We achieved a huge milestone in March as we have hit 10k stars on GitHub! This incredible milestone is a testament to the unwavering support, dedication, and enthusiasm of our growing community, and we couldn't be more grateful.
With this achievement, a couple of our founding members here at Airbyte shared their experience of how we got here! Hopefully this advice can help those of you out there that are looking to grow your own projects to achieve similar milestones ☺️
Trust
The only way to grow a community is by building trust. If our members could get behind our mission, our goals, and our vision while also trusting us to be able to achieve it, we would all be able to grow together.
Our Co-Founder & COO, Jean Lafleur, says there are 3 components that are required in order to create trust:
- Transparency: The reason we posted a public handbook so early on was so that we could have our “vision and strategy specified in it”.
- Velocity: Publishing our progress within our Slack community was vital for this
- Proximity: Our founders were on the field and active within Slack, community calls and were even on those calls.
These 3 components were the foundation to building up the community to where it is now.
Show Momentum
This not only builds excitement but also fosters trust in the project's growth and development.
There are two essential strategies that can help you show the momentum of your project as given from Davin Chia, another founding member here at Airbyte:
- Regular releases and updates: From the very beginning, we committed ourselves to a release schedule of at least once a week. This approach ensured that our community was continuously engaged and excited about the project's progress. By frequently sharing updates and improvements, you signal to your users that the project is active and evolving, which in turn encourages them to stay involved and spread the word.
- Embrace an open roadmap with community input: Inviting your community to contribute to your project's roadmap is another powerful way to maintain momentum. By seeking feedback and incorporating suggestions from your users, you not only create a sense of ownership but also foster a collaborative environment where everyone feels valued and heard. This inclusive approach helps to strengthen the bond between the project and its community, ultimately driving more interest and support for your open-source endeavor.
Direct Connections
Building direct connections with your users is essential for fostering a strong, engaged community around your open-source project.
Charles Giardina points out that “you have to find your users wherever they are and build direct relationships. If they are in slack, go there. If they are at a certain meet up, go there. These connections are where you build the foundation of a community and give you the input you need to make sure you build something valuable.”
The Foundation
All in all, there is one foundational factor that all the above points need in order to work! Put simply from our CEO and Co-founder, Michel Tricot:
“You need to build a relevant project that people like and need!”
Without this, all the above won’t have the same impact. Solving a issue that users in your community are facing is by far the number one way to start building trust, gain momentum, which will allow you to make direct connections with them. Which all comes together to form an all around amazing community!
Wrap Up
And that’s all we have for March’s edition of The Drip. Thanks for reading through. If you have any questions:
- Please join our Slack community to talk to us on the Airbyte team as well as other fantastic folks in the community!
- Also sign up for our Newsletter to keep up with the state of the art in Data Integration and the broader Data Engineering Ecosystem!
