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USENIX Board MeetingStrategy Discussion

Nancy Confrey

February 29, 2008

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First part of the agenda

8 - 9:30 Board business

9:30 – 9:45 BREAK

9:45 – 10:15 Explanation of the plan for the meeting

- Conclusions from interviews

- Implications for the agenda

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Interviewees

• Ellie Young

• Margo Seltzer

• Clem Cole

• Alva Couch

• Jerry Carter

• Niels Provos

• Remy Evard

• Brian Noble

• Mike Jones

• Ted Ts’o

• Ellie Young

• Margo Seltzer

• Clem Cole

• Alva Couch

• Jerry Carter

• Niels Provos

• Remy Evard

• Brian Noble

• Mike Jones

• Ted Ts’o

• Peter Honeyman• Dan Geer• Dan Klein

• Peter Honeyman• Dan Geer• Dan Klein

Board members Other thought providers

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The interviews were a way of establishing the starting point for decision-making

1. How much agreement is there on the current state of USENIX and what has led to the current state?

2. How much agreement is there on the core value USENIX provides to its members?

3. Is there a shared sense of urgency for decision-making and action?

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1. How much agreement is there on the current state and what has led to it?

• Topics around which there is general agreement:– The organization and the landscape it operates in has changed significantly from

its inception

– The needs of the academic and industry communities are less well-aligned than they were originally

– There will always be a role for face to face conferences and for tutorials -- just maybe not as many of the large conferences that USENIX is set up to do

• Topics around which there is general agreement:– The organization and the landscape it operates in has changed significantly from

its inception

– The needs of the academic and industry communities are less well-aligned than they were originally

– There will always be a role for face to face conferences and for tutorials -- just maybe not as many of the large conferences that USENIX is set up to do

• Topics around which there is less agreement:– Whether the academic and industry communities can be “separate but equal” or

whether the core value of USENIX is serving these communities together

– What has caused the shifts in the “landscape” of the member community that are impacting USENIX’ business (companies unwillingness to pay for conferences? lack of relevance of academic research to industry? generational differences? perceived decline in American IT workers?)

– Whether USENIX needs more of the innovation it has done in the past, or whether it’s time for more risk-taking and bigger changes?

• Topics around which there is less agreement:– Whether the academic and industry communities can be “separate but equal” or

whether the core value of USENIX is serving these communities together

– What has caused the shifts in the “landscape” of the member community that are impacting USENIX’ business (companies unwillingness to pay for conferences? lack of relevance of academic research to industry? generational differences? perceived decline in American IT workers?)

– Whether USENIX needs more of the innovation it has done in the past, or whether it’s time for more risk-taking and bigger changes?

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2. How much agreement is there on the core value of USENIX?

• Community (general)– “USENIX provides a conference environment where communities can come together and talk to

each other”; “We provide first class conferences for communities.”– “We show people that there are others out there who understand, who know things, who can

educate, who can mentor.”– “We connect people around technical areas of interest.”– “We take knowledge from where it is to where it isn’t yet.”; “We connect people where experts

can communicate their work.”– “USENIX primarily provides a forum for community.”– “USENIX is a community with the most intellectual fervor and the best people in a focused

membership.”

• Community between academic and industry– The academic / industry interaction is important– We bring together research and industry.– We make communities in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It’s a place where

academics can get together with guys in industry and deal with shared issues

• Community (general)– “USENIX provides a conference environment where communities can come together and talk to

each other”; “We provide first class conferences for communities.”– “We show people that there are others out there who understand, who know things, who can

educate, who can mentor.”– “We connect people around technical areas of interest.”– “We take knowledge from where it is to where it isn’t yet.”; “We connect people where experts

can communicate their work.”– “USENIX primarily provides a forum for community.”– “USENIX is a community with the most intellectual fervor and the best people in a focused

membership.”

• Community between academic and industry– The academic / industry interaction is important– We bring together research and industry.– We make communities in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It’s a place where

academics can get together with guys in industry and deal with shared issues

• Practical system building– “Our message is: if you’ve built something,

come tell us about it”– “USENIX is committed to empirical

computer science in system building rather than its theoretical foundations”

• Practical system building– “Our message is: if you’ve built something,

come tell us about it”– “USENIX is committed to empirical

computer science in system building rather than its theoretical foundations”

• Academic publication– “We do academic publication for technical

systems.”

