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2025-05-14

Adding pre-report bug discussion

The Ghostty project requires bug reports to start as discussion threads. If they’re actionable, a maintainer converts the thread to an issue.

Categories Posts
2025-05-07

Use reserved domains and IPs in examples

Domains and IP blocks specifically reserved for documentation purposes are far better than the placeholders you’re probably using.

Categories Posts
2025-03-19

Facilitating decisions is more important than making them

You cannot decide on behalf of the community. Facilitating decisions is how you build a community that wants to stick around.

Categories Posts
2025-03-12

Helping your project survive the loss of core contributors

Only 27% of projects that lose their core developers survive, but you can take steps to give your project its best chance.

Categories Posts
2025-03-05

Rules and policies are necessary to define good behavior

Think of it this way: having rules and policies for behavior in your community is like documenting the community’s API.

Categories Posts
2025-02-26

Every project is a software project

It’s a good reminder that our audience is broader than we might think and we should act accordingly.

Categories Posts
2025-02-19

Improvement requires context

If you swoop in uninformed, you might make some correct decisions, but you’ll probably make more wrong ones.

Categories Posts
2025-02-12

Prioritizing your work with the Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple framework for prioritizing your tasks by determining a task’s importance and urgency.

Categories Posts
2025-02-05

Open source projects don’t exist separately from the outside world

You do your community a disservice when you treat open source as a noble pursuit that’s separate from the noise of daily life.

Categories Posts
2025-01-29

CalVer is many schemes

You need to clearly indicate how you identify your releases. Simply saying “CalVer” does not set clear expectations for your users.

Categories Posts

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About This Site

Learn how to get your ducks in a row, your cats herded, or any other animal metaphor you can think of.

2025 trends

Hand-drawn graphs on a sheet of white paper sitting on a desk.
Read my 2025 open source trends predictions.

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Cover of the book Program Management for Open Source Projects

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Latest posts

  • Adding pre-report bug discussion2025-05-14
  • Use reserved domains and IPs in examples2025-05-07
  • Facilitating decisions is more important than making them2025-03-19
  • Helping your project survive the loss of core contributors2025-03-12

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