Hi, I’ve reviewed ten years of Incubator data from 2015 to 2025 to get a clearer picture of how incubation has changed over time.
Key points: - The Incubator is smaller. We have around 1/2 as many podlings as we did a decade ago. Less congestion means faster movement and fewer stalled projects. - Graduation is faster, but standards look stable. The median incubation time has dropped from 20–42 months to 13–18 months. Graduation/retirement rates in mature cohorts haven’t changed. - The first release is the strongest predictor of success. Podlings that release early tend to add people, build governance, and graduate. Podlings that delay releases rarely grow and often retire. - Community growth happens earlier. First committer/PPMC additions now occur around 6–12 months, rather than 10–15+. Recent cohorts are more consistent and have fewer long delays. - Technical release issues have dropped sharply. LICENSE/NOTICE, disclaimers, and naming mistakes are far less common. First releases pass more often, and re-votes are rarer. - Oversight per podling appears stable from the data. Lower raw traffic mainly reflects fewer podlings, not less oversight. Overall, the Incubator today is smaller, faster, and more predictable. Mainly because podlings ship sooner, learn sooner, and grow sooner. You can read the full report here [1] or read the easier-to-digest summary [2]. Kind Regards, Justin 1. https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/INCUBATOR/10+years+of+the+Incubator 2. https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/INCUBATOR/10+Years+Summary --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
