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Program management for open source projects

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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.

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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.

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2025-01-22

Prioritizing work in the project with the MoSCoW method

The MoSCoW method is a simple, easy-to-use method for prioritizing work by putting into one of four categories.

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2025-01-15

The “O” in “FOSS” does not stand for “obligation”

We need to motivate the behavior we want to see instead of being upset when it doesn’t happen.

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2025-01-08

Open source trends for 2025

What open source trends am I looking at in 2025? Here’s a look at what I’m expecting for this year.

Categories Posts
2025-01-01

Reviewing open source trends in 2024

How well did I capture trends in open source for 2024? I think I nailed it.

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.

Get the book

Cover of the book Program Management for Open Source Projects

Ebooks available from The Pragmatic Bookshelf. Print available from Bookshop and Amazon.

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Upcoming talks

Want to book me for your project or company? See the Speaking page for details.

Latest posts

  • Ruby Central’s lesson in how not to do it2025-10-08
  • The solution to deadlines is usually “cut scope”2025-10-01
  • Flash sale on all Pragmatic Bookshelf titles2025-09-18
  • Planning ahead is the most important part of code of conduct enforcement2025-09-17

Except where noted, all content © Ben Cotton and provided under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license except where noted. Logo design by alexlexi.

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