Flipt has reached 3k GitHub stars ⭐ this week.

Woohoo!! 🎉

So I thought it would be a great time to reflect on what got us here and share our learnings with the community.

In this post, I’m sharing 3 traits of our awesome contributors that helped us scale Flipt this far.

These 3 skills will help you level up your open source collaboration game and make you an invaluable contributor!

Let's dive in 🚀

TL;DR

• Trait #1: Communication
• Trait #2: Empathy
• Trait #3: Flexibility

Trait #1: Communication

Most open source developers find collaboration hard at first.

• Documenting code changes
• Participating in discussions
• Sharing their point of view

None of this comes naturally.

But clear communication is a must for shared understanding and reducing wasted effort in the project.

Erka, who’s a regular contributor at Flipt, communicates well while collaborating with maintainers by:

1. Opening draft PRs
2. Having a discussion before full review
3. Actively responding to the feedback

Erka's contributions were vital in the past couple of releases.

Likewise, the more you find opportunities to communicate, the easier it becomes.

So, use commit message descriptions, review comments, code documentation, etc to develop your communication skills.

Trait #2: Empathy

When you don’t consider other contributor’s perspectives, you are limiting your learning.

You’ll be able to resolve issues much more effectively, when you promote a positive and inclusive environment.

One way to do that is like my fellow teammate George:

He literally checks up on PRs to unblock contributors. And offer a helping hand wherever he can.

Having active contributors like him makes it immensely easy for newbies to get up and running with Flipt.

So contribute to active project discussions or PR reviews to understand different contributor viewpoints.

It builds a strong foundation for the long-term growth of the project.

Trait #3: Flexibility

When you are open to feedback and suggestions, you:

• Stay updated with latest trends
• Become fun to collaborate with
• Learn to navigate uncertainty & ambiguity

At first, Amine wasn't sure what to do with a particular bit of implementation. But they didn't let it block them.

They went ahead with what they thought was best, but were open to feedback and to make any changes if necessary.

That's why the easiest way to develop flexibility is by actively asking for feedback. Be open to constructive criticism. And use it to improve your approach.

Doing that will also help you in reducing stress and burnout caused by unexpected situations.

Wrapping Up

That’s it!

Hope you found it useful.
Leave a ⭐ to support our work at Flipt.

Drop in comments which trait you struggle with the most. 👇