Open source projects should run office hours
simonwillison.net
Open source projects should run office hours
1–10 of 279 posts
Re: Open source projects should run office hours
#2This is a great idea. It's time-bound, so the maintainer doesn't feel set-upon, since they can change the hours whenever. It's also a (reasonably) guaranteed opportunity to talk directly to the maintainer of something you care about, if you're on the other side.
I love this.
Re: Open source projects should run office hours
#3I've had massive success with this in ML. My twitter DMs have become almost-daily office hour sessions with people trying to solve hard ML problems. The last fellow was so happy he venmo'd me $250 after I merely asked for "pay whatever you thought that was worth."
Apparently putting "DMs open" in your twitter bio is an excellent way to meet new people. Also, tweet (often!) about what you're working on. Post lots of questions, notes to self, and screenshots or videos.
To get followers, you'll need to go inject yourself into conversations. That seems to be the most reliable way to get noticed.
We also run an ML discord server and do informal office hours for people working on various ML products. It may sound cheesy, but I try to emulate what pg would do in a YC office hours session. It seems to keep them pretty focused.
So, yes! Glad to see office hours are becoming mainstream. Try it out; you'll probably be surprised.
Re: Open source projects should run office hours
#4[deleted]
Re: Open source projects should run office hours
#5Great way to get to know your customers. Given how many folks are making side businesses via GH sponsors, this is basically sales in some cases.
Re: Open source projects should run office hours
#6The very short consulting can be pretty intense. People come fast and furious and want answers. They sometimes are folks who really badly need a larger consulting or training engagement from a specialist, but can't afford it. So they sometimes come hard, sometimes frantically, looking for miracle fixes.
I thought they could be fun, but you really had to be on your toes to do it well. And you need to set really clear expectations on what's doable in the short time.
In the end, however, it can sometimes just be easier not to charge. If you do larger projects, these short little meetings can be a primer for filtering potential clients while giving the potential client a taste of what working with you is like.
Re: Open source projects should run office hours
#7Anyone can run office hours for any of their open source projects they want - that sounds great!
But I won't and I don't feel any sort of obligation to do so, so I don't think 'should' is really appropriate here.
Re: Open source projects should run office hours
#8Services with notifications like GitHub should allow you to delay notifications until your indicated availability. Ignoring them isn't good enough and some people have them sent to their personal email.
Re: Open source projects should run office hours
#9FWIW, we've got a #redux channel in the Reactiflux Discord where I and a couple other Redux maintainers hang out and answer an ongoing stream of questions. Not sure having specific "office hours" slots would work well for us, but we're happy to answer questions whenever we're around.
Re: Open source projects should run office hours
#10Anyone can run office hours for any of their open source projects they want - that sounds great! But I won't and I don't feel any sort of obligation to do so, so I don't think 'should' is really appropriate here.
I think the 'should' is targeted at developers who want their projects to grow (which is not all open-source developers).