CHAOSScast

CHAOSS Project

This CHAOSS Community podcast features members who spent considerable time and effort to understand open source community health and how we can measure it through metrics, analytics, and software. We invite guests to this podcast to talk about how they use open source community health metrics and software in their own open source communities, companies, or foundations. This podcast fills the gap with open source community metric definitions and software on one side and their use on the other side.

  1. Episode 132: Please take the CHAOSScast Impact Survey - and we're taking a break

    ١٦ أبريل

    Episode 132: Please take the CHAOSScast Impact Survey - and we're taking a break

    Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 132 We don’t have an episode for you today, because CHAOSScast will be taking a break for a few months. During the break we will be evaluating how CHAOSScast supports the goals of the CHAOSS project. And to help us to do that, we would like to invite you to take a short survey by going to the link: https://forms.gle/zrvanrRArgzc3wDD9 The survey closes on Friday, May 15th 2026. In this short recording we go through the survey questions to get you thinking about your answers before you go ahead and take it, and first we share with you the goals of the CHAOSS project so that you have some extra context to help you answer in an informed way. CHAOSS aims to: Establish metrics and models for measuring open source community health Produce open source software and initiatives for measuring community health Develop programs for deploying metrics beyond trace data Work with global partners to shape how we understand open source community health The survey is quite short, but it’s really meaningful to helping us know how the podcast contributes to achieving CHAOSS’s goals. We are especially interested in honest feedback, even if you rarely listen. Thanks for helping. Your CHAOSS community. 00:00 Podcast Break Announcement 00:13 Why We Need Your Survey 00:28 CHAOSS Project Goals 00:53 Survey Basics and Listening Habits 01:17 How The Podcast Supports Goals 01:44 Impact on Your Actions 02:10 Importance Versus Other Sources 02:21 Unique Value and Improvements 02:42 Thanks and See You Soon

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  2. Episode 131: Repo-Health - a tool built on CHAOSS metrics

    ٢ أبريل

    Episode 131: Repo-Health - a tool built on CHAOSS metrics

    Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 131 In this episode of the CHAOSScast, host Georg Link sits down with guest, Elshad Humbatli, and panelists, Alice Sowerby and Adrian Edwards, to answer the question "How can CHAOSS metrics help you quickly assess the health of an open source project that you might want to use or join?" Elshad, creator of Repo-Health, explains why he created the tool, and how he used the CHAOSS metrics to produce high-level insights on the health of an open source repo. The conversation goes further, to discuss breaking down project activity to navigating the rise of AI-generated contributions, and dives deep into the human and technical sides of open source. Hit download now to hear more! [00:00:00] – The hosts introduce the episode and welcome the panelists and guest [00:01:41] – Elshad shares how he discovered CHAOSS metrics and got inspired to build Repo Health. [00:03:10] – A deep dive into the four pillars: activity, maintenance, community, and documentation. [00:06:15] – The group debates how different metrics reflect project health and what “community” really means. [00:10:07] – Elshad explains what Repo Health does and how users can benefit from it. [00:12:00] – Discussion around the pros and cons of combining metrics into a single health score. [00:17:01] – Exploring how context and goals shape which metrics matter using the GQM framework. [00:21:00] – Real-world contributor experiences highlight the importance of documentation and responsiveness. [00:23:00] – The impact of AI and LLMs on open source contributions and community dynamics. [00:29:07] – Elshad shares future plans for Repo Health and opportunities for collaboration. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:32:00] Gerog's pick is enjoying the in-between time after ending his last job. [00:33:11] Alice's pick is the vernal equinox. [00:33:58] Adrian's pick is spending time with friends and new experiences. [00:34:35] Elshad's pick is low level language coding. Host Georg Link Panelist: Alice Sowerby Adrian Edwards Guests: Elshad Humbatli Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community CHAOSS Calendar CHAOSS Slack Alice Sowerby LinkedIn Adrian Edwards LinkedIn Elshad Humbatli LinkedIn Georg Link Website Repo-Health tool Special Guests: Adrian Edwards and Elshad Humbatli.

