In the middle of 2019, WeBank started to set up an open source management office, which is very advanced for a domestic financial technology enterprise. WeBank is an Internet model bank. They believe that an open bank, in addition to building its own open platform, needs to open up and innovate in technology, and ultimately achieve open cooperation with various partners in business scenarios.
Open source is the most effective means of open innovation. Only through open source can all participants enjoy the dividends brought by open source on the one hand, but also make the ecology more prosperous, accelerate the pace of technological innovation and achieve win-win results through their own efforts. Therefore, the editorial department of Open Source China specially invited Zhong Yanqing, the head of WeBank OSPO, to tell the story of WeBank OSPO.
01 Due to high-level attention, WeChat OSPO is top-down
Open Source China: As an OSPO veteran, what's your biggest feeling over the years?
Zhong Yanqing: Hello, my name is Zhong Yanqing. At present, I am the head of the open source management office of WeBank, and also responsible for the internal technology PMO and development process management of WeBank.
During my working in OSPO, what I feel most is that open source is developing faster and faster in China, and enterprises have a deeper understanding of open source. Three years ago, only a few leading enterprises were involved in open source, and only large enterprises had organizations similar to OSPO land Promote the open source strategy. Now, a large number of technology companies of all types have set up open source offices, and we work together to promote the speed of enterprises embracing open source.
Open source China: You mentioned in your previous speech that the CIO Ma Zhitao's emphasis on open source is a major reason for WeBank to establish OSPO. Specifically, how did he promote it? How important is it for senior management to attach importance to the final landing of OSPO?
Zhong Yanqing: First of all, our CIO Ma Hang is a leader who has a strong sense of technology and advocates engineer culture. I still know land I remember what the Bank of Malaysia told me when it invited me to join WeBank and take charge of the Open Source Management Office in the first half of 2019. He believed that open source has played a decisive role in the development of Internet technology over the past 20 years. Looking ahead, open source will only play an increasingly important role in technological development, technological innovation and the formation of technological ecology. Moreover, the future business model must be distributed, multi party participation, resource sharing, intelligent collaboration, value integration, transparent model and cross-border.
The technology used to build such a distributed business model must also be distributed and transparent. Open source is undoubtedly the best or even the only choice to build this ecological technology base.
Therefore, in the middle of 2019, on the one hand, we will accelerate the establishment of the open source governance system within the bank and establish the OSPO team; At the same time, we held the first FinTech Day at the end of July Open Day), at the meeting, the Bank of Malaysia systematically expounded the innovation progress of WeBank in the field of financial technology for the first time, and announced the "comprehensive open source of financial technology".
Looking back, we can still feel that many of our ideas and behaviors were very forward-looking, especially in the financial industry. We were one of the early enterprises that could closely link open source with the company's technology strategy. Malaysia Branch's deep understanding of open source and yes The insight into technology trends is a very important reason why we have made some achievements in embracing open source for so many years.
Therefore, for many enterprises that are ready to strengthen their embrace of open source, I think the relevant executive teams will reach a consensus with the CIO and other senior leaders 、 Defining goals is a crucial link.
02 With reference to the open source foundation model, WeChat OSPO is growing constantly
Open source China: In July 2019, WeBank announced the full open source of financial technology and established an open source management office. How long did WeBank prepare for this action? What preparations have been made in the early stage?
Zhong Yanqing: The management team and technical team of WeBank should have a deep understanding of open source. Since the establishment of the Bank in 2014, we have been firm land We have followed a technical route of building an autonomous, controllable and distributed banking core system based on open source products, and various advanced open source technologies have been applied in many key business scenarios of WeBank; In 2017, relying on the open source working group of the Golden Chain Alliance (the blockchain alliance organization in the financial industry led by WeBank), the financial level alliance chain bottom open source platform FISCO BCOS was created; In 2019, the Open Source Management Office was established to announce the full open source of financial technology, further accelerating the construction of open source ecology.
