Open source product development (OSPD) refers to the development of open-source hardware products in a collaborative process allowing open participation from anyone, or the application of the open-source model in the context of physical products.[1]
Characteristics
OSPD is characterized by the simultaneity of two forms of openness:
- Product Openness - the development of open source hardware products as defined by the Open Source Definition.
- Process Openness - the possibility for anyone to take part in the collaborative development process.
Generally, OSPD processes are relevant for complex products, whose definition requires the collaborative integration of input from multiple contributors. This, however, does not exclude the existence of OSPD processes for simple products. In that sense, OSPD specifies the concept of "open source innovation" as defined by Huizingh[2] in the case of complex tangible products.
Process openness requires that the product development process is performed by a "community". The word "community" is used in contrast to "company" or "team" in order to highlight three fundamental differences with the governance of conventional industrial product development.[3]
- First, communities are groups of individual people whose affiliation to institutions or companies has little influence on the role they play in the product development project.
- Second, the participation of a member to a community is voluntary, that is, each member defines independently their degree of involvement and the delivered workload is generally not paid.
- Third, the composition of a community is not set at the beginning of the project but is open for the participation of any interested person and evolves along the self-defined involvement of the community members.
OSPD is "collaborative" in that it is performed with a certain simultaneity or parallelism in the work provided by the community members. In other words, OSPD is characterized by "intention for co-development".[4] Collaboration is defined as the coordinated work performed by a group using common material and following a common objective.[5] It therefore delineates with sequential development loops of open source designs[6] where a product is sequentially developed and released by an isolated member then reused, further developed and released again by another community member, and so on.
Further characteristics
- OSPD is mostly an internet phenomenon: continuity of work, acquisition of new members and collaboration in (eventually geographically distributed) communities is enabled by online data management and communication. The online platform has been described as the "core" of an OSPD project,[7] whereas own research to be published shows that OSPD projects are not focused on one platform but tend to use several parallel tools and communication channels.[8]
- In contrast to conventional industrial product development, the OSPD process is not characterized by clearly defined inputs, outputs and timelines, but is more of an ongoing continuous improvement process.
- OSPD projects are not embedded in formal organizations but are characterized by a low level of restrictions, self-motivation, and self-selection of modular tasks that can be performed by one person.
- OSPD processes not only aim at generating a functioning and convivial technology but equally at personal development and process learning.
- The concept of OSPD implies the coexistence of three interwoven objects: a community involved in a project aiming at developing a product. While those three concepts are necessary for the emergence of OSPD, they do not necessarily have a 1:1 relation. There may be for example communities involved in different projects or projects aiming at developing different products.