Why open source matters in your project management tool

Use this checklist to help determine if an open source tool is right for you.

Open source companies often start as community-driven projects, growing into larger commercial solutions. But we all know the tale of the open source project that also turned proprietary when it grew up.

So, why do some projects or companies choose to go or stay open source?

Open source solutions offer competitive advantages and flexibility that many find appealing. This adaptability and openness often leads to companies choosing to remain open source, based on the belief that open source is better for humanity.

The founder and CEO Niels Lindenthal of open source project management software company OpenProject says this:

“OpenProject is targeted at organizations that want to impact the world positively. We provide project management software that promotes data sovereignty, open source, and collaboration. Our vision is to become the leading project management software for data-conscious organizations.”

And yet, the list of proprietary project management tools is long and includes many of the most popular options, like Trello, Asana, and Monday.com.

Read more: 8 ways non-technical contributors can add value to a project

Why open source matters in your tool selection

Why does open source matter in software, specifically your project management tool?

Two big reasons to choose an open source project management tool are community and security. There are many more benefits, but most can be traced back to a dedicated group of people helping to build the software and transparent code with no backdoors or lock-in.

Open contribution and solid community management can lead to greater stability and stronger development of the software as well. On the security side, transparent code means that government entities and others can review the code for insecurities and bugs that may compromise users of the software. Remember: Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow,” according to Linus’s Law.

When OpenProject began 10+ years ago, the team needed a project management system for all their projects and used Redmine. CMO Birthe Lindenthal recalls how they needed to make changes to the software to meet their needs.

“And so we did, as it’s open source. We pushed the changes upstream, but they weren’t accepted as often as we hoped, so we forked it and started OpenProject,” says Birthe.

This would not have been possible without open source.

Open source tool checklist

For users, this checklist will help you determine if an open source tool is right for you:

• You want to invest in the open source community
• You want to support open source software
• You want the code to be open for review and bug-finding/fixing
• You want to keep access to your instance, even if the company goes away
• You need a cheaper option (open source is often less expensive, and some companies offer cost benefits to NGOs and nonprofit organizations)

What project management system do you use? We’d love to hear if open source matters to you!