[greglindahl]

This is an odd way of thinking about it. As a user of software, I like fixing it for my needs but I'd rather make the change in a way that the maintainer will accept, so that I don't have to maintain my patch. That means I'll tend to open an issue first, explain that I'm willing to submit a PR, and see if the maintainer wants to give me guidance.

[rpedela]

I think it depends a lot on context. If I am looking to contribute for the sole purpose of improving the OSS project, then I follow your method. If I am using an OSS project in a larger commercial project and I need a bugfix or feature now, I just build it. If I think it may be useful to the OSS project, then I will contribute back with the understanding that it may not be merged.