"I don't have time." "I tried and it didn't work." "I'm not experienced enough." Richard Schneeman built this handbook around the exact excuses that keep most developers from ever making their first open source contribution – because, as he found, most people struggle with the same handful of blockers.
What it actually gives you
Rather than another list of "how to submit a PR" basics, the handbook explains why some contributors stick with it and others don't, and introduces COIL, a four-step repeatable framework for finding your next contribution opportunity.
It's built to take you from a first small contribution to a sustainable, ongoing practice – without pretending the common obstacles (time, confidence, getting a maintainer's attention) don't exist.
Developers tell me...
- "I don't have time."
- "I've tried, and it didn't work."
- "Working in public is scary."
- "I'm not experienced enough."
- "It's too overwhelming to start."
- "I need a beginning issue."
- "I couldn't get the maintainer's attention."
If you resonate with any of the above, don’t worry. A lot of developers struggle with these things. In fact, you are part of the majority. These are the issues keeping MOST people from hitting their contribution goals despite their best intentions. The good news is, they can all be mitigated. How to Open Source covers all of that in the book. Don't think you can do this at all because you simply don't have the time? Download this free chapter and see how others fit contribution time into their schedule.
Sounds great. What topics are covered exactly?
- Go beyond simple "how to" tasks to understand WHY contributors are successful.
- Find your next contribution opportunity with "COIL" - a four-step repeatable framework.
- Use concepts such as "floss one tooth" and "bat 300" to get over mental barriers and inertia to get started and keep going.
- Shift from a mindset of "beginner issue" to "beginning action".
- Move issues and bug reports along by increasing the quality of reproduction instructons.
- Write A+ documentation, even for code you didn't write.
- Maximize your chance in getting your pull request merged..
- Apply non-violent communication principles and navigate conversations that get tense.
- See real life examples on how other people fit open source time into their jobs.
- Sustain your contributions beyond one commit to achieve lasting impact.
