# Open source is a classroom
The craft · principle · https://build-here.africa/book/chapters/02-07-open-source-is-a-classroom.html

## The reflex

You use an open project for what it lets you do. The discussions that led to its choices stay outside what you read.

## The builder's reflex

> "How was this decision made, and which options were set aside?"

## Why

An open project shows what a company keeps to itself: the reasoning. A proposal discussed, a fix reviewed, documentation changed after feedback. You see the options set aside and why.

On a software dependency, a release note and its discussion explain a change in behaviour. In an open guide, a data project or a wiki, the exchanges show why one category was kept and one wording dropped.

Start small. A short, documented change teaches you more than a long conversation. For a hard thread, an AI can summarise it and explain the context.

Contributing is the natural next step: a documentation fix, an example, a translation. Follow the project's guidelines and respect the time of the people who maintain it. Their review is worth a training course.

## Try this

Choose a project you use. Read one discussion tied to a precise change. Note the need, one option set aside, and the reason for the choice.

Compare that reasoning to a problem in your own work. Then propose a small contribution: a clarification, an example, a fix.

## To discuss

Which open exchange taught us a way of reasoning we can try here?