Beyond the bus factor: building resilient open source projects
A presentation at GitHub Universe in in San Francisco, CA, USA by Ruth Cheesley
Beyond the bus factor GitHub Universe - San Francisco 27th October 2025 @RCheesley
LinkedIn Ruth Cheesley (she/her) Mautic Project Lead ruth.cheesley@mau c.org speaking.ruthcheesley.co.uk for slides, recording, links and resources ti @RCheesley
Many open source projects are one maintainer departure away from crisis. Here’s where we get a chance to do something about it.
Today’s schedule. • Opening and tune-in • Mapping your bus factor • How would you deal with … ? • Collaborative tactic brainstorming • Creating your action plan and tune-out beyondthebusfactor.org - links to the resources can be found here. Notes and resources on GitHub
Quick re question: Who are you, and what’s your biggest fear about your project’s sustainability? fi Let’s go around the room, and try to summarise in just 1-2 sentences
Mapping your bus factor. Most issues relating to succession planning fall into three broad categories: 1. Technical areas such as code, infrastructure 2. Governance, legal, nance and decision making fi 3. Community and relationships
Technical areas. In this section we’re considering the main technical infrastructure of your project. fi fi What this looks like will vary between projects, so feel free to adjust the terminology to t your speci c situation.
Score your risks. • 🔴 Only one person = critical risk if they leave • 🟡 Two people = risky but potentially survivable • 🟢 More than three people = resilient
How many people can do this independently right now? • Deploy to production / release • Emergency rollback of a deployment / release • Access your critical production/release infrastructure • Handle security incidents • Manage DNS and domains
Governance and decision making. In this section we’re considering the governance and decision making aspect of your project. fi fi What this looks like will vary between projects, so feel free to adjust the terminology to t your speci c situation.
How many people have responsibility for this right now? • Deciding project direction • Making emergency decisions of any nature • Making decisions that impact the future of the project • Documentation of your critical infrastructures and resources • Financial and legal decisions
Community and relationships. In this section we’re considering your community, and any other people-to-people relationships that are important to your project. fi fi What this looks like will vary between projects, so feel free to adjust the terminology to t your speci c situation.
How many people are involved in: • Community moderation • Managing communication channels (as admins) • Maintaining sponsor relations • Onboarding new contributors • Communicating with your users
Popcorn sharing: • Areas where you’re most vulnerable (your 🔴 critical risks) • Any patterns that you noticed • Any resources that you think might be helpful in addressing the critical risks Some deeper audit questions github.com/beyond-the-bus-factor/resilience-resources/blob/main/resources/bus-factor-audit.md
Succession planning: • Break out into small groups • Pick a scenario from those listed on GitHub • Discuss: • What would you do immediately? • Focus on the rst 24/48hrs • What resources would you need? Scenario cards fi github.com/beyond-the-bus-factor/resilience-resources/blob/main/resources/scenario-cards.md
Table sharing: • One key insight • What surprised you? • What would you have no idea how to handle? • What resources might be helpful to navigate this situation?
Quick re questions: Tactical practices What’s ONE practice that prevents your project from depending on any single person? • Which ones surprised you the most? • Which could you take away and action next week? fi • Are there any patterns arising?
Quick re questions: Cultural shifts How do you make it normal for people to step back before they burn out? • What makes these hard to implement? • What would it take to make this ‘the norm’ in fi your project?
Wrapping up: Your commitment Notes and resources on GitHub Get out your notepad or digital notebook and write down: • One speci c action you’re going to take in the next 30 days to address something we’ve talked about today • Share with the room if you are happy to do so • Share your updates, questions and ideas in the discussions on the repo fi github.com/beyond-the-bus-factor/resilience-resources/blob/main/sessions/github-universe-2025.md
LinkedIn Ruth Cheesley (she/her) What questions can I answer? ruth.cheesley@mau c.org speaking.ruthcheesley.co.uk for slides, recording, links and resources beyondthebusfactor.org for resource sharing ti @RCheesley
What happens when your lead maintainer burns out or steps back? Join Ruth Cheesley (Mautic) for an interactive discussion on reducing single points of failure in open source projects. Drawing from experience spinning projects out from corporate control, we’ll explore succession planning, knowledge transfer, and building resilient governance. This isn’t about perfect documentation—it’s about creating systems that help projects thrive through transitions. Leave with actionable plans for reducing your project’s bus factor.
Key takeaways Learn practical strategies for documenting critical knowledge and reducing dependency on single maintainers.
Develop succession plans that address both technical handoffs and community governance transitions.
Create maintainer sustainability practices that prevent burnout while preparing for healthy transitions.
Resources
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
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Beyond the Bus Factor
A simple site sharing resources to help organisations work on developing more resilient practices.
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Beyond the Bus Factor GitHub resources
Resources to help with identifying and addressing the bus factor in organisations, and planning for smooth succession from one state to another.
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Scenario cards
A range of scenarios to get you thinking and talking about succession planning from different perspectives.
