Ben Balter

@ben.balter.com

Director of Hubber Enablement at @GitHub. Previously @GitHub Engineering, Security, Trust & Safety leader, and before that @PIFgov. Legacy blue check in Washington, D.C.

864 followers361 following189 stories

Longform Stories

Reorgs happen

In thirteen years at GitHub I was part of 25 reorgs—almost one every six months. Reorgs are a constant in tech, not a crisis. Here's how to navigate them.

6d ago·7 min read·1219 words

AI-first program management: amplifying judgment, not replacing it

AI-augmented program management is the natural evolution of async-first and engineering-inspired workflows — amplifying human judgment, not replacing it.

May 31·12 min read·2205 words

The brag doc

Why you need a running record of your wins—and how to keep one without dying of embarrassment

Apr 27·5 min read·833 words

How to one-on-one

Most 1:1s waste your team's only protected synchronous time on status updates. Here's how to run ones worth showing up for.

Apr 27·5 min read·979 words

No agenda, no meeting

Announcing noagendanomeeting.net — a single-page site advocating that every meeting deserves an agenda, and most meetings deserve to be a document instead.

Apr 6·2 min read·375 words

Agentic workflows and the future of software development

AI coding agents aren't replacing developers — they're extending the transparency, code review, and collaboration patterns behind open source.

Mar 18·10 min read·1878 words

I've worked remotely at GitHub for thirteen years: here's what actually works.

When I joined GitHub in 2013, I found a company that had rethought how work happens. Thirteen years later, those lessons are more relevant than ever.

Mar 4·7 min read·1323 words

How to run LanguageTool on macOS

Set up LanguageTool as a free, open-source Grammarly alternative that runs locally on your Mac. No subscription required.

Jan 30·6 min read·1083 words

The "I don't like what they're saying, so they shouldn't be allowed to say it" approach to crisis management

Silencing dissent erodes trust, invites negativity, and stifles learning. The best leaders embrace transparency instead.

Jan 8·6 min read·1071 words

Cathedral vs Bazaar People Management

What if we applied open source's cathedral vs. bazaar metaphor to management? Cathedral managers control; bazaar managers empower.

Dec 8·6 min read·1036 words

How to communicate like a GitHub engineer

How GitHub turned its guiding communication principles into prescriptive practices to manage internal signal-to-noise ratio.

Oct 4·1 min read·22 words

Transparent collaboration is the andon of knowledge work

Like Toyota's andon cord, transparent collaboration lets anyone stop the line when they spot a problem in knowledge work.

Aug 30·8 min read·1488 words

Remote work requires communicating more, less frequently

Async communication is like gzip compression for humans—more upfront processing, but greater throughput with fewer packets.

Aug 4·3 min read·520 words

Practice inclusive scheduling

Small scheduling choices — writing dates unambiguously, including time zones, and building in breaks — make distributed teams feel included.

May 19·2 min read·220 words

Pull requests are a form of documentation

Pull requests capture not just what changed, but who, why, and what alternatives were considered. Treat every PR as a time capsule for future contributors.

May 19·4 min read·612 words

Meetings are a point of escalation, not a starting point

Most meetings are just information downloads that could've been a doc. Treat them as an escalation based on complexity, not the default starting point.

Apr 20·3 min read·521 words

Intro to GitHub for non-technical roles

GitHub isn't just for developers. A practical guide for non-technical roles to follow along, collaborate, and track work with confidence.

Mar 2·10 min read·1868 words

How to write a great extended leave document

A battle-tested template for handing off your responsibilities before extended leave, so your team stays unblocked and nothing falls through the cracks.

Jan 13·6 min read·1018 words

Manage like an engineer

If issues, pull requests, and project boards are the best way to develop software, should they not also be the best way to manage software development?

Jan 10·10 min read·1961 words

Helpful 404s for Jekyll (and GitHub Pages)

How to build 404 pages for Jekyll and GitHub Pages that automatically suggest similar URLs to those requested, using Levenshtein distance and your sitemap.

Jun 30·3 min read·533 words

Why you should work asynchronously

Async is what makes remote work actually work. It produces better outcomes, improves work-life balance, and unlocks flow beyond Cold War-era workflows.

Mar 17·7 min read·1323 words

The seven things a corporate Chief of Staff does

Seven core responsibilities that define the corporate Chief of Staff role, from tactical office management to strategic advising.

Mar 9·14 min read·2749 words

Leaders show their work

Great leaders don't just communicate decisions—they explain how and why. Without that context, every decision sounds like "because I said so."

