07-12, 13:55–14:25 (America/Chicago), Amphitheater 204
Qiskit is an open-source SDK for quantum computers, enabling developers to work with these powerful machines using a familiar python interface. First released in 2017, Qiskit has become the most popular package for quantum computing (Unitary Fund, 2022), with a thriving open-source community. As Qiskit has grown and changed, so has our approach to nurturing our community. This talk will share important lessons we’ve learnt over the years, including practical tips you can apply to your own projects. Whether you’re just starting in open-source or already manage an established community, this talk is for you!
basic outline of proposed talk:
1. Context
This section will provide a brief introduction to Qiskit (https://qiskit.org) as an open-source package and some of the challenges we’ve faced in maintaining and growing our community.
2. The Academic Element
One of the unique aspects of maintaining an open-source project in a scientific field is the closer relationship to academia compared to other open-source software. This can pose unique challenges, as researchers often have different goals, mindsets and working culture when it comes to publishing code, which doesn’t always work well with traditional open-source ways of working. We continually face these conflicts in Qiskit, so in this section we will talk through some of the effective ways we’ve found to address these differences through education and the development of of the Qiskit Ecosystem (https://qiskit.org/ecosystem).
3. Clearly Defined Spaces
Defining the mechanisms for how different members of the community interact is a subtle yet crucial aspect of community management that requires careful planning. Whether it’s clearly defined issue templates, organised discussion forums, or actual events, having clearly defined spaces can help contributors and maintainers work together more effectively. So this section will demonstrate specific strategies we’ve used in Qiskit and the underlying principles that make them effective.
4. Be a Kind Human
This section will focus on the incredibly important aspect of fostering a welcoming culture within your open-source community. We will touch on the importance of a code of conduct, contributing guidelines, issue tagging, using empathetic and accessible language, and other general tips for making the whole contribution experience inclusive.
5. Metrics and Automation
This section will focus on how to use automations to streamline your contributor experience and collect valuable data along the way. From bots to actions to built-in GitHub features there are a ton of options to choose from, so we’ll highlight the ones we’ve found the most useful and the important insights we’ve gained as a result.
6. Development meets DevRel
Effective community management requires significant time investment, which can take a toll on project maintainers. This section will make the case for working closely with Developer Relations experts (perhaps even hiring one if you haven’t already!) to offload some of that burden. Developer Advocates are highly specialised in communication for a developer audience, and can become valuable assets when brought into an open-source team.
7. The Community Management Graveyard
To wrap things up, this section will cover ideas that we have tried and failed during our community management journey in Qiskit. Things that started out with the best intentions that just didn’t work out and what we learned from the process. The tone of this section will demonstrate how experimenting is an important part of the process of finding a community management setup that works for you, and that trying and failing in public is what open source is all about.
Abby joined IBM in 2019 as a full stack web developer before moving to IBM Quantum as a Developer Advocate in March 2021. She is currently working on Qiskit, an Open Source SDK for Quantum Computers. As a primarily self taught developer and quantum enthusiast she is passionate about encouraging people from any background to pursue their interest in technology.