Careers evolve. Teams change. Priorities shift. Give your software a future!
| Resource information | Details |
|---|---|
| Paper title† | 10 quick tips for making your software outlive your job |
| Authors | Richard Littauer, Greg Wilson, Jan Ainali, Eman Abdullah AlOmar, Sylwester Arabas, Yanina Bellini Saibene, Kris Bubendorfer, Kaylea Champion, Clare Dillon, Jouni Helske, Pieter Huybrechts, Daniel S. Katz, Chang Liao, David Lippert, Fang Liu, Pierre Marshall, Daniel R. McCloy, Ian McInerney, Mohamed Wiem Mkaouer, Priyanka Ojha, Christoph Treude, Ethan P. White |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2505.06484 |
| Related Podcast | Richard Littauer interviews Marianne Bellotti & Greg Wilson on 10 quick tips for making your software outlive your job |
† (Note: the PDF itself titles this '10 simple rules', while the official listing uses 'quick tips.')
Research software can lose its maintainers when funding ends, researchers change jobs or roles, or institutions reorganize. In 10 quick tips for making your software outlive your job, Richard Littauer and coauthors offer practical guidance for keeping software accessible and usable through these transitions.
The paper addresses both advance preparation and urgent action. Its recommendations include understanding institutional policies, identifying risks to project continuity, deciding whether to end, pause, or transfer a project, choosing an appropriate open-source license, and preserving copies beyond a single hosting service. It also emphasizes community adoption and clear succession plans that describe a new maintainer's responsibilities and expected workload. The paper organizes its guidance into ten rules, covering everything from legal compliance to community building to emotional resilience.
For scientific software teams, the paper provides actionable steps that support sustainability and reproducibility: archive releases, provide citation metadata, document installation and use, record software and data dependencies, include basic tests, and explain contribution procedures and governance. When time is limited, the authors recommend prioritizing explanations of what the software does and how to use it, preserving available work, and clearly communicating the project's status.
The paper places its practical guidance in the context of political, funding, and institutional change and includes the authors’ perspectives on advocacy, administrative processes, and communication platforms. Readers may find some suggestions more applicable than others. Teams can adapt the recommendations to their circumstances while observing legal and institutional requirements.
This resource is useful for research software developers, project leads, and maintainers planning a handoff or preparing for unexpected disruption. It recognizes that continuity depends on people and institutions as well as technical practices, and encourages teams to take achievable steps before a transition becomes urgent.
For more on these ideas, listen to Richard Littauer's interview with Marianne Bellotti and Greg Wilson, linked above.
AI tools were consulted during the preparation of this article.