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  3. Episode 130: Connecting Open Source and Research in Australia with Rowland Mosbergen

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    Episode 130: Connecting Open Source and Research in Australia with Rowland Mosbergen

    Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSScast! CHAOSScast – Episode 130 In this CHAOSScast episode, host introduces Rowland Mosbergen, a research software engineer at Australia’s WEHI, and discusses experiences in CHAOSS Asia and open source community connections. Rowland compares research labs to startups and explains that CHAOSS Asia’s regular online meetings help him engage with the broader open source ecosystem despite not traveling to conferences. They mention tools like the OSC DB directory for finding communities and discuss how Chaos Asia helps share events and CFPs. Rowland describes his “practical diversity and inclusion” approach: embedding inclusion into processes by centering marginalized people, sharing power, creating safe spaces, and offering online, non-exploitative open source internships that assess achievement relative to opportunity. He also describes organizing Research Software Asia Australia (RSAA 26) and supporting new Research Software Africa and Latino America conferences through shared documentation and a large, flexible volunteer committee to prevent burnout. They close with personal value-adds: Rowland’s family time and the host’s move to Bangkok. 00:00 Welcome to CHAOSScast 00:21 Meet Rowland 01:41 Startups and Research Parallels 03:04 Why CHAOSS Asia Matters 03:40 Finding CHAOSS Asia 07:03 Mapping Asian Communities 09:38 Practical DEI in Action 13:31 Internships as Micro PhDs 16:27 Conferences and Global Expansion 20:17 Building Inclusive Frameworks 25:09 Value Adds 28:03 Wrap Up and Call to Action Panelists: Leon Nunes Guests Rowland Mosbergen Links CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube CHAOSS Slack podcast@chaoss.community https://www.wehi.edu.au/ https://www.solo.io/ [https://equersa.org/]([https://equersa.org/) - Research software Africa and Latin America https://developers.events/#/2026/calendar - OSCDB https://chaoss.github.io/oscdb/ https://www.practicaldiversity.org/ Special Guest: Rowland Mosbergen.

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  4. Episode 129: Using Metrics in your OSPO

    ٥ مارس

    Episode 129: Using Metrics in your OSPO

    Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSScast! CHAOSScast – Episode 129 In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Harmony Elendu is joined by Matt Germonprez and Johan Linåker to explore how Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) can use metrics to understand and demonstrate impact. The discussion centers around Chapter 6 of the TODO Group’s OSPO book and how organizations can systematically measure the value of their open source engagement. [00:02:00] Introduction to OSPOs Johan explains what an Open Source Program Office (OSPO) is: a center of excellence that supports organizations in adopting open source strategically, aligning culture, governance, and business goals. [00:04:41] The Four Impact Areas Matt outlines the four key impact dimensions OSPOs should measure: Partner Impact Community Impact Ecosystem (Supply Chain) Impact Organizational Impact [00:06:29] Partner Impact How to assess which companies are contributing to the same projects, their level of influence, and how agendas align or conflict. [00:11:00] Community Impact Measuring contributor influence, merged pull requests, leadership roles, and employee growth within open source communities. [00:15:19] Ecosystem & Supply Chain Impact Why organizations must evaluate upstream dependencies and long-term project viability, especially in light of regulations like the Cyber Resilience Act. [00:23:00] Organizational Impact & Governance Aligning open source strategy with business goals, managing risk, automating dependency health checks, and enabling developers to contribute upstream efficiently. [00:29:31] Metrics Over Time (Not Snapshots) Why there is no universal red/yellow/green metric set. Context matters, and observing trends over time is critical for meaningful health assessments. [00:36:00] Resources & Working Groups Introduction to CHAOSS practitioner guides, OSPO metrics working groups, and research publications. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:39:25] Harmony’s pick is reflecting on old photos. [00:36:10] Matt's pick is embracing the opportunity to do winter sports. [00:37:54] Johan’s pick is to enjoy parenting moments. Panelists: Harmony Elendu Matt Germonprez Guests Johan Linåker Links OSPO Book TODO Group CHAOSS Project OpenSSF Scorecard CHAOSS OSPO Metrics Working Group Harmony Elendu website Harmony Elendu LinkedIn Special Guest: Johan Linåker.

