Community Governance and Building Sustainable Open Source with Dr. Dawn Foster

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December 9th, 2025

40 mins 43 secs

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devops metrics linux kernel software sustainability chaoss project governance community dr. dawn foster technology oss open source gross gr-oss g-research coding

About this Episode

In this episode of the G Research Open Source Software Outreach Podcast (GROSS OUT), host Jay Faulkner sits down with Dr. Dawn Foster, Director of Data Science at the CHAOSS Project and veteran open source consultant, to explore the hidden infrastructure that keeps open source communities thriving.

Dawn shares her 30-year journey through the open source world, from compiling dependencies as a sysadmin in the '90s to earning a PhD studying collaboration in the Linux kernel. The conversation dives deep into the metrics and governance structures that separate sustainable projects from those destined to fail—including the critical "lottery factor" (what happens when the most important person in your project disappears) and why you should build governance before you need it.

CHAOSS Project - https://chaoss.community/
Dawn Foster on the Linux Kernel - https://opensource.com/article/17/10/collaboration-linux-kernel

G-Research is hiring in London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies.

For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/Znk5e4DfR50.

The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.