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Who is a good fit for the SCORE OS project?

Sat, 04/05/2008 - 22:55 — wrburgess

As the SCORE OS project gets off the ground, I tend to get an email or two from people that like the idea of an open source fantasy league management system. Either they want an FLMS for their personal league or because they would like to host fantasy leagues for their business or as a marketing opportunity. However, after a little discussion, they will sometimes express less interest for getting involved because of one simple reason: They don't know much about web development.

However, just like the biggest open source projects developed over the past decade or so (think: Linux, Apache, or MySQL), there are plenty of non-technical needs on the SCORE OS task list, not to mention that the majority of folks currently involved with the project are learning a lot of technology as they project progresses.

The SCORE OS project is moving towards being an official non-profit organization, which, like any business, needs capable people to manage issues like marketing, public relations, graphic design, legal matters, project communications, and networking. The fact is, only about 50% of the success of an open source project will be the result of good technology. People have to know about the project (marketing), issues of software licenses, copyrights, and trademarks need to be dealt with (legal), and the product needs to look good (graphic design) .  .  . and none of those items requires a person to know a lick of code.

So, what does a person need in order to get involved with SCORE OS? First of all, you probably need to have a love of fantasy sports. After all, you are going to be working a good number of hours on a software/website product that you probably want to use in the future--not to mention that a lot of decisions need to be made that will relate directly to the fantasy sports business. If the subject matter doesn't interest you, how can you make decisions that benefits yourself or the project? How will you be motivated to put a lot of your work on the table upfront with any benefits a long way down the road? If fantasy sports aren't your gig (or side gig), SCORE OS might not be for you.

Next, you'll probably need to have both a desire and aptitude to learn new things. Most people that get involved with open source projects do so because the technologies or business issues present some kind of new experience or skills. A project like SCORE OS has many challenges that most of the members have never faced--which presents a slew of problems in itself, but also brings up many opportunities for those same members to work through and add to their roster of personal and career accomplishments (i.e. a resume). If you are set in your ways, don't want to read about new business methods or technologies, don't know how to learn on your own, or don't like to wade through the help of online discussions or reading books, you'll probably find a project like SCORE OS to be a tough nut to crack.

Finally, you might want to have a reason to benefit from the success of the project. Whether you believe that an open source platform can help expand the fantasy sports business market for your firm or the ability to tell future employers that you worked on a project that they might have heard of, everyone needs an incentive to donate time and energy to something. SCORE OS is no different in that respect and neither are the guys who helped start the project.

So, if you've read this far and you still have an interest in finding out how you can get involved with the SCORE OS project we've got a number of ways to "reach-in," and we hope you will.