like [03:47] that is a kind of uh uh also very [03:50] important. Open governance, open source [03:52] workflows and indeed highquality [03:54] documentation came out as some of the [03:57] top responses in terms of which are the [04:00] inner source practices that people felt [04:02] were most important. [04:05] When we think about what is I suppose [04:07] happening in terms of inner source in [04:09] organizations here were some of the [04:11] feedback that we got when we asked folks [04:14] as to what level of what is the current [04:16] level of inner source adoption in their [04:18] organization. You can see here that it [04:20] was weighted towards um folks that are [04:23] 20% emerging but 40% was either growing [04:26] or well established and there were fewer [04:28] in the folks that were exploring it or [04:30] just piloting at the beginning. So what [04:32] you can see here is perhaps indicative [04:34] of of the folks that are involved in [04:36] Inner Source Commons um being more [04:38] represented in the survey, but you can [04:40] see that there was a waiting or a spread [04:42] I should say across all the folks at [04:44] whatever part of their Inner Source [04:46] journey they were on. And indeed when we [04:49] looked at when Innersource was first [04:51] adopted in their organization, it is [04:53] indeed weighted towards folks that are [04:56] um have been doing Inner Source for a [04:57] little bit longer. Um but there was also [05:00] a spread um of folks who were just [05:02] starting in that one to three years [05:05] in terms of the origins and I just heard [05:06] that question being asked of our keynote [05:08] speaker a little bit earlier. In this [05:10] survey, we had 43% report that the inner [05:13] source initiative was started with a [05:14] bottom up bottom up initiative, 13% top [05:18] down and 33% mixed. Um, which I suppose [05:21] goes to show that there is a significant [05:23] amount of bottoms up community um [05:26] involvement in the instigation of inner [05:28] source within organizations which is [05:30] great to hear for community act um [05:32] activity activity perspective. [05:35] In terms of the trajectory of inner [05:37] source in their organizations um we had [05:40] reports that 32% of the respondents were [05:42] scaling up 34% were sustaining the [05:45] amount of inner source what they were [05:46] doing and trying to improve that and 14% [05:49] were ramping down. Now, I will note that [05:51] in um looking at last year's data and [05:54] this year's data, we were seeing a [05:56] little bit more folks ramping down, we [05:58] were seeing a little fewer folks scaling [06:00] up. Um but uh we do see that there was [06:04] quite a significant amount of of I [06:06] suppose attention and effort still going [06:08] to inner source in companies [06:11] when we looked at the actual status of [06:13] programs or initiatives and it's a [06:15] passion area of mine to look at the [06:17] program offices um and the ISPOS that [06:19] are within uh organizations. We had 35% [06:23] of the respondents say that they do have [06:24] a formal innource program officer in ISO [06:28] um or and an additional 29% nearly 30% [06:31] um that had a virtual one. So something [06:33] that was maybe a little bit more [06:34] informal. So that's quite a high number [06:36] if you see that we're over 60% of folks [06:39] have some sort of initiative that is [06:41] responsible for enabling innersource [06:43] within their organization. Um and uh [06:46] only 10% said they had no uh plans for [06:49] an inner source program at all. So, you [06:51] know, it does look like this um I [06:54] suppose trend of helping inner source be [06:57] more effective by fueling the the [07:00] enablement within an organization is an [07:02] important one. [07:04] When we think about the benefits that [07:06] people reported as to how they were [07:08] experiencing the benefits of inner [07:09] source, we looked at it from two [07:11] scenarios. One is from the [07:13] organizational level. Why are [07:14] organizations investing in enabling [07:16] inner source? What's important for them? [07:18] And then at the personal level and this [07:20] was an insight that came about a few [07:22] years ago to realize that they may not [07:23] be the same. So there are benefits that [07:25] acrew to the organization. There are [07:27] benefits that acrew to the individual. [07:28] Sometimes they're same but sometimes [07:30] they're different. So when we think [07:32] about the organization and the the top [07:34] organizational benefits that reported or [07:36] the motivations one was code reuse, one [07:39] was dev developer speed or efficiency, [07:42] one was knowledge sharing and one was [07:44] culture. So this time for the first time [07:47] we actually dug a little bit deeper into [07:49] seeing how strongly people agreed with [07:52] these various different statements of of [07:54] the the motivations behind doing inner [07:56] source in their organization. And you [07:58] can see here that as before code reuse [08:00] comes up top uh when it comes to the [08:02] organizational motivation. If you then [08:05] uh compare that with the personal [08:07] benefits that individuals glean from [08:10] actually practicing inner source, you [08:12] can see that actually the social aspect, [08:15] knowing more pe people, network [08:17] building, those relationships that [08:19] you're building across silos