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CommentsFor its crowdsourcing strategy, Mozilla is in a league entirely its own.
Crowdsourcing is where an act traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, is outsourced to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call.
In Mozilla’s case, it taps into a wide network of volunteer software developers and contributors to develop its open-source web products.
One volunteer developer, legally blind 41-year old Ken Saunders, developed for Mozilla a tool that makes Mozilla Firefox’s new video player work for visually impaired individuals.
Mozilla gets help from hundreds of volunteer developers who are responsible for coming up with innovative ways to make web browsing more convenient and exciting. These volunteers make up 40% of the firm’s work ranging from designing logos to programming and software tweaking.
Firefox manager Mike Beltzner explains Mozilla’s model as a structured one that also allows innovation and exploration so that the company’s employees are given the freedom to do whatever they want to.
Coining the strategy as “leading from behind,” Beltzner explains that Mozilla staff and volunteers do a systematic work by meeting deadlines and working in designations as “module owners” and leading certain areas like layout.
How Mozilla manages to successfully launch this model baffle its rivals like Google and Linkedin, who are attempting to emulate it but has as of now, failed.
Clay Shirky, author of the book Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, validates the novelty of Mozilla’s strategy and attributes three things as to why Mozilla is capable of tapping so many volunteer developers: It aligns with their interests, they can get recognition, and they can meet other people doing it.
Clearly, there really is “no easy way to copy Mozilla.” It is a brand and a mystery all its own.
Post Author: guest