Introduction
This SWOT Analysis was produced not only to translate the reality of the Fedora Project through my eyes, but also to highlight some methodology that can be useful in the future for anyone willing to give continuity to this work. A SWOT is a tool used by Marketing Management to provide a self assessment of a project or venture and help to provide a good strategy for it. I believe it is an important tool and I will try my best to make it simple and easy to understand. I'm placing my efforts to translate the Fedora Project reality according to my own conceptions and knowledge about it. I understand the 'community' factor involved, but see it this way: if Fedora Project hired an independent consultant to perform this work, it would also translate their view, not YOURS or the Community or Fedora.
The SWOT Analysis is a tool to provide a self assessment of a project/organization/venture that provides useful output to help on the strategical planning of the very same project/organization/venture. This was the very first challenge I proposed myself when I joined Fedora Marketing Group. I've chosen to do this for several reasons, being by far the most important of them the fact that I wanted to understand the project.
The subject of this document is the Fedora Project as a community that produces a product known as Fedora Linux, one of the most known Linux distributions available for several audiences, from Linux enthusiasts to Software Engineering Professionals, from students to power productivity users, and everyone else who wants to give it a go as an alternative to proprietary software available from several companies.
To better understand the Fedora Project it is recommended to understand the 4 Fedora Foundations, which provide the basis of the Fedora Project identity. Another relevant document to understand the Fedora Project is the current developing version of the Fedora Marketing Plan which presents interesting information regarding several factors of the Fedora Project, some of this interest factors are:
There are other interesting factors that are introduced in the Fedora Marketing Plan, but I will focus only on the three mentioned above because they are the most complete and relevant for the upcoming contents displayed on this document.
This document is composed of the following sections:
- Introduction - A small introduction to the document and the topics to that compose the same.
- Internal Environment Analysis - An analysis to the Internal Environment of the Fedora Project which consists on highlighting and understanding a set of key factors that can be fully controllable by the Fedora Project and that will qualify as Weaknesses and Strengths. This factors are to be selected as a self-assessment of the project and will be evaluated under a methodology explained later.
- External Analysis - An analysis of the External Environment of the Fedora Project which will provide a set of key factors, those that can not be in any way controlled by the Fedora Project and that might act as Opportunities or Threats to the project. They will be evaluated under four factors (Economy, Social/Demographic, Politic/Legal and Technological) that will be introduced later on.
- Analysis and Proposals for Action - The last part of the document will be an analysis from the SWOT itself (including Matrix) with a set of proposals for action to correct the possible points that might require immediate action from the Fedora Project.
- Critical Factors for Success & Critical Comparative Analysis - This points might not qualify for a typical SWOT Analysis, but they are of relevance and they should be present in this case, therefore I've taken the liberty of introducing them on this document.
SWOT Analysis
A SWOT Analysis is often divided in two different analysis, both very important for the strategical planning.
Julius Caesar |
- External Environment - This will define the Threats and Opportunities of the Project and none of this factors can be controlled by the management, or in this case the Fedora Project. The External Environment is based on the following factors:
- Demographic/Social Factors - An analysis based on social and demographic factors. Given the nature of the Fedora Project it is also important to look at geographical data.
- Technological Factors - The technological factors in the Industry.
- Politic/Legal Factors - Legal and Politic factors. Factors like licensing and legislation are contemplated here.
- Economical Factors - The economical factors.
- Internal Environment - The internal environment provides the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Fedora Project. All this factors can be controlled by the Fedora Project and they are being evaluated according to:
- Men - Defines factors related to manpower, this includes contributors, enthusiasts, audience that is involved with Fedora, payed contributors and sponsorship in operational fields.
- Measures - The course of action taken to achieve the goals proposed, highly theoretical.
- Means - The operational field that implements measures on the operational theatre.
- Machines - The intellectual capital and physical support used to produce Fedora Linux, including infra-structure which is shared with other points.
- Methods - The methods used to weight measures and means.
The SWOT Analysis should provide information helpful in evaluating the Project's resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates. This is a instrumental resource in strategy formulation and selection.
