Would you outsource an open source project?

So I'm stuck on a project that won't build, if you cared enough about a project, would you pay somebody else to fix it?

Comments

[Austin S. Hemmelgarn]

If you care that much about it, yes, though with a couple of caveats:

• I’d make absolutely certain that assignment of copyright of any new work done as part of the contract for that project is explicitly written into the contract, albeit with a secondary clause requiring proper attribution to the original author. IOW, I would make 100% certain that this person cannot come back and sue the project for copyright infringement for the work they did, but I would also write into the contract that they are guaranteed to be attributed for the work they did (because that’s almost always a good thing for them).
• I’d make a point to have it written into the contract that choice of technologies is to be done with the consent of the existing project members, and that any code must meet the standards of the existing project members. There's no point in doing this if you end up with something you cannot maintain as a result.
• I’d be very particular about the payment details and termination clauses. What happens if some OSS contributor swoops in and fixes things before the contractor can? What happens if the contractor comes to the conclusion that the job cannot be completed to the satisfaction of both parties? Is payment a flat sum, hourly, or some combination? The key here is to make sure you don't end up in a position where you’re wasting money and the contractor is wasting time.
• I’d make a point to see samples of their work before accepting the contract. Ideally not things put together for the purpose of demonstrating their work, but actual work they've done.

[Adam Crockett 🌀]

All very valid, I was going to use fiver to get an mvp, il take your points into consideration. 🙂

[yellow1912]

I think why not? If you care enough then it's worth it.