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Program management for open source projects

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2024-11-20

ccTLDs are bad for your project

Using a ccTLD puts your project’s infrastructure at the whims of geopolitics. There are plenty of other TLDs to choose from.

Categories Posts
2024-11-13

Communities aren’t an accidental collection of strangers with a common interest

Community implies a degree of commitment to stick around, and the bonds of friendship can make the project a more enjoyable place to be.

Categories Posts
2024-10-09

Open source is not consent for experiments

You can do whatever you want with the code you download. But once you’re writing instead of reading, you need to be a good participant.

Categories Posts
2024-10-02

Building a community still means giving up control

Reddit’s new rules protect short-term value, but creating a community that’s sustainable in the long term still means giving up control.

Categories Posts
2024-09-25

Code style guides are for cooperation, not preferences

If you’re leading a project, document your style. If you’re joining a project, set your style preferences aside.

Categories Posts
2024-09-18

It’s okay to not do things

Just because you had the idea to do something, that doesn’t mean you’re obligated to do it. Some tasks can be skipped or delayed.

Categories Posts
2024-09-04

The future of first-party open source events

The way first-party open source events are typically setup does not fit the world in 2024. A new approach splits talks, social, & workshops.

Categories Posts
2024-08-28

Strategic use of bikeshedding

Painting a bike shed can be an excellent icebreaker when getting a group to review a document draft.

Categories Posts
2024-08-21

Companies: make sustainable contributions

We learned over the past year or two that corporate participation in an open source project is not guaranteed. The contributions a company makes need to be sustainable long after the company stops participating.

Categories Posts
2024-08-15

Volunteers can’t be blockers

Figure out which processes are truly critical and accept that the non-critical ones may get missed from time to time. If you have paid contributors, they should be responsible for the critical processes.

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

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

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Upcoming talks

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Latest posts

  • It’s okay to be partial to your work2025-05-28
  • Growing your project means doing less coding2025-05-21
  • Adding pre-report bug discussion2025-05-14
  • Use reserved domains and IPs in examples2025-05-07

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