Internal Environment
The Internal Environment Analysis is a self assessment of the Fedora Project based on all the factors that the Fedora Project can control directly. From this Analysis we will identify factors that will classified under Strengths or Weaknesses. This factors are to be taken into consideration related to the following aspects:
- Quality and Management
- Performance / Performance Improvements
- Technology
For the Internal Environment Analysis we will take into consideration the following:
- There is a product called Fedora Linux;
- Infra-structure (physical and intellectual) for this analysis is a part of the 'product' Fedora Linux;
- The group of people, sponsors, contributors, enthusiasts, etc, behind the 'product' Fedora Linux is the Fedora Community;
- The audience is defined by the information on Fedora's Marketing Plan.
Strengths
Men
Men; manpower related (no gender discrimination). This are The Fedora Project strong factors when it comes to manpower.
Payed Contributors
Everyone that is contributors and sponsored/employee of another for their time around the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project has certain strategical competitive advantages from this relations. For example NetworkManager was initiated by Red Hat Inc. which has a very important role on Fedora Linux.
Volunteer Contributors
The Fedora Project has thousands of volunteer contributors working in several task. Everyday thousands of people contribute actively for several sub-project of Fedora with thousands of hours of dedicated work to make Fedora Linux happen and keep the community growing. Many sub-projects are daily maintained by this people. To name a few:
This is the real muscle of the Fedora Project and the real life force behind it, Fedora's contributors.
The Bazaar Model
Robyn Bergeron introduced me once with The Cathedral and the Bazaar. The model described in the Bazaar is outstanding. The proof that the most sceptic would require are long given. In a matter of manpower this model provides an outstanding solution to fast and feature rich development. This is without doubt the element that solved the manpower problem for many applications, and still does. We should not underestimate the Cathedral building. The Fedora Project Marketing Plan also mentions something interesting: general productivity user. This productivity user is usually something hard to decode. If this user is not computer friendly or Linux enthusiast the Bazaar Model sometimes might fail. A lot is around this "general productivity user" which at some point might be complicated for the Bazaar Model to handle.
Means
Marketing Team
Translation/Localization Teams
Design/Artwork Teams
Engineering Teams
Ambassadors
The Ambassadors initiative aims to deploy first line Public Relations and promote the Fedora Project amongst it's established and potential audiences. It is unclear how goals are defined and evaluated from my perspective as they seem to operate in a very closed group on a fully armoured structure. The work developed by Ambassadors in many fields, specially on event production and promotion is to be pointed as a strength and a critical factor for success (discussed on Critical Factors for Success more in-depth).
Events (FAD's, FUDCon's, etc)
Methods
Free Media Program
Public Mirror System
Machines
Machines; These should be faced as every tool used to produce something in the Fedora Project.
Sponsorship
My approach to sponsorship is generic, it is widely known that Red Hat Inc. is the official sponsor of the Fedora Project. But in the scope of this SWOT Analysis I would like also to keep an importance on the following:
- Red Hat Inc; The main sponsor of the Fedora Project and Industry leader. This creates very good synergies and energies on the Fedora Community. Considering symbiotic bond between Red Hat and the Fedora Project it is realistic to say that Fedora Linux has high notoriety and recognized value by the target audiences (defined in the Marketing Plan).
- Hosting sponsors; This sponsorship is important not only for the Community Infra-Structure but also for the free circulation of contents throughout several communities and FOSS projects. I would also like to mention that official Fedora Mirrors should also be contemplated as hosting sponsors. All together they deploy not only the Fedora Community infra-structure but also enable a powerful distribution channel for Fedora Linux.
- Mirrors: To all the local and international mirrors which allow such a great distribution channel.
- Human; Every single person that donates a part of their personal time to the Fedora Project.
It is through a wide set of sponsorships measurable in value and volume that the Fedora Project strives for providing a technological leading Linux distribution. Through this sponsorships I believe that most people will find the two human pillars of Fedora, Freedom and Friends.
Infra-structure
The Fedora Project provides a large infra-structure to support it's community, which can actually be measured in value and volume. If we take into consideration the following:
- Community: The infra-struture oriented for the community. This includes example like Planet, wiki, IRC, logistics, etc.
- Fedora Project - FAS, Transifex, git, etc. All the technological platforms that are online with the goal of producing Fedora Linux.