Open Source Summit + Automotive Linux Summit Japan 2019

Documentation grows adoption and supports development - and, critically, detailed, accurate documentation of a project's architecture, processes, and governance empowers community members to become contributors. Yet too often, documentation is neglected, incomplete, stale, or hard to find - and that hurts everybody. In Q1 2019, Google's Open Source Strategy team commissioned a study to better understand why users do (or do not) contribute back to the project, and how documentation can empower and engage those users.

This talk will cover the methodology and participant profiles of the study, and describe the critical user journeys of three essential user personas. It distills the research to provide concrete, actionable recommendations and best practices for creating documentation that supports your project's users and grows your contributor base.