Running Open Technology Development Projects

Step 1: Determine reuse options

First, search for existing OSS projects that have relevant functionality.  A simple web search of the string “open source software” plus a desired capability will often turn up something close to what you need.  Also review OSS repositories sites such as http://www.sourceforge.net, http://www.freshmeat.net, http://www.github.com, http://directory.fsf.org and http://code.google.com. Even if there is nothing available to use directly, there might be piece-parts that can be integrated or useful ideas.