Feb 16·12 min read·2271 words

Using GitHub Actions to get notified when an API response (or web page) changes

A customizable GitHub Actions workflow that uses cURL, jq, and Twilio to notify you via text message when a web page or API response changes.

Dec 15·3 min read·582 words

How I re-over-engineered my home network for privacy and security

How I used Docker Compose, Ansible, and Caddy to re-over-engineer my network setup for easier maintenance, treating my Raspberry Pi like cattle, not a pet.

Sep 1·13 min read·2403 words

Advice for managing open source communities at scale

A four-part series on managing open source at scale: setting contributors up for success, automating workflows, governance, and moderation.

Jun 15·2 min read·314 words

Moderating open source conversations to keep them productive

Keep open source discussions productive with codes of conduct, community reporting, and tiered moderation tools to de-escalate conflict.

Jun 15·5 min read·882 words

Five (and a half) practical tips for governing your open source project

Practical tips for governing your growing open source project, from org-owned repos and enforcing 2FA to the triage role and appointing community managers.

Jun 14·5 min read·901 words

Nine things a (technical) program manager does

What a Technical Program Manager actually does day-to-day, from a Product Manager who found the responsibilities were already familiar.

Mar 26·10 min read·1842 words

Octoversary - eight years of optimizing for developer happiness

Reflecting on eight years at GitHub, from GeoJSON rendering and GitHub Pages to trust and safety, open source licensing, and 200,000 words of blogging.

Mar 4·10 min read·1803 words

What to read before starting (or interviewing) at GitHub

Your unofficial reading list for understanding GitHub's async-by-default culture, communication norms, and what it's actually like to be a GitHubber.

Feb 1·5 min read·827 words

Analysis of federal .gov domains, pre-Biden edition

A data-driven snapshot of 1,121 federal .gov domains ahead of the Biden administration, covering HTTPS adoption, CMS usage, open source, and more.

Jan 11·4 min read·655 words

The top 10 posts of the past 10 years

Celebrating 10 years and nearly 200,000 words of blogging with a countdown of the most viewed posts, from open source licensing to communicating at GitHub.

Sep 12·3 min read·401 words

Budget for the hidden "internet tax"

Trust and safety is a cost of doing business on the internet. If you're building a platform, budget for abuse protection before someone gets hurt.

Aug 31·9 min read·1767 words

Trust and safety is not a product edge case

Trust and safety isn’t a product edge case. It’s the unfortunate reality of being an online service provider—prioritize it before someone gets hurt.

Aug 31·7 min read·1242 words

Seven trust and safety features to build into your product before someone gets hurt

Seven essential trust and safety features to build into your platform before abuse happens, from blocking and reporting to community guidelines.

Aug 31·6 min read·1164 words

How I manage GitHub notifications

My system for staying on top of 200+ daily GitHub notifications without losing focus. Watch liberally, unsubscribe often, and triage by signal.

Aug 25·7 min read·1286 words

Tools of the trade: How I communicate at GitHub (and why)

How I choose communication tools at GitHub, from issues to Slack and Zoom, and why the tool you pick matters as much as what you say.

Aug 14·8 min read·1483 words

Automate common open source community management tasks

Never force a human to do what a computer can. How to automate code review, issue triage, and maintainer workflows to scale your open source community.

Aug 10·5 min read·953 words

Seven ways to set open source contributors up for success

Seven practical ways to set contributors up for success before they open their first issue, from the contributor funnel to being responsive.

May 15·5 min read·865 words

Eight tips for working remotely

Tools alone won't make remote work succeed. Eight cultural rules for effective async communication, regardless of your industry or role.

Mar 18·10 min read·1930 words

User blocking vs. user muting

Why GitHub's approach to user blocking diverges from other social networks, and what's different about moderating a code collaboration platform.

Feb 6·10 min read·1854 words

10 lessons learned fostering a community of communities at GitHub

What GitHub's Community and Safety team learned building a trust and safety framework to help maintainers grow healthy, open source communities.

Jan 17·13 min read·2500 words

Resolutions for sustaining and growing open source communities

Four resolutions for being a better open source community member, from reducing your bus factor to being a gracious dinner party host to your contributors.

Jan 2·6 min read·1120 words

A community of communities: Empowering maintainers to grow communities around their code

My OSCON 2019 talk on GitHub's approach to empowering maintainers to grow safe, welcoming open source communities that scale alongside the code.

Jul 18·2 min read·250 words

Go near, go far, meet in the middle

A three-phase approach for product managers joining established teams: tackle known wins, build a shared vision, then discover how to get there.

