A follow up from my previous post: "Where's the economic infrastructure for open source and public domain developers?".
From this point onwards, I'm an open research and development consultant, working under a new business model for our sector, a one which you will benefit from, regardless of who you are.
I spend all of my time in research and development, converging technologies and investigating new ones, a mix of reading, looking, trying, inventing, hacking, communicating, exploring, testing and refining, the breadth and scope of what I do ranges from overall web architecture down to optimization of a single line of code, and all in between - of course I have my specialist areas and fortes like many others, but generally it's the big picture which I focus on and specialize in.
However, I'm just one part of something much bigger, what makes my new job so interesting is the web community, the projects, the papers, the ideas, the specifications and the passions of others, even the tweets and the mailing list posts, my knowledge comes from you.
So, here's how the business model works..
Some of you need some of the information I know, some of the understanding, others of you are starting ventures and simply don't have the time to invest finding out about all the great projects and techs on the web, let alone how they fit together, some of you are working on those projects and techs out of passion and really need paid for your hard work and effort. Some of you need me to prototype out your ideas by converging technologies and getting a proof of concept going, some of you need the bug reports and patches, or even just the recognition. Some of you need me to talk to your development teams and give them feedback + point them in the right direction, technically or just at an overview level, to make sure your projects become a reality.
So, if I work for with you, and we use open source projects, we'll pay the developers of those projects in some way, we'll talk to them, help them improve their projects, pay for their time, pass on donations and sometimes hire them to tailor what they've done to suit your projects needs or to build the next version they've been planning, the one which has the features you need. And if you don't pay them or donate or give them recognition/thanks, whether that be money or something from their wishlist, something to make their life easier like a new monitor, or some form of promotion, then I will, and I won't work with you again.
Everything I do is open source, not just open but public domain, cc-zero'd or unlicensed, that includes my work on your projects, and yes others will get that work for free, and use it, and fork it, and that's a good thing, because it'll create a marketplace for you, ready made competitors, although of course you'll be ahead of the curve by the time this happens. Of course I won't be giving away your business secrets and game plans, or even how you're tying different things together, you keep your competitive edge and ideas, that's your intellectual property, but anything I work on with you is mine, and I give that to the web community.
I do not deliver finished products, nor do I maintain them, unless the task at hand is to refactor or optimize something. I will however work with your teams to ensure they understand everything inside out, and are happy to run with the project and turn it in to a finished product for you.
If I'm not the right man for the job, or we realize you'd be better with different technologies, then we'll find the right person, or people for you, and transition what we've worked out together over to people who can help you properly, and who specialize in what you need.
Can you hire me to work for you fulltime and exclusively? no to both I'm afraid, I need a stream of interesting projects and ideas coming through me to have any value to you, others and myself - and that's the way it's staying, you can of course retain a chunk of my time on a regular basis if you like though.
The work I'll do will continue whether I'm being paid by others or not, if you think you'll need anything from my generic to do list, or anything related, and you're a part of a corporate entity, then by all means sponsor me, or somebody else, to do them, if you're another person or like me and want to converge ideas thoughts and code, then let's do it. General rule of thumb when working with me from now on is, if you're getting paid to work on the thing we're planning or doing, then so am I, and if you're not, then neither am I.
As for renumeration on paid projects, of course it'll usually be a monetary value as with any consultant or contractor, but sometimes it'll just be a couple of days of talking, or laying out a project plan, turning out a technical spec or such like, when it's a smaller job then why not offer products or services or ask me if there's anything I'm needing or would like for me or my family, if there's a charity or an open source developer I'd like a gift to go to? I'll be doing the same from here on.
So, that's what I do from here on, I'm an open research and development consultant, an open developer, and a contributor to the web communities - I sincerely hope that many, if not most of you reading this join me in this approach, help this open approach to business in our sector along, and look forward to working with you, in whatever capactity that me be.
Thanks for inspiration
I'd like to thank a few people who've led and encouraged me to take this step, Melvin Carvalho who whilst being an open source developer himself, also takes the time to help others, donating everything from time to funds to help fellow developers, he's been a real inspiration to me, likewise Sir Tim Berners-Lee who also leads by example, he not only invented the web but ensured we can use it royalty free, still finding the time to develop open source projects to this very day. I'd also like to thank Richard Blakely and Influxis for both encouraging me to take this step and for being the first to back me in working this way.
Many others have led by example, open sourcing all their work for us all to share, some shining examples are Arto Bendiken, Manu Sporny and the team at Digital Bazaar, the Ushahidi team, the World Wide Web Consortium and those who tirelessly dedicate time to standardize and improve the web - and finally, a thanks to all those who open source, share knowledge and help advance the human race.
All the best for 2011.
