Governance & Decision Making
Building Effective Structures for Open Projects
Session Overview
Explore governance models and best practices for open source projects, with a focus on creating inclusive and sustainable communities. This session introduces practical frameworks like Martha’s Rules, covers meeting management techniques, and provides hands-on activities to assess and improve your project’s governance structure.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Understand different governance models for open source projects
- Apply Martha’s Rules for effective decision-making
- Implement the 10 rules for better meetings
- Create clear roles and responsibilities matrices
- Establish and enforce codes of conduct
- Assess your project’s current governance gaps
Slides
Resources
Running a Meeting
- github.com/gvwilson/change/ - “Running a Meeting” - A guide by Greg Wilson on effective meeting management
Books & Publications
- Producing Open Source Software by Karl Fogel - Comprehensive guide to running open source projects
- Research Software Engineering with Python by Irving et al. - Includes governance practices for research software
- The Mythical Man-Month by Brooks (1995) - Classic on software project management
- The Discussion Book by Brookfield & Preskill (2016) - Techniques for managing discussions
Articles & Essays
- The Tyranny of Structurelessness by Jo Freeman (1972) - Why informal structures can be problematic
- How to Respond to Code of Conduct Reports by Aurora & Gardiner (2019) - Enforcement guide
Websites & Tools
- Ask a Manager - Practical management advice
- Community Rule - Governance toolkit with multiple models
- NOAA Disruptive Behavior - Guide for managing difficult participants
- Contributor Covenant - Standard code of conduct template
Research Papers
- Majumder et al. (2019) - “Why Software Projects Need Heroes: Lessons Learned from 1100+ Projects” - Analysis of hero programmers in GitHub projects
- Petre & Wilson (2014) - “Code Review for and by Scientists” - Study on code review effectiveness in scientific software development