Therefore, we can see that the path of WeBank to embrace open source is also advancing step by step. From widely applying open source technology to developing open source project community with key projects as the core, and from the perspective of the company's overall strategy land To promote open source, we have accumulated rich experience and laid a solid foundation at each stage.
Open source China: Please briefly introduce the organizational structure of WeChat OSPO. In terms of setting, how many full-time students are there in addition to false jobs? It is known that the entire open source management working group of WeBank is under the direct leadership of the Bank's Information Technology Committee. What does this mean? Can we add points for OSPO's horizontal connection?
Zhong Yanqing: The OSPO organizational orientation of WeBank is the "Open Source Foundation" within the bank, so we will deeply study and refer to the management system and operation mode of the Open Source Foundation in terms of organizational structure and functional orientation.
The Open Source Management Working Group is directly under the leadership of the Bank's Information Technology Commission, which includes our CIO and the heads of major R&D departments and functional departments.
To briefly mention, why do we emphasize that the Open Source Management Working Group is under the direct leadership of the Bank's Information Technology Commission? Because the Information Technology Commission is the highest decision-making body related to information technology of the bank. This is equivalent to that we put open source, R&D management, operation and maintenance management on the same level in this system, which shows the importance that WeBank attaches to open source.
In addition to the CIO, other middle and senior management team members can also fully understand the open source strategy and give guidance and support in the specific implementation process, which is also one of the considerations in organizational design. Under the leadership of the Open Source Management Working Group, which includes the Open Source Management Office, we are equivalent to the organization responsible for the implementation of the open source strategy and daily operation of the entire company. There are four colleagues who participate in the work full-time. Of course, it also includes professional posts such as compliance, information security, intellectual property, brand promotion, etc 。
In addition, TOC team (Technical Oversight Committee ， Technical Supervision Committee), which is composed of technical experts from different departments; There is also the internal community operation team of each specific open source project or project group.
Open source China: WeBank has set up a TOC technical committee internally to drive technology decisions. How is this different from the TOC in the open source community? How are the members elected? What is their authority? Have decision-making power or suggestions for the project?
Zhong Yanqing: The TOC organization within WeBank was not established at the same time as OSPO, but was formally established in 2021 last year after nearly a year of preparation. Main points for establishing TOC organization It is related to our efforts to promote internal open source, as well as the organizational structure of WeBank's internal technology team.
The core of our science and technology line organizational structure is the product driven agile model, which is divided into several major technical departments according to different business segments. Each department includes product manager, R&D, testing and operation responsibilities. Therefore, we are generally open and inclusive in technology, and different departments have gradually formed their own technical styles.
TOC was established to strengthen cross departmental technical exchange, sharing and collaboration. For TOC, we have also designed a tenure mechanism. The first TOC members are elected by each department, and can be reappointed or replaced by other students when the term of office expires. In general, these people are recognized as influential technical experts within the company, and they are very familiar with the technology stack and architecture of their respective departments.
They mainly do the following things:
First, develop technical standards and norms. We hope that many technical standards and norms in the bank are not from When a centralized department formulates, other organizations or teams only implement it, but promote the improvement of technical standards and specifications through this distributed and participatory way;
Second, solve technical problems, because TOC members are top technology masters in each department. We can discuss many technical difficulties together to overcome them. At the same time, it can share experience and avoid continuous trampling on the pit in turn;
Third, promote internal open source. As the pioneer representative of each department, connect the internal open source project promotion and collaboration between departments and other departments;
Fourth, promote the construction of some public platforms, And The first point is the same. We hope that the company's internal public platform adopt The mode of internal open source and cooperation is constantly improved.
In general, the internal TOC of WeBank is not an organization with strong management functions. Instead, from a purely technical perspective, everyone reached consensus through sharing, collaboration and other ways to jointly promote the company's technological atmosphere.
03 Security is the bottom line, which clearly supports open source and upstream feedback
Open source China: What kind of compliance mechanism and process has WeBank established for the use of open source?
