OSS Product Selection

A structured workflow for picking the next open-source product to build when the goal is personal brand growth rather than revenue. Most "what should I build next?" advice optimizes for monetization or product-market fit. That advice is wrong here. Brand-driven OSS has a different success function: stars, downloads, narrative coherence with prior work, audience fit, and signaling value. This skill bakes those criteria in and protects against the specific mistakes that derail brand-led product selection.

When this skill applies

Trigger this skill when the user is choosing among multiple possible OSS products to build, with brand-building (not revenue) as the dominant goal. The user usually has 1–3 products already shipped and is deciding what to ship next. Common framings: "what should I open-source next", "I have these three ideas, which one", "expanding my portfolio with X", "help me figure out my next side project for brand", "is <idea> a good thing to OSS".

When this skill does not apply

Skip this skill when:

• The user wants help building an already-chosen product (use coding skills instead).
• The user is choosing a startup or revenue-bearing product (different success function — use product-management or consulting-problem-solving).
• The user wants pure idea generation with no commitment to ship (this skill front-loads constraints because shipping is the assumed outcome).
• The user already shipped and wants growth/launch tactics, not selection (handoff territory).

Core principles