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Plexxi on OpenDaylight: An Insider’s View

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logo_opendaylight-1As I have said before, one of the joys of working at a startup and having control over the marketing function is that I can usually say what is actually on my mind with little fear of reprisal or getting hung up in the corporate approval process. So today I want to opine a bit on OpenDaylight now that we are beyond the formative stages and getting into implementation.

Let's be honest: a lot of people worried that this was going to be a Cisco show. Ad you know what? This dominated the discussions we had within Plexxi in the run up to the project launching. If you are a large player, you worry that some other large player might drive the agenda, but it's not that big a deal because burning a few resources to stay close to the project doesn't impact roadmaps a whole lot when you have a large development team. And the PR boost of being associated with the body is worth it.

But when you are a smaller company, every development resource matters. They have names and projects. And losing even one person to something not worthwhile can make a meaningful difference. So when we were kicking around the idea of joining OpenDaylight, we were a little concerned. I don't think the concern ever got to the point where we weren't going to participate, but there was definitely some angst in the system. 

But here is what we see now. 

I suspect OpenDaylight is a lot like any open source project. While the logos and the funding comes from companies, the project is driven by individuals. At the end of the day, these are engineers who work together to get something done. I don't know if you have a lot of exposure to developers, but there are a few things I know to be true almost ubiquitously:

  • Developers are motivated by solving a problem. At the point of attack, it is about the code not the company. Nobody wants to put forth solutions that they know are not elegant. They are primarily driven by creating solutions, and moving the ball sideways or even backwards goes against every fiber of an engineer's being. 
  • Technical credibility is everything. Your job might change, but your reputation is forever. If you advocate something publicly – outside the safe confines of corporate walls – that position will stick with you for your entire career. As individuals, nobody wants to do that for a position they do not support. Even direct orders from corporate powers carry little weight when it is a couple of peers working with a terminal, a whiteboard, and a 2-liter bottle of Mt. Dew. In that moment, no one from corporate can help you as you work through your code. It's you and your open source peers. 
  • Engineering is the ultimate meritocracy. When you get people working together on projects, the code wins. Convincing one person that the poorer code is the better choice is possible, but the collective is a different story. And we all know that running code trumps PowerPoint, so if you bring your code and it solves the problem, it will win.

As the first hack sessions for OpenDaylight wrap up, what we see maybe shouldn't be surprising but honestly it was – our angst was real. But OpenDaylight really is an engineering effort. Ideas are presented and debated. Merits of some approaches are discussed. And code is written.

As the little guy in a room full of sharks, we were worried we wouldn't have a voice. But that is far from reality. We have proposed our own project as part of OpenDaylight, and even though we compete with many of the people in the room, the discussion has been on what value we bring. The size of our voice is not impacted by the number of employees we have but rather the merits of the project.

Will our voice ultimately lead to working code? We think so. But the nice thing is that it is dependent on us to deliver the code, not on whether Cisco or anyone else approves the idea in some secret Star Chamber. If we cannot deliver, we shouldn't have a voice. There are too many passengers and armchair quarterbacks in life anyway. Tying progress to… well, progress… is healthy. It keeps the focus on Getting S*** Done, which is where the focus ought to be anyway.

We still have angst regarding OpenDaylight, but that anxiety is now tied to making sure we deliver code on time. And if you ask me, that's the perfect kind of angst for an open source project.

The post Plexxi on OpenDaylight: An Insider’s View appeared first on Plexxi.


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