

Ask HN: How does the non-technical type contribute to open source projects? - brianlash

I've seen this exchange time and again, both on Hacker News and around the web. Someone asks "How do I develop my programming chops?" and the chorus answers "Contribute to an open source project."<p>It's obvious to even a non-programmer like me that there are as many reasons to contribute to an open source project as there are projects to contribute to. But what room is there for those of us who work on the requirements gathering and application analysis/design side (re: the business side) of software development? I'm looking for a role.<p>In a fluffy sense this may mean brand ambassador or evangelist, but in a more functional (in my case preferred) sense it could mean contributions to the vision document and ongoing requirements management. Anything concerning project management. Are there such roles in your typical open source project? If not, how would you advise the technical-but-not-<i>really</i>-technical individual such as myself volunteer his or her time?
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JoachimSchipper
For what it's worth, Mozilla seems to have more non-technical types than usual
for an open-source project. Canonical may also have something to do for you.
Note that going beyond "requirements gathering" will require a lot of trust.

