The Creative Trade-Off: Governance, Conflict, and Their Impact On Innovation In Open-Source Software
333 | Fri 01 Aug 11:45 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Presented by
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Dr. Justin Ribeiro, PhD
https://justinribeiro.com
Justin is a longtime builder and innovator with over three decades of experience driving change across industries like telecommunications and digital platforms. He's contributed to open-source projects like Chromium and Visual Studio Code, and worked with standards groups like the W3C and NFC Forum. A former Google Developer Expert, Justin has built a career at the intersection of technical expertise and open collaboration. Today, as a Doctor of Management Design and Innovation Fellow at Case Western Reserve University, Justin researches how diverse interactions between developers and stakeholders fuels creativity into innovative outcomes in open source software development. A passionate speaker, mentor, teacher, and open-source advocate, Justin is committed to building more inclusive, innovative communities for the future of software.
Dr. Justin Ribeiro, PhD
https://justinribeiro.com
Abstract
Software development has always been fueled by creativity but today, efficiency metrics, process-heavy methods, and the rise of AI now often box that creativity out. While developers are drawn to solving tough problems, modern practices can unintentionally prioritize small tweaks over bold breakthroughs. This tension risks limiting not just individual potential, but open source’s ability to drive meaningful innovation.
In this talk, we dive into how development approaches shape creativity at the project level, drawing from a study of 40 open source projects, over 10,000 releases, and interviews with developers across corporate and community-run efforts. Using multi-level creativity theories, we unpack how individual actions, team interactions, and project governance can either spark or stifle innovative outcomes.
Our research challenges the myth of the lone “rockstar” developer and highlights the crucial role of social interactions within the open source community— especially during review stages such as pull requests and code reviews—in turning creative ideas into real-world innovations. We show how cognitive conflict and governance models impact creative outcomes and offer strategies for building more innovative, collaborative open source projects and communities.
If we want open source to keep leading the way, we need development practices that empower creativity, not constrain it. Let’s rethink how we build and unlock a more radical future for open source software.
Software development has always been fueled by creativity but today, efficiency metrics, process-heavy methods, and the rise of AI now often box that creativity out. While developers are drawn to solving tough problems, modern practices can unintentionally prioritize small tweaks over bold breakthroughs. This tension risks limiting not just individual potential, but open source’s ability to drive meaningful innovation. In this talk, we dive into how development approaches shape creativity at the project level, drawing from a study of 40 open source projects, over 10,000 releases, and interviews with developers across corporate and community-run efforts. Using multi-level creativity theories, we unpack how individual actions, team interactions, and project governance can either spark or stifle innovative outcomes. Our research challenges the myth of the lone “rockstar” developer and highlights the crucial role of social interactions within the open source community— especially during review stages such as pull requests and code reviews—in turning creative ideas into real-world innovations. We show how cognitive conflict and governance models impact creative outcomes and offer strategies for building more innovative, collaborative open source projects and communities. If we want open source to keep leading the way, we need development practices that empower creativity, not constrain it. Let’s rethink how we build and unlock a more radical future for open source software.