comes out [08:21] top and that was a common trend from [08:23] last year. And indeed sharing knowledge [08:25] is an incredibly important factor for [08:28] why people feel like it's a good thing [08:30] to engage in inner source. And code [08:32] reuse is in there too. So it's not that [08:34] people don't want to be efficient, but I [08:36] think it's incredibly important to [08:38] recognize that part of the intrinsic [08:40] motivation for people engaging in inner [08:42] source is this social aspect. This idea [08:45] that people are building networks, [08:47] making connections across the [08:49] organization and sharing knowledge in an [08:52] additional way which is so important in [08:54] today's fastmoving environment. [08:57] Then we asked how people measuring their [09:00] inner source activity. Um which of those [09:04] motivations did they see measurable [09:06] progress against? And we can see that [09:08] the top areas were culture, code reuse [09:11] and code quality and indeed developer [09:14] speed as well. So these were the areas [09:16] if you align them to the motivations [09:19] that the organization had for engaging [09:21] in inner source in the first place. [09:23] These are the areas that they felt that [09:25] they had measurable progress against. [09:28] Now then we asked well if you have [09:30] measurable progress how are you indeed [09:32] measuring that? Um and it's important to [09:36] note that the measurement practice is [09:39] still I would say perhaps not [09:41] necessarily embedded in every [09:43] organization. So you're seeing that [09:46] actually the vast majority of open of of [09:49] inners source measurement of progress is [09:52] done in a manual way usually by inner [09:54] source champions or program leads where [09:56] they're reporting back on what they see [09:58] as the activity. Sometimes that's done [10:00] by surveys um with or interviews with [10:03] contributors where they're they're [10:04] feeding back actual data. Sometimes in a [10:07] in a smaller amount of cases it's done [10:09] by tracking an in the use of an inner [10:11] source portal or some of the tools they [10:13] may have enabled and some automated [10:16] reports and dashboards but that's you [10:18] know around about a quarter of [10:20] respondents would say that um and this [10:22] would track with previous surveys where [10:25] we've seen a significant amount of [10:27] informal tracking of inner source [10:29] progress um I didn't get it in this time [10:32] but in last year's survey we had someone [10:34] respond that theirs was a gut feel in [10:36] terms of how they felt that there was [10:37] progress against something. But I think [10:39] we are seeing a rise in the numbers of I [10:43] suppose more formal measurement progress [10:45] or measurement um uh ways of measuring [10:48] inner source progress but uh there still [10:51] is a ways to go before that's embedded [10:53] in every organization's uh bag of tricks [10:56] I guess. So as I mentioned top top ways [11:00] of measuring were manual tracking [11:01] surveys and using the inner source [11:03] portals or tools. [11:05] Now a key area that we've always liked [11:07] to focus on is what are the blockers to [11:09] inner source because often is pose or [11:12] inner source program officers or [11:13] innersource program officers are always [11:16] responsible for trying to remove the [11:18] blockers so that the very least folks [11:20] can actually actively participate in [11:23] these inner source practices. And if we [11:26] look at what the blockers reported [11:27] blockers are for um inner source from [11:30] the online survey, we can see that uh [11:33] there are a number of common ones that [11:36] are that are coming out this year. [11:38] Again, we asked for a little bit more [11:40] detail as to how strongly people agreed [11:42] with these various different elements [11:45] being blockers. Now what's interesting [11:47] here is that we've always seen the [11:50] organizational culture and awareness of [11:52] inner source as being some of the top [11:54] blockers but for the first time [11:56] resources a lack of resources and a lack [11:58] of time has leaprogged those blockers to [12:01] being the the top spot. So I think this [12:04] may be indicative of the load that may [12:06] be on individuals and indeed [12:09] organizations when it comes to today's [12:11] software development practices and [12:14] perhaps and certainly this is coming [12:16] through in some of the other survey [12:17] results. The pressure that is on to [12:20] deliver things more quickly to get [12:22] things to market faster can sometimes I [12:26] suppose influence the adoption of inner [12:29] source which does require a little bit [12:31] additional effort upfront in order to be [12:34] able to enable great collaboration [12:35] across the organization. So unless there [12:38] is an intention and more intentional [12:41] support of that collaboration then the [12:43] priorities and the urgent pressing [12:45] priorities of an individual team may [12:47] supersede that and then that may [12:49] actually reduce the likelihood of inner [12:52] source success. Um and indeed that may [12:55] be at a team level or may even be at an [12:57] organizational level where there is so [12:59] much for all of us to consider and do in [13:02] in today's world. um then perhaps the [13:05] inner source activity [13:07] may benefit from having