1.7: ”Open sourcing your code isn't sharing your profits, it's sharing your risks”

When Skolplattformen, a digital platform for schools in the Stockholm Region, was launched in 2018, it had already cost a staggering €100 million (roughly $120 million) of tax payers money – and the release was anything but successful. Bugs upon bugs, soon followed by critical security breaches. Out of pure frustration, developer and entrepreneur Christian Landgren (who also happened to be a parent forced to use the digital platform) decided to start an open source project fixing the most severe issues with the user interface as ”a Christmas gift” to all the ailing parents and teachers.

Little did he know that it would grow into an open source movement – and that by February 2021, it would result in a mobile app that within hours was the most downloaded paid app in Apple's iOS App Store.

”The feedback has been astonishing. I actually read a Facebook comment that said 'God bless them, they saved my life!'” says Johan Öbrink, digital strategist at the Swedish bank SEB, longtime friend of Christian, and one of four core programmers (together with Christian, Erik Hellman, Rickard Natt och Dag) of the Öppna Skolplattformen mobile app.

So... why did they decide to make it open source? How do you ensure stability and sustainability without any enterprise grade tooling and people behind an open source project? How do you, as an open source crusader, compete with inferior approaches?

”We like open source, we want to promote open source, and we especially want to promote open source for all code written by tax money. In this case it is not tax money, but it was important to have that part of the project as a vehicle for that discussion,” says Johan Öbrink.

”We have actually taken it so far that we are now kind of going out in podcasts and media saying that these projects should stop. Whenever you have that idea that we should start a big project, stop. And also, if you can, stop digital IT projects that have already cost €10 million. And that's overall, every part of society. You should never do those type of projects. If they cost that much, stop them”, says Christian Landgren.

Links:

• Öppna Skolplattformen on GitHub: https://github.com/kolplattformen/skolplattformen

• Öppna Skolplattformen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/oppnaskolplatt

• Öppna Skolplattformen on iOS App Store: https://apps.apple.com/se/app/%C3%B6ppna-skolplattformen/id1543853468

• Öppna Skolplattformen on Google Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=se.stockholm.vardnadshavare&hl=en_US&gl=US

• Contributors: Christian Landgren, Johan Öbrink, Erik Hellman, Rickard Natt och Dag, Karin Nygårds (illustrations in the app).

• Skolplattformen.

• Information about Öppna Skolplattformen on the Stockholm City website.