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.

One approach to AI contributions

All communities will need an AI contribution policy at some point, and the Apache Software Foundation’s example is a good one to follow.

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Don’t try to guess contributor affiliations

When asked “how many $company employees contribute to this project?” the best answer is “I don’t know and there’s no good way to find out.”

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Don’t launch a communication tool without a moderation plan

Well-understood and consistent moderation practices go a long way toward reducing hard feelings in your community.

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Choosing between wiki- and git-based documentation

What should you choose for your documentation: a wiki or text files hosted in a git repo and rendered by another tool?

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Be careful how you treat AI-looking posts

When you prohibit anything that you think is AI-generated, you can end up creating an unwelcoming environment.

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How to re-write your project

In most cases, the risk of rewriting your project isn’t worth the reward. When it is, the technical part is easy. People are the hard part.

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A year of Program Management for Open Source Projects

Today, I celebrate the first anniversary of Program Management for Open Source Projects by answering questions from newsletter subscribers.

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Separating announcements from discussion

The problem is rarely that the important information isn’t communicated. The problem is usually that people can’t find it.

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How to take meeting notes

If you know how to take good meeting notes, you can help make the meeting useful.

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Managing the attention budget

Contributors donate their precious time to your project. Make good use of it by managing the attention you require.

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