Category: Posts

2026-08-19

The J curve, or: it gets worse before it gets better

Process changes often degrade performance before they make it better. Understanding and a (very) little bit of calculus help you navigate.

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2026-08-12

Be prepared for big feelings when you take something away

We all like to think that we’re very rational and make decisions logically. We’re not and we don’t.

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2026-07-22

How to close issues

Closing issues keeps the issue tracker more useful. But you have to handle different types of closures differently.

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2026-07-15

The importance — or not — of reputation

The problem with reputation is that it doesn’t answer the question you want to answer (unless that question is ‘who is well-known?’).

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2026-07-10

You probably don’t need an LTS release

The time not spent backporting fixes to an LTS release is better spent improving test suites and upgrade paths.

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2026-07-02

What size project needs a code of conduct?

A code of conduct should be part of the initial foundation of a project. It’s just as important as `git init` to building a healthy community.

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2026-06-25

Not all policy enforcement needs to be automated

Automatic enforcement of policy is great when it’s possible. When it’s not, it’s often to your benefit to adopt the policy anyway.

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2026-06-17

Taking a break is good

We’re all still people and we need time to regroup. If you find yourself overwhelmed, you can take a break.

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2026-05-20

How to triage security reports

There’s slop coming, but also a lot of medium-to-high quality reports. Maintainers are going to have to know how to triage security reports.

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2026-05-14

Every project has politics

Politics in open source is inescapable. As soon as two or more people interact, politics becomes a consideration.

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