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  5. Episode 128: Guest Episode - GR-OSS OUT Podcast: Building Welcoming Communities with Stacey Potter

    ١٩ فبراير

    Episode 128: Guest Episode - GR-OSS OUT Podcast: Building Welcoming Communities with Stacey Potter

    Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast- Episode 128 Check out the original GR-OSS OUT episode on the GR-OSS OUT podcast: https://podcast.gr-oss.io/15-openssf-community In this episode of CHAOSScast, we have a special crossover episode with the GR-OSS OUT podcast, hosted by Tabatha DiDomenico from G-Research and featuring special guest Stacey Potter, Community Manager at the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF). Stacey shares her journey into open source, which started in software license compliance and marketing before she found her passion in community-building through projects like Weaveworks and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) ecosystem. Her experience spans the full project lifecycle from early-stage incubation to graduation, giving her a unique perspective on how healthy, sustainable open source communities grow. A central theme of the conversation is what makes open source communities truly welcoming. Stacey emphasizes the importance of clear documentation, accessible contribution guidelines, well-labeled “good first issues,” and, above all, kindness. Reducing the fear of “doing it wrong” is critical, especially for newcomers who may feel intimidated by contributing code in public. Creating psychological safety helps transform curiosity into long-term participation, and contributors feel mentored rather than judged. Community health, she notes, is fundamentally about people, not just processes or tooling. The discussion also explores how marketing skills translate into community leadership. Stacey reflects on the difference between top-down messaging aimed at executives and bottom-up engagement with developers. Understanding your audience, meeting contributors where they are, and fostering authentic relationships are essential to building trust. At OpenSSF, she is helping shift perceptions so contributors understand that participation is open to everyone, not just member organizations. She also believes it's important to support education initiatives and strengthen developer experience across projects. Finally, Stacey highlights several OpenSSF initiatives and projects that could benefit from broader community involvement, including Scorecard, Minder, and OpenVEX. She also previews upcoming events and a new ambassador program designed to make open source security more accessible, and even fun! The episode closes with encouragement for listeners to get involved, contribute to the projects they rely on, and help build secure, welcoming open source ecosystems. Links: CHAOSS GR-OSS OUT podcast G-Research G-Research vacancies Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) OpenSSF Training & Education Linux Foundation Scorecard Sigstore SLSA (Supply-chain Levels for Software Artifacts) Minder OpenVEX Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) Flux Kubernetes KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America OpenSSF Community Day Korea Special Guests: Stacey Potter and Tabatha DiDomenico.

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  6. Episode 127: Community Health metrics for Commercial Open Source