Zhong Yanqing: For financial institutions, compliance and safety are very important and the bottom line. Therefore, in open source governance Of In all aspects, we have relatively complete and rigorous process system guarantee.
At the level of open source use, we have a management specification for application of open source software, which defines the full life cycle of enterprise application of open source software, such as the introduction phase, the use phase, and the exit phase, and defines various roles involved in the whole process. Specific operation standards and responsible persons are also specified in each link of the process.
In fact, in addition to formulating process specifications, we pay more attention to realizing automatic process control through system integration. Therefore, we have also added various links of application of open source software to the existing DevOps system, which can truly implement management requirements, quickly identify and prevent various risks.
Open source China: For finance, open source security is the top priority. How does WeBank improve open source security through OSPO? Are there any specific measures? It can be technical or management mechanism.
Zhong Yanqing: As we have mentioned repeatedly before, the most important thing of application open source is compliance and security. We have a professional information security team that uses various technical means to ensure the information security of all aspects of the company.
OSPO will also design various processes from the perspective of open source governance to reduce the risks of open source applications and external open source. Our focus is still to establish a systematic DevSecOps system, build a knowledge base related to open source technology, implant various control rules (such as strategies for different levels of vulnerabilities, blacklist strategies, license compatibility strategies), and truly achieve timely, accurate and dynamic management.
Open source China: What are the strategies and incentive mechanisms of WeBank at the level of open source participation? What is the feedback mechanism to the upstream?
Zhong Yanqing: In terms of incentives to participate in open source, we officially released the open source incentive management measures to reward all kinds of behaviors involved in open source in an all-round way.
For example, we have set awards for outstanding individuals and teams. When an open source project has made certain achievements, the community has developed well, and achieved some phased results, it will be nominated by the Open Source Management Office. Relevant teams and individuals can apply for awards such as outstanding contribution teams and individuals.
In addition, we also clearly support the deep participation of the upstream open source community. If a student is recognized as a committer by a well-known upstream community, he or she will also become the winner of the individual award for outstanding contributions. Of course, we have many rich ways to score points, and encourage all students to participate in open source activities.
04 The core technology is fully open source, and enterprises must strictly control the quality of open source
Open source China: In addition to use and participation, WeBank is also the initiator of open source projects. In this regard, WeChat What is the purpose of open source for banks? What process has WeBank developed to standardize support? What are the similarities and differences between promoting open source in the name of enterprises and community open source? What should I pay special attention to?
Zhong Yanqing: The main purpose of WeBank's open source is to comprehensively open source core technologies. In addition, we will also make great efforts to study some cutting-edge technologies and accelerate industrial development through open source. For example, we stay Blockchain field, package Include From the underlying platform to middleware again More than 10 projects including upper application components It's all going on Open source.
At the same time, in order to ensure the quality of open source projects and meet the bank's requirements in terms of security and compliance, we also have a set of management systems and processes for open source software, including all stages of open source project establishment, implementation, external release and official operation. Each stage also has clear requirements, which need to be fully discussed by all parties and approved by relevant leaders to ensure that the project is sustainable.
To promote open source in the name of enterprises, the ultimate goal is to promote community prosperity, have more participants and partners, and finally achieve community governance. However, in this process, as the most important organization, the enterprise initiating the open source project needs to attach great importance to community building, compliance and security, because I think the open source community itself is a highly transparent environment, and the quality of the project itself is not up to standard or the community atmosphere is not good, which is also harmful to the leading enterprises.
Open source China: How was this whole open source management process established step by step? Who has learned from? Where is the innovation point?
Zhong Yanqing: The Linux Foundation and TODO Group have always been organizations dedicated to promoting enterprises to embrace open source and establish OSPO. They have published a series of guide articles for enterprises to participate in open source and shared the experience of many excellent enterprises, which are very valuable for reference.
