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## Title

_Contracted Contributor_

## Context

A large corporation has started an InnerSource initiative. Major goals for the
initiative are to increase the efficiency of distributed software develoment
and to foster innovation by allowing every associate to voluntarily
contribute to InnerSource projects, regardless of topic and business unit.

Top level management is on board and supporting the InnerSource initiative. For
them, the InnerSource initiative is just one of many initiatives to foster
innovation and efficiency, though. They are funding InnerSource with money and
capacity for community leaders and are largely giving autonomy as for how the
budget is spent. They are also limiting the breadth and duration of the
initiative and partake in periodic reviews until there is proof that it yields
the expected results (see [Review Committee](review-commitee.md)). Top level
management has announced their support for InnerSource on various company
internal meetings.

However, top level management has not yet empowered or incentivised mid-level
managers to allow or even motivate their employees to participate in
cross-divisional InnerSource activities. In addition to that, the capacity of
every associate is usually allocated to non InnerSource projects for 100 % of
their working time. Cross organizational collaboration is not yet the norm and
line managers usually do not have targets outside of their own organisation.
Contributions to InnerSource projects are expected to be made during working
hours, not during free time.

## Problem

Without support by middle management, the total number of contributors and, as
a result, the amount of contributions made and value generated by the
InnerSource initiative will likely fall below expectation of top level
management. This will likely be ampflified if there is no adequate funding for
and empowerment of [Dedicated Community Leaders](dedicated-community-leader.md).
This runs the risk of top level management abandoning the InnerSource idea.

## Forces

- Managers are held responsible for the results of their business units.
Letting their staff participate in InnerSource activities which might spend
time making contributions outside of their business unit effectively reduces
the capacity of his or her unit. This will likely make it harder for the
managers to reach or exceed their goals.
- Line managers and HR will, by default, judge the performance of their
subordinates against their business units goals, which might not be aligned
with the goals of the InnerSource community.
- The less executive air cover a line manager perceives he has, the less likely
is he or she to have his or her staff participate in InnerSource activities
which contribute to another business unit.
- The less transparency and control a line manager has of work done by one of
her subordinates, the less likely is she to allow her to contribute.
- The less formally work in InnerSource is managed and organised, the less
likely a line manager who is accustomed to formal processes is to sign off on
one of her employees contributing to InnerSource.
- The more time an associate spends on contributions to an InnerSource project
which does not benefit his day-to-day work, the more will the workload for
his teammates in his business unit increase.
- Individual contributors will likely consider participating in InnerSource
as an opportunity to enhance their professional netowrk within the company
and to gain knowledege and experience in the technical area of her
contributions.

## Solution

Set up a formal contracting between the contributor, her line manager and a
centrally funded and steered InnerSource governance office (ISGO). Have the
ISGO reimburse business units who contracted contributors for the contracted
time.

- The contracting specifies a maximum percentage of the associates work time in
InnerSource.
- The contracting clearly states that work in the contributor's business unit
takes precendence over work in InnerSource.
- The contracting states that it is not required to work in InnerSource for the
maximum percentage specified in the contract.
- The contracting is signed by the contributor, the contributor's line manager,
the governance office and the [Dedicated Community
Leader](dedicated-community-leader.md) of the community the contributor will
be contributing to.
- The governance office offers to mediate between the contributor and her line
manager in case of conflict regarding the time for contributions.
- The [Dedicated Community Leader](dedicated-community-leader.md) participates
in or provides input for performance reviews of contributors contracted for
more than 20 %.

<img alt="Contracted Contributor" src="/assets/img/contracted-contributor.png" width="70%">

## Resulting Context

A formal contracting and centrally funded reimbursements convincingly
communicating the organizations support for the InnerSource initiative, thus
empowering middle management to sign off on it:

- Allocation of corporate funds to business units for reimbursement of
development capacity signals to line managers that InnerSource is deemed
valuable by the organization, that it has executive air cover and that they
are expected to support it, too.
- A formal contracting signals that work in InnerSource is managed
professionally and inspires trust.
- A formal contracting increases transparency and provides a better overview
about the associate's available capacity for his business unit and
InnerSource projects, thus reducing the risk of "over-booked/planned
capacity".

A formal contracting is also beneficial for contributors and communities:

- With a stable group of contributors, it is more likely that some of them will
eventually achieve trusted committer status.
- A formal contracting provides a basis for resolving conflict related to
participation in InnerSource activities. Note that mediate will likely be
successful only for a few companies with a culture condusive to that.

## Known Instances

- _BIOS at Robert Bosch GmbH_.

## Status

_Proven Pattern_

## Author

- Georg Grütter (Robert Bosch GmbH)

## Acknowledgements

- Diogo Fregonese (Robert Bosch GmbH)
- Robert Hansel (Robert Bosch GmbH)
- Jim Jagielski
- Tim Yao
- Cedric Williams
- Klaas-Jan Stol
- Padma Sudarsan
- Nick Stahl

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Mention: Ofer Hermoni, Bob

- Ofer Hermoni
- Robert C. Hanmer

## Changelog

- **2016-10-25** - first review
- **2017-05-09** - rework
- **2017-09-08** - second review, final rework and merged