Jun 28·5 min read·971 words

What lawyers can learn from open source

How lawyers can adopt the workflows, tools, and philosophies of open source to make their legal practice more remote-friendly

Feb 6·1 min read·108 words

Problems, not solutions

The most valuable thing a product manager can do is frame the right problem for the right user before anyone writes a line of code.

Jul 16·6 min read·1054 words

Yes, No, Maybe

When responding to customer feature requests your answer should be in the form of "we're doing that", "we're not doing that", or "we might do that".

May 4·4 min read·686 words

Why you probably shouldn't add a CLA to your open source project

CLAs create a hostile developer experience, require significant overhead, and are usually unnecessary given modern open source norms.

Jan 2·13 min read·2410 words

Everything an open source maintainer might need to know about open source licensing

There's lots of internet lore around open source licensing. An attorney and open source developer answers the most common questions.

Nov 28·12 min read·2347 words

Twelve tips for growing communities around your open source project

Publishing code isn't enough. Twelve practical tips to attract users, welcome contributors, and grow a healthy open source community.

Nov 10·14 min read·2654 words

How not to prioritize a feature

The hardest part of software development is not coming up with features to build, but instead, deciding what features will have the biggest impact.

Jun 19·8 min read·1413 words

Seven ways to consistently ship great features

The best developers don't just write code. They over-communicate, ship the smallest delta, and optimize for users over maintainability.

May 23·6 min read·1198 words

Your project's README is your project's constitution

Your README doesn't just communicate the "what" and "how"—it communicates the "why" and fights scope creep and technical debt.

Apr 14·5 min read·838 words

Using protected branches to empower non-code contributors on GitHub

Use GitHub's protected branches to grant collaborators moderator permissions without the ability to merge pull requests or push to master.

Apr 14·3 min read·404 words

Three easy ways to show employees they're appreciated

Small gestures—recognizing birthdays, work anniversaries, and life milestones—go a long way, especially when there's no water cooler.

Apr 4·5 min read·879 words

Bikeshed honeypots

A bikeshed honeypot is an obvious flaw you plant in a proposal to divert attention from the parts you feel strongly about.

Mar 1·5 min read·845 words

How I Atom (for prose)

A detailed look at the packages, prose linters, and configuration tweaks I use to turn the Atom text editor into a powerful Markdown writing environment.

Dec 23·5 min read·953 words

Eight things I wish I knew my first week at GitHub

Tips I share with every new GitHubber — from shipping something in your first two weeks to pushing through the inevitable overwhelm.

Oct 31·12 min read·2203 words

The seven habits of highly effective GitHubbers

Seven traits I've observed in successful GitHubbers over the years, from shipping early and often to the appreciation economy.

Sep 13·11 min read·2062 words

How to make a product great

Great products absorb complexity on behalf of users, not the other way around. 10 principles for building software that's complex to build and easy to use.

Aug 22·8 min read·1407 words

Why you shouldn't write your own open source license

Unless absolutely required, avoid custom, modified, or non-standard open source licenses, which will serve as a barrier to downstream use of your code.

Aug 1·9 min read·1608 words

Removing a feature is a feature

Features aren't free. Every time you remove one that doesn't serve your core use case, you're adding an implicit feature that does.

Jul 21·8 min read·1444 words

Books for geeks

A curated reading list for developers who care about more than just code, covering technology, open source culture, and the business of software.

Jul 11·1 min read·115 words

Twelve things a product manager does

What does a product manager actually do all day? After six months of note-taking, here are 12 responsibilities from user advocacy to strategic thinking.

Jun 6·10 min read·1911 words

Moderating a controversial pull request

Ground rules, assigned roles, and clear timelines keep controversial pull requests from devolving into the internet's comments section.

May 11·5 min read·890 words

The missed opportunity that is the White House Open Source Policy

Requiring the world's largest code producer to open source only 20% is a lost opportunity. A three-year pilot won't yield results we don't already know.

Apr 11·6 min read·1162 words

Optimizing for power users and edge cases is the easy part

Stop optimizing for power users and edge cases. The real challenge is nailing the out-of-box experience for 80% of users.

Mar 8·5 min read·947 words

How to derail any meeting

How a WWII field manual can help modern knowledge workers identify those inadvertently sabotaging your organization today.

Jan 15·4 min read·783 words

The six types of pull requests you see on GitHub

Not all pull requests are equal. Six distinct strategies for using pull requests on GitHub, from quick heads-ups to deep reviews.

Dec 8·3 min read·524 words

Open source as Yelp for software

Open source is like Yelp for software, with the potential to shift the balance of power from publishers to consumers.