• Academic publication– “We do academic publication for technical

systems.”

Three consistent themes: community, system building, academic publication

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Important to keep innovating like today

3. Is there a shared sense of urgency for decision-making and action?

• “It is urgent to identify new areas around which to organize events -- but we don’t need to change anything in a fundamental way.”

• “We have already talked this to death…let’s start the decision-making process.”; “Doing anything is better than doing nothing.”

• “Our biggest risk is not doing anything”

• “There are reasons to be proactive. We don’t want to wait until we’re in a state of crisis to do something. In light of our current financials being strong we should be experimenting. We should take risks.”

• “This is extremely urgent. We have money today. If we don’t do something now, we’ll have to do it later when we don’t have money.” “We’ve been sitting in status quo too long. This is very urgent. We’ve been talking too long” “The sweet spot for doing something was actually several years ago -- we’re well past when we should have acted…”

Very consistent desire for decision-making and action; different ideas about the urgency and degree of change needed.

Highly urgent to do something new now that will enable us to remain

viable in the future

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My conclusions from the interviews and implications for our meeting

• There has been plenty of discussion to date about the current state and its causes

• This meeting does not have to include further analysis of what happened in the past and why – let’s focus on what’s next

Conclusions Implications for the meeting

• A possible strategic direction is for USENIX to do nothing out of the ordinary right now – but there is a strong desire among Board members and other thought leaders to try new things

• This is not a crisis. The current state is generally good and it is important to preserve the things that are working.

• For the purposes of the first part of this meeting, we will assume we are interested in exploring new paths.

After this exploration we may decide that none of them are viable, but that is a later decision.

• For now we can assume that we will continue with our major conferences, including Annual Tech

The discussion of what we do not do is a future discussion.

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There are a small number of strategy principles to follow…

• Plan from “customer in” rather than “USENIX out”

• Leverage what you do best in the current business

• Build frameworks on which you can agree for on-going decision-making

– Make explicit those areas on which there is and is not agreement

• Anticipate evolution– Plan to address future needs rather than just today’s

• Focus– Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do

• Plan from “customer in” rather than “USENIX out”

• Leverage what you do best in the current business

• Build frameworks on which you can agree for on-going decision-making

– Make explicit those areas on which there is and is not agreement

• Anticipate evolution– Plan to address future needs rather than just today’s

• Focus– Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do

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With one day to make progress on strategy, we will lay some foundation for making decisions today and in the future

Current stateFuture state

• Customers and what they value

• Competitors and industry dynamics

• Our differentiating assets

• Future scenarios:• Assumptions/trends• Uncertainties

Strategy

1 2

3

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Goals for the meeting

• Jointly create an understanding of what we are trying to achieve as an organization– Member segments we intend on serving

– Values we will serve in those segments

– Where the best opportunities for us lie

• Create a draft strategy statement that clarifies what the Board is trying to achieve as well as the general approach

• Create an action plan that reflects the most important first steps toward accomplishing the strategy statement

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Development of a strategy statement

• DEFINITION OF SUCCESS:

“For USENIX to be successful in the next x years, we must:…<examples: “offer new, valuable services to our current members”, “grow our membership base”, “increase attendance at conferences”…>

• OUR GENERAL APPROACH TO ACHIEVE THAT GOAL:

“To do this, we will… <examples: “offer conferences that address the needs of new communities”, “create more content for members to access”…>

• SPECIFICS (if we have them):

“Specifically, we would like to…”

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How do we create the shared understanding? First step: the “industry map”

What we (and others) provide to them

Th

e cu

sto

mer

seg

men

ts w

e se

rve

Face to face sharing of

experiences and information

with peers

High quality academic publication

Education from high

quality instructors

Academics: CS systems

Sys Admins

Specific industry practitioner (ex:

storage)

EXAMPLE ONLY

Community, not face to face

A

Open source developers

B

CI

• What are the member segments and what do they value?

• Where do we currently serve and where don’t we? Where are we strongest?

• Where do we think there is most opportunity for USENIX in the future and why? What can we do there?

• What are the member segments and what do they value?

• Where do we currently serve and where don’t we? Where are we strongest?

• Where do we think there is most opportunity for USENIX in the future and why? What can we do there?

