Open Source Summit North America 2025

InnerSource involves much more than just opening up the codebase for reuse & contribution. So much nuanced, time sensitive work is done by maintainers behind the scenes to nurture a community around an InnerSource project - answering queries from the community in a timely manner, finding & promoting project to right customers (potential contributors), maintaining regular communication & creating a safe space for community to provide feedback, to name a few. These activities require commitment by the maintainers. It may come naturally for those who are familiar with inclusive, open source ways of working. For teams new to InnerSource and/or not familiar with open source development models, there is a need for a mindset shift to open development models. What can prevent teams within the company from reusing and contributing to an InnerSource project? Will inclusivity matter while building an internal community? What factors in an InnerSource project affect this inclusiveness? Is there a difference in community building strategy between InnerSource and open source projects? In this talk, I will share my learnings on what works and what does not, while building internal communities.