Addressing OSS Community Managers' Challenges in Contributor Retention
Zixuan Feng, Katie Kimura, Bianca Trinkenreich, Igor Steinmacher, Marco Gerosa, Anita Sarma

TL;DR
This paper investigates the challenges faced by OSS community managers in retaining contributors, proposing a predictive, strategy-driven framework and a prototype tool to improve retention management based on empirical research.
Contribution
It introduces a novel, practical framework and prototype for diagnosing and supporting contributor retention, grounded in mixed-methods research and community feedback.
Findings
Identified key challenges in OSS contributor retention management
Developed actionable strategies for engagement and risk diagnosis
Validated a prototype tool with real OSS communities
Abstract
Open-source software (OSS) community managers face significant challenges in retaining contributors, as they must monitor activity and engagement while navigating complex dynamics of collaboration. Current tools designed for managing contributor retention (e.g., dashboards) fall short by providing retrospective rather than predictive insights to identify potential disengagement early. Without understanding how to anticipate and prevent disengagement, new solutions risk burdening community managers rather than supporting retention management. Following the Design Science Research paradigm, we employed a mixed-methods approach for problem identification and solution design to address contributor retention. To identify the challenges hindering retention management in OSS, we conducted semi-structured interviews, a multi-vocal literature review, and community surveys. Then through an…
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Taxonomy
TopicsOpen Source Software Innovations · Software Engineering Techniques and Practices · Software Engineering Research
