Helping communities grow and open source thrive.
I'm Daniel Holbach. I help technology companies build and grow developer communities and open source programs — combining strategy with hands-on execution where it matters.
About
I spent 18 years building developer communities — Ubuntu, then Flux and others in the CNCF ecosystem. Since 2017 I've been training and working as a body psychotherapist, which, it turns out, is excellent preparation for working with communities. I'm now taking on a small number of open source engagements again.
How I help
Community program build & audit
Stand up or course-correct a developer community: contributor onramp, tooling and processes, docs, governance — and the metrics that tell you whether it's working.
OSS strategy & ecosystem navigation
From first release to CNCF graduation — governance, licensing and dependency review, security audits, adopter base, foundation processes.
Senior DevRel on demand
For when something specific is stuck: contributions stalling, a review backlog, fixes that take months to land, an unhappy community, or leadership and community pulling in different directions. Senior experience applied to that one problem — without a full-time hire.
For individuals — coaching for maintainers, DevRel and engineering leads: decisions, burnout, transitions. danielholbach.coach →
Selected work
Weaveworks
2018–2023Led Flux through full CNCF graduation — governance, license and vendored-dependency review, security audits, adopter base. Owned DevRel across Flux, Cortex, Scope, and Kured.
Canonical
2005–2016Nearly a decade growing the Ubuntu developer community — one of the largest in open source. Contributor onboarding, developer experience, and most of the governance that held it together: boards, team councils, charters, membership.
A computer scientist by training, I started out as a software engineer before moving into community and developer relations — so I speak the language of the people I help you reach.
How I work
Roughly two days a week, a few engagements at a time.
Probably not the right fit if you need a full-time embedded hire or someone on the conference circuit — but a good fit if you need senior experience applied to a specific challenge: building a program, defining OSS strategy, navigating an ecosystem process, or improving developer experience.
Let's talk.
Away from the keyboard — diving (see the photos), records, and running a practice for Body Psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing® in Berlin.