Design a Sustainable Maintainership Model for a Mid-Tier OSS Project
Overview
What this challenge is about.
Read the project's last 12 months of issues, PRs, and Discord/Slack archives (anonymized). Identify: top maintainer-burnout signals, the 5 highest-friction issue categories, and the contributor-funnel chokepoints. Propose: a governance model evolution (RFC process, maintainer charter, conflict resolution), an issue/PR triage rubric with SLAs (Service Level Agreements) maintainers will actually honor, and a recognition-and-rotation plan for new maintainers. Write the maintainer playbook (15 pages) and a 90-day adoption plan. Deliver: 10-page governance proposal, 15-page maintainer playbook, 6-page 90-day adoption plan, and a public-comment-period draft for the community.
The Brief
What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.
Evolve a BDFL OSS project to a sustainable governance + triage model that prevents maintainer burnout without losing the project's voice.
Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate
- Recognize maintainer-burnout signals in issue + PR data
- Design a governance evolution that respects the BDFL's voice
- Build a triage rubric maintainers will actually honor
- Write a public-comment-period announcement that builds community trust
Program Fit
Where this fits in your program.
Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.
Skills
Skills you'll demonstrate.
Each one shows up on your verified credential.
Careers
Roles this prepares you for.
Real titles. Real skill bridges. Pick the one closest to your trajectory.
Product Manager
Product managers who can design triage rubrics and adoption plans for community-driven products become the trusted PM for developer-relations teams.
This challenge sharpens
- issue-triage
- community-management
- oss-contribution