Streamlining Value in a FOSS Project

Today, different actors, such as developers, supporters, companies or public entities, contribute in different ways to non-profit open source software projects. The majority of them is contributing for individual and personal reasons, aiming to create (intangible) value that is important to themselves. Besides that, users are today often not directly involved in the development process. This results in the need to have a software and management structure that actively aligns these different actors, pays respect to their needs, and involves them in the software creation process. We present the case of Catrobat and how different influences, e.g., by contributors, users, or stakeholders, affect the project and its development. We outline the challenges that occur in practice when it comes to an open software project situated in a complex ecosystem of different actors and highlight the requirements on such a project and how they are encountered in the presented case.