FOSS Backstage – Behind the scenes of open-source projects

Berlin buzzed with the energy of open-source collaboration at FOSS Backstage 2025, a two-day conference ( March 10-11, 2025) dedicated entirely to the non-technical facets of Free and Open-Source Software. Moving beyond code, the event brought together diverse community leaders, practitioners, executives, and developers. Seven conference tracks – Governance & Community, Economics, Legal & Compliance, Diversity & Inclusion, Growing Open Source, Security and Design – provided a platform for bridging gaps and driving the future of open-source.

I recently attended the FOSS Backstage 2025 conference – a whirlwind of insightful talks and discussions about the engine that drives open-source. It was a packed two days, but three key themes really grabbed my attention:

First, the Cyber Resiliency Act (CRA) is no longer a challenge on the horizon but a reality. The question is: what does this mean for open-source practitioners, especially those working in commercial settings? Mirko Boehm from the Linux Foundation Europe shed light on the significant work ahead, offering a clear-eyed perspective on navigating this new landscape.

Secondly, the conference sparked a crucial debate: how do we build a truly sustainable ecosystem for open-source? Emily Omier (“Product Strategy for Open Source Projects and Companies”) and Gregor Schumacher (“The Future of Open Source: Five Socio-Economic Predictions”) delivered compelling presentations delving into the economics of open-source and the implications for business models that integrate it. Their insights were invaluable for understanding the financial realities and building viable, long-term strategies.

Finally, the issue of open-source security was front and center. Several talks explored practical approaches to bolstering security, from establishing robust Security Vulnerability Management processes along the software supply chain to leveraging modern tooling to strengthen security within individual open-source projects.

My highlight of the conference was not only finally meeting people from our ORT community again, but also hearing several insightful talks.

The most thought-provoking was "How Your Project's Organization Shapes Its Technical DNA" by Daniel Guagnin. The premise of this talk was that the worldview of developers shapes the software they create. He supported this claim with a study of three Linux communities (Arch Linux, Debian, and Ubuntu) and demonstrated how the communities' organization was reflected in the resulting product and its accessibility. This was compelling proof that if we want to reach certain users, we must make our communities open to them.

Several success stories were also shared. I particularly enjoyed the story of Consul Democracy ("Architecting Civic Engagement: Consul Democracy and Munich" by Klaus Mueller and Simon Strohmenger), an open-source tool that enables citizens to participate actively in democratic decision-making. Originally developed in Madrid for four years, the project was abandoned after a change in government. However, different communities continued its development until it was placed under a foundation that streamlined these efforts. The talk showcased the consul instance at unser.muenchen.de. My main takeaway was that open-source is crucial for ensuring that innovation and development are not dependent on political views.

Two other noteworthy talks were "Abundant with Life: Docs Beyond the Wall" by Andrea Kao and "Designing Is for GUIs Only? CLI Design as a Shared Practice" by Hartmut Obendorf. Kao's talk focused on the gap between Developer Experience (DX) and Author Experience (AX), emphasizing how the latter is often neglected. She compared this gap to the one between Developers and Operations before the term "DevOps" became common. Her point about documents being "alive" and needing nourishment resonated with me as a call for a shift in thinking. Obendorf's talk presented the bold hypothesis that UI designers should engage in CLI design. He argued that the limitations and structural clarity required in CLI design can inform and improve UI menu design. I appreciated the talk for introducing a new idea I hadn't previously considered.

Johannes is a Senior Expert for open-source at Bosch Digital, where he works with a team of like-minded professionals to develop methods, frameworks, and tools to enable Bosch's engagement in the open-source community. Before joining Bosch in 2013, he earned a PhD in Software Engineering from the University of Leipzig, Germany and worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, focusing on algorithms for adaptive user interfaces and their application in software product lines and software reuse.

Hanna Modica has a background in Software Engineering and currently works on the OCaaS team, which provides Open-Source Compliance as a Service based on the open-source project ORT. She is the Technical Support Lead for the team's Bosch internal users. Hanna has been working in the field of open-source at Bosch since 2018.