Dawn Foster

This discussion features Stormy Peters, VP of Communities at GitHub; Dr. Dawn Foster, Director of Open Source Community Strategy at VMware; and Angie Byron, Drupal Core Product Manager at Aiven. They dive into the crucial challenges faced by open source maintainers, including sustainability, funding innovations, and community recruitment. The guests share insights on innovative strategies for documentation, governance in projects, and the importance of leadership succession to combat burnout. They also celebrate the joy of community networking at conferences.

In this engaging discussion, Dawn Foster, an open source project engagement expert, Elizabeth Barron, who focuses on organizational participation, and Harmony Elendu, a CHAOSS metrics specialist, dive into the nuances of organizational involvement in open source. They explain how CHAOSS Practitioner Guides simplify complex metrics for project health. Key topics include the importance of diverse contributors, the challenges of measuring organizational influence, and the role of community managers in fostering thriving environments. Tools like Augur and Grimoire Lab are also highlighted as essential for effective data analysis.

Dawn Foster and Elizabeth Barron discuss open source contributor sustainability, emphasizing the impact on project viability, avoiding single points of failure, and the human aspect of contributions. They highlight the importance of practitioner guides, proactive community building, and valuing all contributors. Practical strategies and examples are shared for long-term project success.