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Dawn Foster on Being a Good Citizen in Kubernetes at KCD UK 2022

I had a great time keynoting and attending the recent Kubernetes Community Days UK 2022. I attended some amazing talks and reconnected with friends and former colleagues while also getting to know a few new people, too. I encourage you to check out the other videos from the full two days of talks.

For my keynote presentation, I talked about how to Be a Good Corporate Citizen in Kubernetes. As an employee of a company, it can be difficult to strike the right balance between the needs of the company and the needs of the open source Kubernetes project. In this talk, I covered how this can create friction and put significant pressure on employees who participate in Kubernetes on behalf of their company along with tips for increasing the alignment between individual, company and community needs.

I also talked about the importance of establishing contribution strategies and plans for your participation in Kubernetes to align with your company’s business goals. When your open source goals line up to business goals, leadership can better understand the impact and will likely be more willing to continue funding the open source work. The final section contained a few tips for contributing to Kubernetes as a good corporate citizen: getting started in Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and Working Groups (WGs), working with the community, mentoring and more. I wrapped up the talk with a discussion of the Kubernetes Community Values and how adhering to them can guide you toward being a good corporate citizen in Kubernetes.

I hope you enjoy watching the talk as much as I enjoyed giving it!

To learn more about Dawn and read her blogs on the role and responsibilities of an OSPO, navigating open source risk, community leadership and more, visit her profile on the Open Source Blog.

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