Ask HN: How do you personally measure the success of your open source projects?

7 points by treebeard5440 2 years ago | 10 comments

I been running an OSS project for almost a year now and I feel like it’s been fairly successful for a small project. We have had quite a few contributors - especially during hacktoberfest that have given us high qualilty PR’s. While the contributions have been better than ever expected we’re not as strong on some other “metrics” such as stars, forks, watchers, etc. Looking through discussions some people only value those things while others completely disregard them. I’m curious how other maintainers determine the success of their OSS projects. Outside of “metrics” and contributors is there anything else to consider?

h2odragon 2 years ago |

Does it work for me? Then is a success.

Increasingly uninterested in releasing code, past that point; it now seems to imply obligations and goals I do not want.

One of my projects is maintained by others now (largely untouched i think). I had "begware" solicitations in it: in 5 years its drawn 8 donors to give $55 total. That counts as a fantastic success for that approach.

That one is a 3d printing / OpenSCAD library: the week after i released it, there were purchasable versions on all the "paid 3d library" sites with other peoples names and payment info on them. One of them did a takedown request on the original posting, even. That was certainly an indicator of positive reception, but dunno if one could call it a measure of success.

treebeard5440 2 years ago | |

I agree with “does it work for me, then it’s a success” to a certain extent. I am really happy with my project, it does what I needed it to do, and my company allowed me to open-source it. If that was all that happened I would still consider my project a success. What has been really enjoyable for me, however, is working with contributors and seeing developers use the tool. So I feel like - for me at least - there has to be more than just building and releasing it.

simonblack 2 years ago | |

Does it work for me? Then is a success.

Exactly. Open source projects do not rely on 'sales' to survive. If the project scratches MY itch, it really doesn't matter whether it scratches one other person's itch, or millions of other persons' itches.

It sometimes surprises me how many people have seen and even used my projects.

mikeravkine 2 years ago |

Receiving a PR is a massive success in my books, it means someone not only found it useful but also improved it! The win-win of open source.

ipaddr 2 years ago | |

You need to spend as much time on marketing as you did on the project unless you offer massive value.

simne 2 years ago |

Sorry, I will say about money.

I think, it is really good, when people respect you, for your work, but better if they respect and pay money.

In normal economy, most important metric, is how much people pay with free will.

This metric, sure could have correlation with likes, testimonials, good wishes, etc, but to measure these things correct, need much more effort, at least need to make good actual (not outdated) market research and know very good your niche, and compare with concurrent products, with comparable interfaces, etc, so you will not compare carrots with apples.

If you have questions, ask, I will try answer.

bravetraveler 2 years ago |

If either I or someone else benefits from it. That's it!

Evaluating it based on the money it makes is a recipe for disappointment.

Seeing a PR is always nice. That tells me someone is finding a use for it and is invested enough to help make it better.

I quickly abandon something if I have no use for it. Contributors will tell me if I should keep something around

mtmail 2 years ago |

When users start to answer other users questions, either in issue or discussion boards.

treebeard5440 2 years ago | |

Now that’s a great indicator

shyn3 2 years ago |

Did you learn something new?