We have the data, the standards, the expertise to solve most OSS sustainability problems - dollars? Not so much.
Open Source Wishlist is now a self-service for people who want a plan to support the sustainability of their dependencies.
I built Open Source Wishlist last year as a contribution to the sustainability problem space. The idea was pretty simple: let maintainers identify what they needed, bring together the funding and expertise to address it, and measure the impact against industry standards.
In part, I wanted to demonstrate what coordinated investment in open source sustainability might look like, and tackle the siloed (and finger-pointing) way I saw risk mitigation playing out.
However, despite my best attempts, I couldn’t find a company, foundation, or individual willing to fund the model or associated work prove it. That’s OK and I know this is a symptom of larger funding challenge, which ~ is a topic for another day ~ I still believe in, and am proud of the potential of this model.
To that end and to free up my time a little - I have decided to evolve Open Source Wishlist to a stand-alone 'plan generator' removing complexities of wishmaking and fulfillment - but leaving the opportunity intact.
Instead of pre-built wishlists, Open Source Wishlist now helps users identify projects using Ecosyste.ms data, then surfaces signals like single-maintainer risk, vulnerabilities, and time since the last release. It recommends services that can help address those risks, along with rubrics for tracking impact.
You can still match services with practitioners, including your own people, and it spits out a strategic support plan.
Easy-peasy. (Except, of course, the money thing again. lol)
I’ll keep maintaining it as a (if I may say so) fantastic teaching tool.
- Have employees who want to advocate for a project - send them there.
- Have a project who needs more strategic language to find funding - send them there.
- Just curious about risk and mitigation of sustainability - take it for a spin!
