Ben Balter writes about technology leadership, open source, and modern collaboration at scale. His essays blend engineering mindset with management, community building, remote work, and transparent communication—shaped by years of experience at GitHub and in public-sector tech.
175 articles from this blog
Discusses why Contributor License Agreements (CLAs) can be detrimental to open source projects by discouraging contributions and complicating the process.
A guide for open source maintainers explaining the fundamentals of open source licensing, including copyright, rights granted, and common license types.
Practical advice for open source maintainers on building and nurturing a community around their projects, from licensing to attracting contributors.
A software engineer outlines seven common antipatterns for prioritizing feature requests in software development projects.
A product manager shares seven key habits of developers who consistently ship great, user-centric features, focusing on communication and ownership.
Explains why a project's README file should serve as its foundational document, defining core goals to guide development and manage scope.
How to use GitHub's protected branches feature to give non-code contributors issue management and moderation permissions without code commit access.
Explores the concepts of 'bikeshedding' and 'honeypots' in software, introducing the idea of a 'bikeshed honeypot' to manage feedback.
A developer shares their customized Atom text editor setup for writing prose and Markdown, detailing essential packages and workflow tweaks.
A GitHub engineer shares eight key lessons for new hires, focusing on shipping early, learning workflows, and adapting to the company's unique culture.
A GitHub employee shares seven key habits and cultural traits that contribute to the effectiveness and success of employees at the company.
A guide to building great software products by absorbing complexity for users, focusing on core features, dogfooding, and optimizing for ideal use cases.
Explains why creating custom open source licenses harms collaboration and adoption, advocating for standardized licenses.
Discusses the philosophy that removing unnecessary features improves software by reducing complexity and cognitive load for users.
A GitHub employee shares a curated list of recommended books for hackers, geeks, and open source developers on technology and business.
A product manager shares twelve key responsibilities and daily activities based on their experience at GitHub, focusing on accountability, team leadership, and user advocacy.
A guide on managing difficult pull request discussions, focusing on setting ground rules, assigning roles, and maintaining productive collaboration.
Analysis of the US government's limited open source policy, arguing for broader adoption to modernize and increase transparency.
Argues that product design should focus on the core 80% of users, not power users or edge cases, to avoid feature creep and improve the out-of-box experience.
Explores how open source software acts like Yelp, shifting power from publishers to consumers by amplifying user feedback and demanding higher standards.
