We ❤️ maintainers here at Factory24 because to realize our mission of building disruptive solutions for Africa we rely on contributors and maintainers working together to pool not just your time and passion but your intellectual resources as well.
As you start work on a new Open Source project, your work as a maintainer is relatively small compared to when your project gains popularity and attracts more than code contributors. This short write-up hightlights all the best practices to implement in your project management to ensure you foster a free and fair contributor & maintainers relationship.
Documenting key processes and aspects of your project will, as a maintainer, help you calrify your own thoughts, vision of the project and also help other people understand what you need or expect. As recommended in the Github Best Practices For Maintainers, some of the key documents to include in your project are:
- README - In this file, outline clearly the goals and vision of the project.
- CONTRIBUTING - Your contribution file should outline in clear language how contributions will be reviewed, the types of acceptable contributions and follow-up steps for all new contributors.
It's also important to ensure communications between you and contributors remain public through Issue tracking, PR or other open communication channels like Slack, Discord or IRCs.
Tests are an important aspect of code writing yet relying on humans to run all tests is not advisable. Github has a collection of tools that can help you as a maintainer ensure any and all code introduced to your project doesn't break the solution you're building.
In your CONTRIBUTING file outline and explain the tests you'll be adding to your project. Also include the test you'll be intergrating to automate some of the aspects of your work. If you’re not sure which tools to use, look at what other popular projects do, especially those in your ecosystem. Some of the most commonly used tools include:
- semantic-release automates your releases
- mention-bot mentions potential reviewers for pull requests
- Danger helps automate code review
- no-response closes issues where the author hasn’t responded to a request for more information
Streamlining your contribution review process will help your project contributors familiarize themselves with your tools and approaches quicker - in turn, further enhancing the relationship.
An an Open Source maintainer its fairly easy to get caught up in the daily work of updating a project status, reviewing code and pull requests, responding to issues and so much more - in such a scenario, you're likely to feel worn-out, burnt out or drained if you don't incorporate a regular self-care tips in your project management schedule.
We recommend all Factory24 maintainers apply regular self-care measures like taking frequent breaks, vacations and other non-work related activities to ensure you remain physically, mentally and emotionally fit to continue contributing and maintaining projects.
Although this is just a guide, as a maintainer you'll free to apply best practices in your project that remain a net benefit to the entire ecosystem.