Four years ago, during my PHP period, I released my first open source project: Fast titles.
It was a small tool for importing Final Cut subtitles via xml. In fact (sounds strange) the most famous video editing platform in the world doesn’t have a system to import massively subtitles, you have to insert them one by one, one per clip. A big waste of time.
The application was a small (tiny) success and after a long time many video editors still write to me to thank and ask for additional features. But now I moved on.
Here what I learned from that experience:
- It doesn’t matter if you have many or few users, solving a problem for them is always a great satisfaction.
- Use your project to experiment with something new. A language, a design pattern, a technology.. anything.
- (See above). When you use something for the first time the result could be terrible. Do it anyway. Open source is research, not demanding perfection.
- Start with a small idea. Don’t expect to build the new facebook, for that you should invest time and money. Do something possible and “get this shit done”.
- If you don’t have ideas, talk to your mum, your friends, your colleagues. A light bulb will go on.
- Love your project with all your strength but recognize when it’s time to let it go.
- Your users are not your customers. They are not paying, dedicate the right time to them and don’t accept bullying.
- Search for people who contribute and give them credits. Feedback is also a contribution
- Accept, and thanks for every single feedback you receive. You will need them a lot
- Have a button to collect money, but unless you have a lot of users you won’t get rich.
Good luck!