We also study the relevant theoretical system and the open source paths of other leading companies with outstanding influence in the open source field to develop open source related strategies, phased objectives and development paths suitable for WeBank. If we talk about our innovation points, I personally think that it should be a very meaningful attempt to integrate internal open source, external open source and internal technology culture, and promote the formation of open organizations through open source.
In August 2021, WeBank presented awards to outstanding open-source individuals
05 The construction of domestic financial technology open source is still in its infancy, which requires a long-term approach
Open source China: According to data, WeBank's strategic vision of open source is "to become a leader in the open source ecological construction in the field of financial technology". What is the current status of open source in the field of financial technology? What are the problems?
Zhong Yanqing: I personally believe that the open source ecological construction in the domestic financial technology field is still in its infancy. In the development of open source culture over the past 30 years, more people have participated as users. Their contributions to the upstream ecology and top open source projects initiated by enterprises in the financial technology field are relatively small, and a wide range of open source communities that truly meet the needs and characteristics of the financial industry have not yet been formed.
Of course, with the rapid development of various new technologies and the digital transformation of the financial industry, many enterprises are rapidly moving in the direction of participants, contributors and sponsors. In particular, at the end of October last year, the five ministries and commissions jointly issued the Opinions on Regulating the Application and Development of Open Source Technology in the Financial Industry 《 opinion 》 It provides a clear direction and various principles and standards for financial institutions to use and participate in open source, and further strengthens the enthusiasm of financial institutions to use open source and participate in the community. I believe that in addition to further improving the ability to apply open source technology, the financial sector will soon play a greater role in community contributions and community building.
Open source China: "For enterprises, embracing open source is a long-term principle." Indeed, OSPO's work cannot be immediately effective, and it is difficult to quantify and evaluate. What's your opinion on this? What experience and achievements can be summarized from the OSPO practice of WeBank in recent years?
Zhong Yanqing: First of all, open source itself must be a long-term doctrine. No open source community or technology ecology can be formed in the short term.
In addition, except for some open source companies that establish business models based on open source, the benefits of most enterprises' participation in open source may not be very obvious, such as the influence of technology, the attraction to talents, and the improvement of technology application efficiency within enterprises by participating communities land Measurement.
Therefore, I think a company is determined to promote the process of embracing open source by establishing OSPO. First, it must be highly recognized internally and strongly supported by senior leaders. In the specific implementation stage, the enterprise should also objectively evaluate its own technology accumulation and development stage, formulate a more pragmatic development path, and clarify its role in participating in open source.
In my personal opinion, it is not necessary to lead the release of an open source project to embrace open source. It is also very valuable and influential to actively participate in the community, feedback questions or suggestions, or make more code contributions in the upstream community in the process of using open source.
My view has always been that enterprises' participation in open source must not be a matter of chasing hot spots and trends, but must be down-to-earth land Participate in the community. As the saying goes, "Never forget, there will be repercussions" land Efforts and persistence will certainly get feedback and respect from the community.
Guest Profile:
Zhong Yanqing, Head of WeBank OSPO
Before joining WeBank, Zhong Yanqing had been engaged in R&D and technical team management Related to He has successively served as R&D manager and R&D director in Ping An, Tencent, Shunfeng and other enterprises. So far, his entire career has not left technology.
In his early career, Zhong Yanqing was mainly exposed to open source as a user of open source software. As the R&D director, he needs to lead the team to judge and select the technical language, development framework and some application components used. Therefore, at this stage, he pays more attention to the technical characteristics, ecological maturity, development prospects and ability adaptation of different open source projects.
In the middle of 2019, Zhong Yanqing joined WeBank and began to set up an open source management office. This is a new perspective. He began to look at open source from the perspective of an enterprise. At the same time, Zhong Yanqing has also become an open-source preacher. Whether in the enterprise or facing the community, he hopes to be more extensive land Promote open source culture, let more organizations and individuals understand, identify with and participate in open source 。
This article comes from the second issue of the best collection of open source, Open Source Watch. For more exciting content, please click to download:
https://oscimg.oschina.net/public_shard/opensource-guanzhi-20220707.pdf