Dec 8·8 min read·1568 words

Why open source

Open source isn't a fad. Here are twenty-five economic, moral, and personal reasons your organization should embrace it.

Nov 23·18 min read·3415 words

Four characteristics of modern collaboration tools

The best collaboration tools share four traits: open, linkable, asynchronous, and process-capturing. Are you working the way you'd like?

Nov 18·15 min read·2932 words

Why everything should have a URL

When knowledge lives in people's heads and inboxes, it doesn't scale. Giving decisions and processes URLs makes context discoverable, async, and opt-in.

Nov 12·15 min read·2913 words

The three biggest challenges in government IT

Change aversion, lack of technocratic leadership, and heavyweight processes bred by distrust keep government IT 5-10 years behind the private sector

Oct 18·12 min read·2298 words

Bringing open source workflows to the enterprise

You don't have to share your code to benefit from open source. Adopting open source workflows behind the firewall produces more modern software regardless.

Sep 21·8 min read·1447 words

How to add an "improve this content" button to your GitHub Pages site

Add an edit button to your GitHub Pages site and invite readers to collaborate on your content — it's just one predictable URL.

Sep 13·2 min read·356 words

How GitHub uses automated testing to empower developers to write less-corporate blog posts

Instead of relying on editors to catch marketing speak, use automated tests and CI to enforce voice, tone, and style guidelines on your corporate blog.

Sep 10·5 min read·986 words

Five principles to guide any government IT effort

Nearly three years later, the founding principles of project MyGov remain valid guideposts for any reform effort in government.

Aug 23·3 min read·567 words

The Zen of GitHub

Call it taste, culture, or zen — every organization has shared assumptions that guide decisions and resolve ambiguity in pursuit of its mission.

Aug 12·3 min read·447 words

Speak like a human: 12 ways tech companies can write less-corporate blog posts

Your users don't care how excited you are about your new feature. Twelve rules for writing corporate blog posts that sound human.

Jul 20·12 min read·2282 words

Open procurement: procurement in an increasingly open source world

Government agencies should buy pull requests that fix specific issues, not generic developer hours. Treat contractors as contributors.

Jul 11·8 min read·1425 words

Merge by committee

Reviewing pull requests in weekly committee meetings kills open source projects. Decentralize governance and reduce information imbalance.

Jun 22·7 min read·1311 words

Using GitHub Pages to showcase your organization's open source efforts

A step-by-step guide to creating a branded, customizable developer portal for your organization's open source projects using GitHub Pages and Jekyll.

Jun 11·7 min read·1211 words

Copyright notices for open source projects

Who holds the copyright? What year do you use? Do you even need a notice? Everything you need to know about open source copyright.

Jun 3·8 min read·1488 words

Test your content

Treat content as code and unlock CI for prose. Use HTML Proofer and Travis CI to automatically test every link, image, and change.

May 22·3 min read·568 words

Analysis of federal .gov domains, 2015 edition

A data-driven look at federal .gov domains: only 25% enforce HTTPS, 87% have no detectable CMS, and dozens still run decade-old servers.

May 11·3 min read·556 words

Eight lessons learned hacking on GitHub Pages for six months

Eight lessons from scaling GitHub Pages from a 100-line shell script to a full OAuth app handling 250K requests per minute.

Apr 27·1 min read·31 words

The difference between 18F and USDS

18F and USDS both aim to modernize government technology, but with divergent approaches: one ships culture, the other ships confidence.

Apr 22·15 min read·2885 words

19 reasons why technologists don't want to work at your government agency

Government agencies struggle to attract developers due to outdated tools, distrusted employees, and a culture that optimizes for process over innovation.

Apr 21·16 min read·3056 words

Five best practices in open source: external engagement

Publishing code isn't enough — open source means building communities. Five best practices for engaging contributors and growing your project.

Mar 17·14 min read·2734 words

Five best practices in open source: internal collaboration

You can't foster open source publicly while running a closed-source culture internally. Five best practices for internal collaboration.

Mar 8·9 min read·1761 words

Explain like I'm five: Jekyll collections

Jekyll collections extend posts and pages to support non-dated but related content -- like team members, products, or recipes.

Feb 20·8 min read·1412 words

Why your agency's first open source project is going to be a flop

Your agency's first open source project is set up to fail. Start small and build organizational muscle memory before going public.

Feb 11·6 min read·1188 words

Diff (and collaborate on) Microsoft Word documents using GitHub

Word Diff automatically converts Word documents to Markdown when you commit to GitHub, so they can be diffed, versioned, and collaborated on like code.

