This interview with Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon is the first in the LQ Community Manager Interview Series. I’d like to thank Jono for taking the time to do this interview. More here

If you had to give advice to someone starting a new Open Source project about how to interact with their community, what would it be?

My advice would be to ensure that community is at the heart of your project. An Open Source project that is disconnected from community is like trying to make beautiful music having never heard a song. Community is the foundation that drives Open Source projects: it is the source of development and ideas, the built-in marketing and support machines, and importantly for volunteer communities, it is the crowd that is cheer-leading your contributors on through the caffeine-fuelled late nights to get that release out the door.