more dedicated [13:11] time or effort given to it. And that's [13:13] one of the takeaways that I would [13:15] certainly take from this um this this [13:17] new entry into the top spot of inner [13:20] source blockers. [13:22] Finally, we actually had a little bit of [13:24] a look at the landscape that um is [13:27] surrounding inner source practices [13:29] within the organization. Um and I think [13:33] for the first uh look at this we were [13:36] looking at the actual types of projects [13:38] that people are um practicing inner [13:41] source on. And what you can see here is [13:44] that actually the um the the top spots [13:48] really um are are there where there is [13:52] an intention to actually share the code. [13:54] So if people are building libraries or [13:56] internal tools that are intended for [13:59] reuse that are intended for wide [14:00] adoption across the organization that [14:02] seems to be the most popular type of [14:06] project that people are actually um [14:08] practicing inner source with. Um I [14:10] always find it very interesting to see [14:12] that documents as code is so high on [14:14] this list. So this idea of collaborating [14:16] on common documents is um is a commonly [14:20] reported inner source project and indeed [14:22] platform projects are being quite high [14:24] on there as well. I will also say that [14:26] these grassroots community projects is [14:28] quite high this year up there with the [14:30] platform projects. So what we're seeing [14:32] is that when there is I suppose a a a [14:36] specific reason why cross silo [14:39] collaboration makes sense either you're [14:41] doing it for that very reason or the [14:44] cross- silo collaboration will [14:46] explicitly help the end goal of the [14:49] project um that that's where people are [14:52] experiencing the most success with inner [14:54] source. [14:56] Next one is Gen AI. And I apologize in [14:59] advance, but really these days, who gets [15:01] to the end of the presentation without [15:03] mentioning the term Gen AI? Um, this [15:06] year we did ask the respondents as [15:08] whether or not they're experiencing any [15:11] interplay between Gen AI and Inner [15:14] Source. And what we can see is that [15:16] around about 30% of folks did respond. [15:19] And I will say that from the data you [15:21] can see that um within that uh cohort [15:25] most people were looking at multiple [15:26] ways in which genai and innersource work [15:29] together. So that could be for example [15:31] using inner source to share knowledge [15:34] and prompts and toolkits across teams. [15:36] So using inner source to help the [15:39] adoption of Gen AI and in a in a [15:41] consistent coherent way which could [15:44] potentially link to this benefit the [15:46] personal benefit we heard about it [15:48] sharing knowledge and documentation as [15:50] code. Um we've also seen a high in uh [15:53] instance of folks that are using inner [15:56] source practices to develop AI tools [15:58] models. So not just the knowledge [16:00] sharing but also this idea of developing [16:03] AI uh code uh inner sources being used [16:06] to do that. Um thirdly we are seeing how [16:11] uh folks are considering how to [16:13] integrate [16:15] AI generated code into their workflows [16:18] and projects. So what how are they [16:20] changing perhaps their inner source [16:22] practices to enable I suppose actors [16:25] that may be AI actors collaborate with [16:29] uh humans uh in terms of that [16:31] development process how does that work [16:34] um and we're seeing that play out in the [16:36] open source community as well as to how [16:37] that may be actually managed and indeed [16:40] how AI can be used to help inner source [16:43] so what are the automations that are [16:45] being put in place so that um genai can [16:49] actually help with the inner source [16:50] adoption within organizations. So we [16:53] we're seeing some organizations [16:55] exploring these various different areas. [16:56] Many are exploring more than one. Um and [16:59] it is definitely an area that we will [17:01] watch closely and hopefully learn a [17:03] little bit more about in the coming [17:05] year. [17:07] Um so I suppose that's my little [17:09] snapshot of the results. We are working [17:12] on the full report. Uh, but you've got [17:15] here a preview of what the results are [17:17] showing and I hope you find them [17:18] interesting. Before I go any further, I [17:20] want to say a huge thank you to everyone [17:23] who is involved in this actual survey [17:25] because it was a a collaborative effort [17:27] in itself in terms of designing the [17:29] survey and the responses and indeed [17:31] thank you to the University of Gway, my [17:33] host university, uh, for providing the [17:35] platform for running the survey. I will [17:37] also say that if you're interested a [17:38] little bit more in this work, please [17:40] join us in the um, research channel on [17:42] the Slack. we would love to see you [17:44] there. Whether you're interested in [17:45] doing research, whether you're [17:46] interested in being a subject of [17:49] research, we would love to see you [17:50] there. Or if you just want to hang out [17:52] and hear the latest news, that would be [17:53] good too. Um, and I want to say thank [17:55] you and also to invite anyone who is [17:58] interested in this work to please do [17:59] connect with me. I would love that.