Feb 6·5 min read·833 words

The fine print nobody reads: what to do so government can use your service

Government agencies can't agree to your standard terms of service. Here's why, and how to negotiate federal-compatible TOS.

Jan 26·8 min read·1559 words

Hacking GitHub: 14 simple tools to help introduce open source to the uninitiated

14 open source apps I built to help non-technical users collaborate on GitHub, from Word-to-Markdown conversion to simplified issue forms.

Jan 11·4 min read·639 words

Why you should care about HTTPS, even if you have nothing to hide

HTTPS protects more than passwords and credit cards. It prevents censorship by making selective content blocking impossible.

Jan 6·5 min read·830 words

Geeks and suits

In government IT, change depends on geeks and suits -- yet despite being in an industry built on communication, they rarely talk.

Dec 18·7 min read·1397 words

The myth of government IT

Government IT is held back less by law and more by myth -- decade-old assumptions about technology that calcified into policy.

Dec 17·5 min read·873 words

A White House open source policy written by a geek

The White House Open Source Policy should prefer existing platforms, build real communities, and share code as widely as possible.

Nov 24·9 min read·1634 words

15 rules for communicating at GitHub

How GitHub uses issues and chat for async communication — fifteen rules that eliminate the 'you had to be there' problem in corporate workflows.

Nov 6·16 min read·3057 words

What's next for federal IT policy, IMHO

Federal IT policy needs to move past cold-war-era workflows and alphabet-soup compliance toward a culture of openness.

Oct 15·4 min read·612 words

What is a Government Evangelist?

What a GitHub Government Evangelist does: help agencies ship software better and bring Silicon Valley practices to Washington.

Oct 15·3 min read·562 words

Everything a government attorney needs to know about open source software licensing

What government lawyers need to know about open source licensing — from MIT to GPL, consuming, publishing, and accepting contributions.

Oct 8·11 min read·2031 words

Eight reasons why government contractors should embrace open source software

Eight reasons government contractors should embrace open source — from free advertising and better code to attracting top talent.

Oct 8·9 min read·1631 words

If you liked it then you should have put a URL on it

Every decision deserves its own URL — one that captures what was decided, who made the call, and why. Give your content a permanent home.

Oct 7·8 min read·1438 words

Disclosed source is not the same as open source

Publishing code without fostering community isn't open source — it's disclosed source. True open source is a two-way relationship.

Sep 29·3 min read·516 words

Our code deserves better

Government delivers multi-million dollar software projects on CD-ROMs in triplicate. Modern development practices demand better.

Sep 29·5 min read·874 words

Open source is (not) insecure

Open source software isn't inherently less secure than proprietary alternatives. That myth stems from fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD).

Sep 22·5 min read·995 words

Three things you learn going from the most bureaucratic organization in the world to the least

Three lessons from moving from the federal government to GitHub: trust, happiness, and treating relationships as assets.

Aug 24·7 min read·1368 words

Why isn't all government software open source?

From enterprise FUD to closed-source contractors to a culture of no, an entire value chain keeps taxpayer-funded code behind the firewall.

Aug 3·8 min read·1470 words

Why FedRAMP actually makes it harder for government agencies to move to the cloud

FedRAMP was supposed to make cloud adoption easier for federal agencies. Instead, it's making it harder to keep pace with the private sector.

Jul 29·10 min read·1944 words

Analysis of Federal Executive .govs (Part Deux)

Revisiting 1,229 federal .gov domains three years later to measure SSL, IPv6, CMS adoption, and open data compliance. The results are decidedly mixed.

Jul 7·3 min read·444 words

How to identify a strong open source project

How to evaluate an open source project's health — from update frequency to community engagement — before you depend on it.

Jun 2·5 min read·976 words

Open government is so '08, or why collaborative government is the next big thing

Technology enables government to move beyond transparency to true collaboration. Here's why that shift matters.

Jun 2·6 min read·1088 words

Word versus Markdown: more than mere semantics

How we consume content has changed dramatically, yet how we author it hasn't. Markdown forces you to write for the web.

Mar 31·4 min read·764 words

Want to innovate government? Focus on culture

Parachuting technologists into agencies isn't enough. Government innovation requires building a culture that values technology.

Mar 21·7 min read·1277 words

Header hover anchor links on GitHub Pages using Jekyll

Add GitHub-style hover anchor links to your Jekyll headings with CSS and JavaScript so readers can deep-link to any section.