    ٥ فبراير

    Episode 127: Community Health metrics for Commercial Open Source

    Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSScast! CHAOSScast – Episode 127 In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Alice is joined by Matt Trifiro from the Commercial Open Source Startup Alliance (COSSA) and Daniel Izquierdo, CEO of Bitergia and co-founder of the CHAOSS Community. The discussion delves into the importance of open source community health metrics in shaping successful commercial strategies for startups. Matt shares COSSA's mission to support the growth of venture-funded open source projects by fostering collaboration among founders, investors, and customers. Daniel discusses how community health can influence the sustainability and innovation of projects. They also explore the future goals of COSSA, including establishing a working group to develop standardized metrics for evaluating community contributions and business value. Press download now to hear more! [00:00:29] Matt and Daniel introduce themselves and their backgrounds. [00:01:56] Matt explains COSSA’s mission. [00:02:58] Matt cites evidence that community health can correlate with business outcomes and that investment can improve community indicators, and there’s a discussion on moving beyond vanity metrics like GitHub stars. [00:05:13] Daniel shares his perspective from the Open Compliance Summit (Tokyo) and the supply chain/corporate lens: organizations want confidence the software will be safe and still maintained years from now, and he talks about measuring health via collaboration networks. [00:08:34] Matt breaks value into two buckets: Distribution and IP/innovation to explain how open source communities create startup value. Daniel adds that open source and can reduce procurement friction. [00:12:23] They touch on open source as a path to standards. [00:14:50] Matt describes how COSSA supports the startups: education, best practices, and measurement and his goal is to “convert community metrics into dollars.” Daniel notes the need for a baseline framework, then customization by industry. [00:19:38] What’s next for COSSA? Matt shares COSSA is being bootstrapped, received initial Linux Foundation support, and is pursuing seed style funding. His planned membership structure is investors, founders, and customers. [00:20:36] Daniel and Matt discuss making the metric framework transparent, likely anchored via CHAOSS, and the goal to building a “Rosetta Stone” between investors and community. [00:25:49] There’s a conversation on rug pulls, incentives, and lack of a shared framework. [00:28:21] Matt describes the “covenant” concept. [00:30:34] Alice wraps with mentioning COSSA’s direction is clear, and a working group could be on the ramp for broader community participation. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:31:20] Alice’s pick is visiting outdoor Christmas light displays after dark. [00:32:27] Matt’s pick is his oldest son’s finishing his first semester in college. [00:32:58] Daniel’s pick is his son finishing his first quarter at primary school and going to the Open Compliance Summit and thanking Shane Coughlan for all his work for many years running this event. Panelist: Alice Sowerby Guests: Matt Trifiro Daniel Izquierdo Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community Alice Sowerby LinkedIn Matt Trifiro LinkedIn COSSA Daniel Izquierdo LinkedIn Bitergia Christmas Lights at Stourhead Rapturous Delight: after-dark Worcester, Worcestershire The State of Commercial Open Source 2025 (The Linux Foundation) Special Guest: Matt Trifiro.

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  7. Episode 126: Meet Leon, your new Asia host

    ٢٢ يناير

    Episode 126: Meet Leon, your new Asia host

    Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSScast! CHAOSScast – Episode 126 On this episode of CHAOSScast, host Alice Sowerby introduces a special episode welcoming Leon Nunes as the new host for the CHAOSS Asia podcast. Leon shares his background in customer success, his work with CNCF, and hardware hacking, along with his role in growing the CHAOSS Asia chapter. Together, Alice and Leon talk about the current state of the Asia community, Leon’s curiosity-driven approach to podcast hosting, the stories he wants to surface from across Asia, and how listeners can get involved or pitch episode ideas. Hit download now to find out more! [00:00:35] Leon shares his background. [00:01:24] Leon explains his customer success role, supporting customers running software in production, and his many side interests. [00:02:48] We learn how Leon started with Raspberry Pi in college, building a motion triggered music stand, being inspired by GitHub badges, and shares a recent side project assembling RGB LED Christmas tree kits and gifting them to people. [00:05:52] How did Leon find CHAOSS? He traces his path into CHAOSS Asia via a friend doing lots of outreach, and his desire to join open source communities beyond just code contributions. He also helps maintain CHAOSS Asia’s LinkedIn and Twitter. [00:09:03] Alice asks what drew him to hosting a podcast. Leon shares his love of talking to people and using conversations to understand people. [00:10:48] Alice connects Leon’s curiosity and his love of talking with podcast hosting, and reviews CHAOSScast episode types. [00:11:51] What kind of stories does Leon want to tell from Asia? He wants to explore how other communities handle challenges like participation and growth and then apply those learnings to CHAOSS Asia. He suggests inviting active CHAOSS Asia contributors to share their experiences on the podcast. [00:13:55] Alice agrees on a more exploratory approach, using conversations with active members to both document and strengthen the Asia chapter. [00:14:48] Find out where you can contact Leon on the internet. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:15:30] Alice’s pick is looking at a way to make Christmas crackers that are reusable. [00:18:04] Leon’s pick is doing a lot dancing, like Lindy Hop, and his 3D printer. Panelist: Alice Sowerby Guest: Leon Nunes Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community Alice Sowerby LinkedIn Leon Nunes Website Leon Nunes LinkedIn Leon Nunes X CHAOSS Community Chapters Most recent CHAOSS Asia Chapter meeting- November 13, 2025 (YouTube) What are Christmas crackers? (YouTube) Whiteys Lindy Hoppers - Hellzapoppin (YouTube)

