2026

Every open source project eventually hits a moment where someone has to make a call nobody agreed on in advance — and governance is the system that determines who has the authority to make it. This post walks through every major governance model in plain language, from BDFLs and do-ocracies to lazy consensus and multi-stakeholder consortia, including how mature projects like Kubernetes layer several models at once. MkDocs is included as a real-world example of what happens when governance gets skipped entirely.

Most OSPO leaders think their committers are their community — they’re not. Start with git shortlog -sne to identify contributors, then layer in GitHub Insights and LFX Insights for richer data. For the full picture, spin up GrimoireLab to pull from Slack, Discourse, mailing lists, and more. But the real community — the bug reporters, bloggers, meetup organizers, and lurkers in a Telegram group you’ve never heard of — lives outside your repo entirely. Cast a wide net across social media, forums, and conference talks, and don’t be shy about asking your known community where they hang out.

Experienced technical storyteller with 30 years bridging deep cloud-native expertise and clear communication. Former CNCF Ambassador and Kubernetes Contributor Comms co-lead seeking remote Developer Advocate, Technical Marketing Manager, or Product Marketing Manager roles. Proven track record creating 700+ hours of content, leading major community initiatives (AWS re:Invent K8s track, Valkey adoption, GitOpsCon EU), and driving adoption through authentic technical storytelling. Available now.