Mar 13·2 min read·342 words

Open source, not just software anymore

Open source has always been about the right to modify, not contribute. As those workflows spread beyond software, we may need a new word.

Jan 27·8 min read·1578 words

Why no one uses your government data

Next time you publish a data source, ask one question: how can you optimize the experience for the data consumer?

Dec 30·3 min read·554 words

That's not how the internet works

Stop publishing monolithic datasets. Treat your GitHub repo like a RESTful API — granular, URL-addressable, and optimized for consumers.

Nov 21·7 min read·1348 words

Jekyll: Where content is truly king

Choosing Jekyll over a traditional CMS for government.github.com freed us to spend six months iterating on what mattered most — the content.

Oct 30·2 min read·357 words

Ten Things You Learn as a Presidential Innovation Fellow

The challenges we faced were overwhelmingly administrative, cultural and bureaucratic in nature. Here are 10 things I know now I wish I had known then.

Sep 30·8 min read·1505 words

Treat Data as Code

Developers learned decades ago that version control and collaboration are essential. It's time we apply those same practices to data.

Sep 16·5 min read·949 words

Friction

Friction — the time between wanting to contribute and actually contributing — is the only metric that matters for open source.

Aug 11·5 min read·912 words

Everyone Contributes

Code is just one way to contribute to open source. Projects thrive when they create clear paths for non-technical contributors to participate.

Aug 11·3 min read·574 words

Bet on the little guy

On the internet, simple and open formats always win. From HTTP to JSON to Markdown, the lightweight underdog consistently beats its proprietary rival.

Jul 2·3 min read·476 words

The technology's the easy part

In government IT, technology is never the hard part. Culture is. Stop building new tools and start sustaining the ones you already have.

Jul 1·6 min read·1080 words

How to convert Shapefiles to GeoJSON maps for use on GitHub (and why you should)

A step-by-step guide to converting ESRI Shapefiles to GeoJSON for rendering as interactive maps on GitHub, plus why open formats matter for public data.

Jun 26·3 min read·436 words

An open letter to government CIOs

Government CIOs don't need bigger budgets or more staff. They need to build lean, iterate quickly, and embrace open source as a way of working.

Jun 12·3 min read·530 words

We've Been Selling Open Source Wrong

Demanding agencies release code misses the point. Open source is a culture and workflow, not a deliverable. Fix the process and the code follows.

May 14·5 min read·806 words

The store that sells only one thing.

Tech consultants who define themselves by a single language or framework are like a store that sells one product. Customers bring problems, not solutions.

Feb 27·3 min read·446 words

The next big thing is already here

Want to predict the next technology trend? Look at how open source developers work. The tools they build for themselves today become mainstream tomorrow.

Feb 6·2 min read·344 words

What is a 'Hacker'?

In DC, 'hacker' is a dirty word. But the hacker ethic — sharing, openness, decentralization — is the mindset government needs to solve hard problems.

Feb 4·5 min read·867 words

Introducing JekyllBot

Automatically generate a JSON content API for Jekyll-based posts and pages. Uses Heroku, works with GitHub pages.

Dec 27·2 min read·325 words

Securing the Status Quo

Federal agencies spend billions on IT security, yet rigid compliance frameworks create false safety while stifling innovation against real threats.

Dec 26·38 min read·7470 words

Deprecate Management

Open source communities ship code across geographies and timezones without managers. Their collaborative practices have lessons for all of us.

Dec 16·5 min read·939 words

Why WordPress's next version should just give it a REST already

The internet naturally converges on elegant standards. For WordPress to keep up with modern CMSs, it needs to expose all content through a RESTful API.

Dec 15·7 min read·1275 words

We've been trained to make paper

If the internet is the primary medium by which content is consumed, shouldn't that be the primary medium for which content is prepared?

Oct 19·5 min read·948 words

Open Source is not a verb

Open source, at its core, is actually not about code, but about connecting people around a shared vision to encourage collaborative problem solving.

Oct 15·4 min read·776 words

Open Source for Government

A collaborative resource for government employees looking to participate in the open source community.

Oct 9·1 min read·54 words

Welcome to the Post-CMS World

Jekyll (and other static-sites) lead to simple, flexible, and reliable websites that allow for a renewed focus on what actually matters: the content.

Oct 1·6 min read·1119 words

Government's Release of Federally Funded Source Code: Public Domain or Open Source? Yes.

The question isn't whether government code should be public domain or open source. It's how the open source community can help agencies get there.

Jul 26·5 min read·837 words

The Demise of the Personal Dashboard

Google retired iGoogle. Startups favor activity feeds and minimal interfaces. The drag-and-drop dashboard era is over, and simplicity is the new default.