Provide a venue for industry &

academia to interact

Valued

Strength

Not valued

Not a strength

Opportunity

KEY

The discussion

D

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Agenda

8 - 9:30 Board business

9:30 – 9:45 BREAK

9:45 – 10:15 Explanation of the plan for the meeting

- Conclusions from interviews

- Implications for the agenda

10:15 - 12 Industry mapping

- member segments we serve

- the value we will provide those segments

12 – 1 LUNCH: Fairfield Room, South Tower, 2d floor

1 - 2:45 Conclusions from the map and ideas for innovations that fit the map

2:45 - 3 BREAK

3 - 4 Develop a summary statement of what the Board is planning to achieve

4 - 5 Develop the action plan for next steps

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Ground rules for the day

• <scope for our discussion: 1-3 years?>

• <admissibility of a “parking lot” for discussions such as:– Subjects that have been covered in depth in the past and are not fruitful to cover again now– Discussions that seem to need data not available in the room to resolve>

• <decision-making: if there is not consensus, do we move forward by: vote? Asking a decision-maker?>

• <roles of participants: advocates for their segment or “hats aside”?>

• <usual tolerance towards side conversations>

• <use of computers, blackberries>

• Nancy will:– Perhaps stop discussion in order to ensure we reach our goals– Use the parking lot if necessary– Suggest modifications to the agenda if it seems like the most productive way to get things

done.– Capture points of agreement and lack of agreement as possible

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Industry map: exercise description

• In small groups:1. List the customer segments that we currently serve

• By job function? By technical interests? By conference type attendance?• Use the membership survey and the pre-reading materials but do not feel restricted by

previously-established categorizations

2. What do each of these segments look for from an outside organization?• By what we provide (i.e. conferences, tutorials)? By what they are looking for more

generally?• Try to include things they are looking for that they do not currently get from USENIX• Use the membership survey and pre-reading materials, but also feel free to use

educated guesses

3. Where do USENIX current offerings fit on your map? Which of these areas are particular strengths? Are there areas that competitors are stronger than us?

4. Where do we think are the best future opportunities? What are some examples?

• In the full group:– Which map definitions should we use (each group presents)– Using the sample ideas generated from interviews (and additional ideas!), where

are there new opportunities for which USENIX is best suited?– Which are most attractive and why?

HANDOUT

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Sample list of ideas provided from interviews

• Provide workshops on emerging technologies (like cloud computing, or social APIs)• Provide a focus on IT architecture and new technologies• Compete with Supercomputing, offer a real technical conference on this and cluster

computing• Serve the people who build/modify hardware (at a system level) like we do with

software• Offer O’Reilly-type conferences (change our audience, focus, no proceedings, etc.)• Co-locating some of our conferences, combining tutorials and holding joint social

events• Web-based conferences: a completely interactive, web-based conference that is

refereed • Use our history of published papers to start a citation index for CS• Change how program committees work to make paper reviewing more transparent• Address the needs of the government sector• Address privacy issues in a more focused way• Provide a venue for “code sprints”• Look at online training again to do outreach to younger audience• Offer more publications and content (web and/or print) especially aimed at our

audience (sys admins)

HANDOUT

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Development of a strategy statement

• DEFINITION OF SUCCESS:

“For USENIX to be successful in the next x years, we must:…<examples: “offer new, valuable services to our current members”, “grow our membership base to new communities”, “increase attendance at conferences”…>

• OUR GENERAL APPROACH TO ACHIEVE THAT GOAL:

“To do this, we will… <examples: “offer conferences that address the needs of new communities”, “create more content for members to access”…>

• SPECIFICS (if we have them):

“Specifically, we would like to…”

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Development of an action plan

What Who owns

By when / timing

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Appendix

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Observations on conference data

• LISA, Annual Tech, OSDI, Security, FAST and NSDI (6/10 or 37%) contribute 88% of conference attendance

• FAST has seen the most growth since '05, has the highest percentage of paid attendees, and the highest # of tutorial seats sold or attended per tutorials offered

• LISA has seen the largest decline in attendance since '05, has the lowest percentage of paid attendance, but is second highest in tutorial seats sold per tutorials offered

• The other conferences have experienced only moderate growth or decline, and Annual Tech was actually up significantly in '06 before falling back down in '07

• Conference attendance is pretty equally split between academic conferences, the Sys Admin conference, and mixed industry/academic conferences

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Observations on membership data

• Membership was up slightly in ’07 due to increases in SAGE membership