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  8. Episode 125: A very CHAOTIC 2025

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    Episode 125: A very CHAOTIC 2025

    Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 125 In this final episode of the year from CHAOSScast, hosts Alice Sowerby and Harmony Elendu welcome members of the CHAOSS Board, Sean Goggins, Anita Ihuman, Georg Link, and Elizabeth Barron, for an in-depth discussion on the project's developments and future. They share their reflections on key events and trends in the open-source community over 2025. Topics include the impact of AI on open source, shifts in funding, community engagement, and the importance of psychological safety. The panelists also spotlight various CHAOSS working groups, including education, design, and technical writing, while sharing their wishes for the CHAOSS Project in 2026. Press download now! [00:00:49] The hosts and guests introduce themselves and their backgrounds. [00:02:28] Georg announces CHAOSScon in Brussels, Jan 29, 2026, Co-located with FOSDEM. [00:04:51] The guests talk about factors affecting OSS communities in 2025. [00:11:39] We hear where CHAOSS grew the most in 2025 such as regional chapters, global reach, CHAOSS Asia, with shout-outs to Divvya Mohan and Rowland Mosbergen, how metrics are being used, Design Working Group, accessibility, Practitioner Guides, and two new working groups. [00:19:45] The panel shares project and working groups they’re most proud of: Package Management, AI Alignment, Alice and Harmony for keeping CHAOSScast podcast active and alive, Paul and Peachtree Sound for editing the podcast and keeping episodes on track, Education Project, Practitioner Guides, and shared ownership of community growth. [00:28:55] What is some work that went under the radar in 2025? The guests talk about DEI Working Group, DEI Badging, Harmony and the Technical Writers Working Group, and AI’s impact on maintainers. [00:35:41] Georg and Sean have additional thoughts on AI identity and bots. Current tooling assumes human contributions, but AI agents and bots break those assumptions and there’s a need for better identity solutions and metrics that distinguish humans, bots, and multi-account actors. [00:39:33] Elizabeth would love people to give CHAOSS more feedback on engagement for newcomers to make onboarding smoother and encourages people to use the Education Project as a starting point. [00:42:07] Georg, Sean, and Anita talk about CHAOSS board priorities for 2025-2026. [00:45:25] Everyone shares their wishes for CHAOSS in 2026. [00:48:52] If anyone has any ideas, topics, questions, and guests for future CHAOSS episodes please send us an email. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Panelists: Alice Sowerby Harmony Elendu Guests: Sean Goggins Anita Ihuman Georg Link Elizabeth Barron Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community Georg Link Website Harmony Elendu X Alice Sowerby LinkedIn Sean Goggins X Elizabeth Barron X Anita Ihuman GitHub CHAOSScon 2026 Brussles, Belgium FOSDEM 2026 CHAOSS Education Project CHAOSS Onboarding Courses-GitHub CHAOSS Practitioner Guides First Person Project White Paper The Road Ahead For Identity Management In Open Source: Humans, Bots, AI Agents-And The Future Of Attribution by Diane Mueller (Bitergia) CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 121: Package Metadata Working Group with Andrew Nesbitt and Damián Vicino CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 100: Celebrating 100 episodes of CHAOSScast CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 76: CHAOSS Goals for 2024 and Beyond CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 71: What’s New in CHAOSS: Podcast Reboot Episode CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 49: CHAOSS Community Year 2021 in Review CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 1: Hello, World! Peachtree Sound Special Guest: Anita ihuman.

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This CHAOSS Community podcast features members who spent considerable time and effort to understand open source community health and how we can measure it through metrics, analytics, and software. We invite guests to this podcast to talk about how they use open source community health metrics and software in their own open source communities, companies, or foundations. This podcast fills the gap with open source community metric definitions and software on one side and their use on the other side.