Jul 10·6 min read·1001 words

Why You Should Always Write Software as Open Source, Even When It's Never Going to Be

When nobody will see your code, you cut corners. Writing as if it were open source produces more flexible, modular, and maintainable software from day one.

Jun 26·5 min read·831 words

Publishing Government Data That Developers Will Actually Use

Publishing government data isn't as simple as pressing publish. Ten steps to building APIs and ecosystems developers actually use.

Jun 2·6 min read·1089 words

Free Yourself from the Tyranny of Sharepoint

Sharepoint is a plague upon the American workforce — here's how to escape with open source and modern collaboration tools.

May 10·1 min read·84 words

WordPress as a Collaboration Platform

A presentation on how teams use WordPress beyond publishing, from collaborative document editing to progress tracking and workflow integration.

May 8·1 min read·142 words

Enterprise Open Source Usage Is Up, But Challenges Remain

80% of enterprise uses open source; 2/3 contribute code upstream; and 1 in 4 have detrimental open source policy.

Apr 23·1 min read·28 words

CFPB Accepts First Citizen-Submitted Code on Behalf of Federal Government

CFPB accepted the first citizen-submitted pull request in federal government history — a two-word typo fix that set a historic precedent.

Apr 15·3 min read·488 words

What's Missing from CFPB's Awesome New Source Code Policy

CFPB's open-source policy nails code procurement and publishing, but misses the secret sauce of actively participating in the open-source community.

Apr 10·6 min read·1191 words

WordPress for Government - A Problem of Perception

WordPress outperforms Drupal on paper, yet Drupal powers twice as many federal .govs as every other CMS combined. It's a perception problem.

Mar 5·4 min read·708 words

PHP is Insecure (and Other Enterprise Open-Source F.U.D.)

PHP's bad security reputation in government and enterprise is largely FUD, outdated assumptions, and confusing popularity with vulnerability.

Mar 2·5 min read·833 words

GitHub for Journalism — What WordPress Post Forking could do to Editorial Workflows

Wired found GitHub too complex for newsrooms. What if WordPress could offer the same fork-and-merge collaboration model with its signature simplicity?

Feb 28·5 min read·882 words

Open-Source Alternatives to Proprietary Enterprise Software

A collaboratively maintained list of open-source alternatives to proprietary enterprise software, from the UK's procurement toolkit on GitHub.

Feb 27·2 min read·203 words

Towards a More Agile Government

Federal IT spends billions annually, yet fewer than 9% of projects ship on time and on budget. The fix requires regulatory reform and agile.

Nov 29·36 min read·7067 words

Making WordPress More Shareable, Sociable, and Likeable

Presentation slides from CrushIQ on using WordPress to push content to social networks, pull social content into your site, and earn fans.

Nov 14·1 min read·97 words

Federal Agility: a Cultural Solution to a Technical Problem

Government's biggest IT challenge isn't technology, it's culture. Agile adoption requires rethinking risk aversion, incentives, and rigid waterfall habits.

Nov 1·10 min read·1868 words

Why Digital Talent Doesn't Want To Work At Your Company

Top tech talent doesn't need perks or a Silicon Valley zip code. They want the chance to change the world, and your bureaucracy is standing in the way.

Oct 29·3 min read·454 words

Advanced Workflow Management Tools for WP Document Revisions

WP Document Revisions now integrates with Edit Flow, adding email notifications, custom metadata, team chat, and calendar views to your document workflow.

Oct 24·2 min read·339 words

Analysis of Federal Executive .govs

A scan of every federal executive .gov reveals that only 73% are live, Drupal dominates as a CMS, and 93% of live domains use no detectable CMS at all.

Sep 7·3 min read·518 words

Why WordPress

The case for WordPress as the world's most versatile publishing platform, from its proven track record and ease of use to its community-driven ecosystem.

Sep 1·11 min read·2141 words

Enterprise, Open Source, and Why Better is not Enough

Open source won't win the enterprise by being better. The community must match proprietary software's polish and professionalism to be taken seriously.

Aug 31·6 min read·1026 words

WP Document Revisions — Document Management and Version Control for WordPress

Open-source document management and version control for WordPress. Collaboratively edit files of any format and track workflow progress.

Aug 29·5 min read·941 words

Google Analytics Tracking of Jetpack (Sharedaddy) Social Engagement

Track Facebook, Twitter, and Google +1 shares in Google Analytics with social engagement tracking and the Jetpack Sharedaddy plugin.

