Opening minds: Cultural change with the introduction of open-source collaboration methods & A. Neus P. Scherf As open-source software becomes accepted worldwide, open-source collaboration and development methods are also gaining greater momentum. Collaboration based on the open-source paradigm is increasingly being used to improve multisite development and teamwork inside companies. Drawing on experience in projects for improving multisite collaboration, this paper explains how we evaluate communication and collaboration problems, assess obstacles to change, and facilitate the change by introducing employees to the benefits of the collaborative model over traditional development projects in a workshop setting. This method has proven to be a valuable ‘‘mind-opener’’ and helps identify specific obstacles that need to be addressed as part of the introduction of open-source development and collaboration methods. The paper concludes with lessons learned for facilitating the introduction of these methods in an organization. With open-source software becoming established in many companies, the methods and ideas on which it is based are gaining popularity as well. The concept of collaboration based on the open-source paradigm is being used to improve multisite development and collaboration inside companies, and has even spilled over into the area of collaborative docu- mentation and knowledge management with public and high-profile projects such as the Web site wikipedia.org or the ‘‘OpenCourseWare’’ project 1 at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). The open source collaboration process is based on widespread access to source code and open collab- oration—a meritocratic philosophy that invites feedback from everyone, regardless of official status or formal training, and frequent releases of interim versions to encourage testing, feedback, and quick evolution of solutions. As Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman said, ‘‘Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.’’ 2 Ó Copyright 2005 by International Business Machines Corporation. Copying in printed form for private use is permitted without payment of royalty provided that (1) each reproduction is done without alteration and (2) the Journal reference and IBM copyright notice are included on the first page. The title and abstract, but no other portions, of this paper may be copied or distributed royalty free without further permission by computer-based and other information-service systems. Permission to republish any other portion of the paper must be obtained from the Editor. 0018-8670/05/$5.00 Ó 2005 IBM IBM SYSTEMS JOURNAL, VOL 44, NO 2, 2005 NEUS AND SCHERF 215