What's hard about open?

The open culture and way of working faces new challenges and opportunities. The open community has grown enormously. The scope and complexity of our work has increased. Specific business requirements can clash with the goal of transparency and community participation. As the open community grows exponentially, we strain our traditional culture and systems.

Working open can be messy and difficult — but it’s still essential to our continued success.

Here’s what Mitchell Baker had to say about Mozilla being open in 2013:

The hidden costs of becoming a conventional organization — and following the best practices of other organizations — >are huge. And maybe a silent killer. We can’t just adopt what everybody else does, where no one can say anything >publicly. When we do that, we go slow, we lose agility, and we lose the personality that attracts people to Mozilla.

Working in the open carries risks. Sometimes individuals’ blog posts are mis-reported or misunderstood. Sometimes early prototypes get treated as product releases or set-in-tone ideas.

Working openly has it's own set of trials, but we believe the benefits of working openly (see the How to Work Open article from OpenMatt) far outweigh the potential problems. However it's important to understand what openness can lead to.

The press follows everything we do. Some people never leave their house unless they look perfect. Others go to work in shorts and sandals. The question of "when to be open" is kind of like "when do we want to be perfectly polished and where do we get to hang out in our pajamas?" Openness, and being as open as we can, pushing the boundaries of what it means to work openly, is part of our identity. And it is part of what makes us successful.

Whenever you're going to talk about another major player in the industry or a peer or project, it can be risky. People understand the things we say differently, but being open means being willing to clarify your words and understand that your perspective might not be shared. A good rule of thumb is to have a general list of topics that you might want polish on before publishing or sharing, and a list where you allow yourself to think freely, out loud and in public.