Jun 30·2 min read·273 words

Groupon and LivingSocial: a Limited-Time Offer

Daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial aren't the next e-commerce wave—they're bad for merchants and can't survive a crowded market.

Jun 16·6 min read·1192 words

What's Your Hosting Company's Average Subpoena Response Time?

Your hosting company's willingness (or unwillingness) to comply with Subpoenas may soon be seen as a competitive feature.

May 10·4 min read·609 words

Fair Use, Excerpting, and Copying Content in the Internet Ecosystem

The Internet's *laissez-faire* Internet ecosystem of liberal excerpting is often at odds with both traditional media and the law.

Apr 27·6 min read·1092 words

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Code

Slides and recording from a WordPress DC Meetup lightning talk on HTML and PHP basics for non-developers who don't want to break their sites.

Apr 12·2 min read·298 words

When all you have is a pair of bolt cutters...

WordPress can do SharePoint better than SharePoint. A proposal to build document management and version control on top of WordPress's proven core.

Apr 4·5 min read·830 words

Regular Expression to Parse Word-style Footnotes into WordPress's Simple Footnotes Format

Regular Expression to automatically parse Microsoft Word's footnote format into a more web-friendly format for WordPress's Simple Footnotes plugin

Mar 20·2 min read·307 words

Using WordPress to Craft Your Personal Brand

Recording and slides from my brief talk at March's joint WordCampDC and Hacks/Hackers DC MeetUp on leveraging WordPress to craft your personal brand.

Mar 9·3 min read·403 words

A Site By Any Other Name...

DHS seized six sports-streaming domains before the Super Bowl, raising questions about due process in online copyright enforcement.

Feb 3·6 min read·1047 words

GW Course Schedule and Campus API

Documenting George Washington University's course schedule and campus map API endpoints, with a PHP wrapper to access the data.

Jan 25·2 min read·240 words

WordPress Emphasis Plugin: Highlight and Permalink Text

A WordPress plugin implementing the NYT open-source emphasis script for highlighting and permalinking text at the paragraph and sentence level.

Jan 11·1 min read·154 words

Twitter Goes to Bat for WikiLeaks, RTs @FBI's Court Order

Twitter contested a gag order in the WikiLeaks investigation, fighting to inform its users that the government demanded their data.

Jan 11·4 min read·700 words

The Files "in" the Computer -- Zoolander and the California Supreme Court

The California Supreme Court ruled police can search your phone during a routine traffic stop, accessing your entire digital life without a warrant.

Jan 4·5 min read·924 words

Late-Night Infomercials: Guaranteed to Extend the 4th Amendment or Your Money Back

The Sixth Circuit's ruling in United States v. Warshak extended Fourth Amendment warrant protections to email stored on third-party servers.

Dec 20·3 min read·551 words

The Internet is Series of Tubes (oh, and Tollgates too)

Comcast demanded Level 3 pay extra fees for Netflix access, erecting tollbooths on the information superhighway and raising net neutrality alarms.

Dec 1·4 min read·655 words

Free Trade in China? Just Google it.

Google's white paper argues China's internet censorship violates WTO free trade commitments by blocking access to online commerce.

Nov 29·7 min read·1275 words

Twitter Mentions as Comments WordPress Plugin

A WordPress plugin that scours Twitter for mentions of your blog posts and inserts them as comments using WordPress's built-in system.

Nov 29·2 min read·338 words

Will Federal Contracting Officers Soon Have Their Heads in the Clouds?

Cloud computing already powers your daily life. Federal agencies can harness that same transformative power for modern governance.

Nov 15·9 min read·1723 words

What Fourteen-Century Apple Pie Teaches Us About Sharing

Cooks Source magazine published Monica Gaudio's apple pie recipe without permission, sparking a copyright firestorm about online content theft.

Nov 8·5 min read·936 words

Removing the Barriers to Organizational Agility

Recording of a GW Tech Alumni panel discussion on removing the barriers to organizational agility in government and enterprise environments.

Nov 6·1 min read·166 words

Does Every Cloud Have a Silver Lining?

Cloud computing is inevitable, but will digital due process protections keep pace with law enforcement's expanding surveillance powers?

Oct 10·3 min read·598 words

New Media Flak: Megaphone vs. Cocktail Party

A recent back and forth in the opinion pages of GW's paper of note brought to light an emerging divide in publicists' approaches to social media.

Sep 13·3 min read·491 words

WordPress Resume Plugin

WP Resume uses WordPress 3.0's custom post types to get your résumé online. If you've got a WordPress site, you already know how to use it.

Sep 12·3 min read·405 words