In any community there are always "insiders" -- i.e., the people who understand the problem space very well, the people who are at the core of the domain space -- and people who are "outsiders", but have enthusiasm, some domain knowledge, and a willingness to help. A successful community uses both of these perspectives effectively, because it's the outsiders who are most likely to impart new energy and new perspectives.

There are different kinds of insiders and outsiders. A company's employees can be the insiders, and the customers can be the outsiders. One particular team can be the insiders, and other employees can be the outsiders. Beyond companies, longtime members of a community become insiders over time, and newcomers almost always start as outsiders.

For example, when Red Hat first started the Fedora project, many of the critical decisions were taken by a committee composed only of Red Hat engineers. A number of critical tasks were assigned to "insiders", and these tasks languished. In the meantime the "outsiders" struggled to find meaningful tasks to help the project's growth. The public perception looked a lot like this. The dialogue between the groups made it clear that externalizing the tools and processes were key to community growth.