Author: Ben Cotton

Ben formerly led open source messaging at Docker and was the Fedora Program Manager. He is the author of Program Management for Open Source Projects. Ben is an Open Organization Ambassador and frequent conference speaker. His personal website is Funnel Fiasco.

The solution isn’t interesting, the problem is

Nobody wants to use a computer. They want to get something done. Focusing on the problem instead of the solution gets you better results.

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Little ways program managers add value

Some contributions aren’t a make-or-break moment, they’re a way to reduce the friction for contributors and make processes run smoother.

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Embrace the non-judgmental “why?”

People don’t make bad decisions on purpose. If you understand why a decision was made in the past, you make better decisions for the future.

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Footnotes and asides are a warning

Overuse of footnotes, commas, em dashes, and parentheses suggest your writing may be unclear. Keeping sentences focused helps your reader.

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Use a decision log to record context

A decision log is a record that you leave for the future. It shares the context to save time when revisiting a past decision.

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Words mean things

Choose your words carefully. You want people to discuss the facts, not the wording.

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A donation for every sale in March

I’ll donate $10 for every ebook sale of my book on 8 March to Girls Who Code. For the rest of March, I’ll give $5 for every paper or ebook sale.

News

Be clear about who does what

If you’re not clear about who is supposed to act, people will assume that it’s not them. Be clear so everyone knows what to expect.

Resources

What you’re measuring is different from how you measure it

Start with understanding the “why?” behind what you’re trying to measure. Then figure out the measurements, knowing they’ll be imperfect.

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It’s better to be clear than correct

Your prose is not code; it will not fail because you forgot a semicolon. Prefer being understood to strict adherence to grammatical rules.

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