All opensource projects need good documentation. That's not a small task ;-) but it's needed to get adoption. Pick something interesting but hard to start/lear

All opensource projects need good documentation. That's not a small task ;-) but it's needed to get adoption. Pick something interesting but hard to start/learn/understand and WRITE. This will sharpen your communication skills, which is crucial when explaining stuff to non-technical people (like your manager). The installer / upgrade part of any project is also equally important; but it's better covered because it's part of the build process (the only exceptions is that you're selling enterprise software to a multi-million $$$ company: in that case your software must be as hard to install as posible in order to justify selling professional services).