When an open source project's gotten stuck, how do you get it unstuck? Especially if you aren't already one of its maintainers? Can someone experienced in open source, but not this project, catalyze and revive it or publish a delayed release?
I'll briefly share case studies, principles, and gotchas. Then I'll run a short, structured round of introductions, and ask:
- What kinds of "stuckness" have you seen in FLOSS projects?
- What circumstances make it easier or harder for projects to get unstuck?
- Do you know a stuck project? What support would you need to start getting it unstuck?
We'll end by forming optional accountability pairs and making commitments for post-MozFest followups.
Participants will get the most out of this session if they have 6+ months of hobbyist or work experience participating in an free and open source software project. All ages/educational backgrounds welcome.
Followup post: https://www.harihareswara.net/sumana/2021/03/12/1
Many open source project maintainers lack management experience and skill. In my experience -- as I will demonstrate when discussing my past work getting PyPI, pipenv, Autoconf, and Mailman unstuck -- lack of skilled managers is a huge blocker to the sustainability of open source infrastructure. I think this discussion could be pivotal to creating a community of practice of freelance maintainers (paid and volunteer), improving the sustainability of FLOSS.
I'd also like to bounce around ideas that will help me revise the book I'm writing on getting open source projects unstuck, and potentially include ideas from this session in the next edition.
How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?:I have substantial experience moderating panels, running conference conversations, and doing similar facilitation work at convenings and unconferences. If we get under 4 participants, I'll have a fairly relaxed hand in moderation. If we have 4-15 participants, I'll mute everyone by default and more tightly structure the oral conversation, and ask for more of the digressions and other discussion to happen over textual chat. If we have 16+ participants, I'll arrange random breakout rooms for people to talk about the different discussion questions, and then have them report back to the larger group.
We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after Mozfest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:The commitments people make, and followup accountability pairs, will check in with each other (and, if they're okay with it, with me) to keep learning and leadership going after MozFest.
Harihareswara is a project manager and programmer. She has managed improvements to pip thanks to MOSS funding. She lives in New York City and founded Changeset Consulting in 2015.