Even though we value ‘community over code’, code is important. So, mentors should keep an eye on coding velocity — how frequent are commits, how many distinct individuals are committing, arrival and review rate of PRs, and whether work is happening in main branch or somewhere else. The GitHub reports cover most of these metrics.
Change in coding velocity is often the first sign that something significant has happened in the project’s ecosystem — such as that a company that employs several committers has shifted its focus away from the project. It is important that mentors are aware of that context, and unfortunately PPMC members don’t usually provide it. Julian > On Jan 25, 2026, at 2:07 PM, Justin Mclean <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, > This month, I want to talk about something we often notice in the Incubator > but rarely discuss directly: how projects keep up their momentum between > releases. > Podlings usually don’t fail all at once. Instead, activity often slows > gradually. There are fewer reviews, slower discussions, and longer waits for > decisions, long before any release delays appear. Still, long gaps between > releases aren’t always a bad sign. Some healthy communities can stay active > and involved even if they don’t release often. > I’d like to hear from mentors and IPMC members about what has worked well for > you in practice, such as: > - What kinds of activity you look for between releases to gauge whether a > podling is still healthy > - How do you tell the difference between a quiet phase and genuine stagnation > - Early signals that have prompted you to step in, or to deliberately step > back > - Ways you have helped maintain momentum without becoming a bottleneck > The aim isn’t to force projects into strict release schedules. Instead, let’s > share our experiences and patterns to better support podlings as they develop. > Feel free to reply with examples, counter-examples, or even times when the > signals turned out to be misleading. > Thanks, > Justin > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
