Building Open Source Communities Without Burnout
25 minutes.
The challenges of maintaining an open source project change as the project scales; methods of communicating with contributors, building quality code, and triaging issues change when a project grows from one hundred users to a thousand, and beyond. However, the principle that underlies the solution to these problems remains constant: empathy.
In this talk, you will learn how empathy can guide an open source maintainer to make effective decisions that both minimize the emotional cost of running a project, and maximize that project's success. It's a win-win!
This talk's main audience is open source maintainers: people who lead or own OSS projects. However, my secondary audience is open source contributors: people who interact with maintainers, open issues, and submit pull requests. The advice I'm offering is directed mainly at maintainers, but is equally applicable when contributing to another project.
I've been building a few different serious projects in the open during the past few years, and I've run into trouble when trying to deal with the emotional costs of helping others. The burden can easily become anxiety, and I've developed coping strategies to help. I'm excited about talking at Open Source & Feelings because I don't want anyone else to have to go through the same arduous process; I want every open source citizen to know that it's not always easy, that they're not alone, and that they can get help when they need it.
I've been speaking about software development since 2011, starting at small meet-ups, and now mixing in international conferences. My talks started as purely technical ones, but as I explored my own feelings around software development, my talks have moved more and more towards the less-technical aspects of building software.
My proudest moment as a speaker was after giving a talk titled "Loosely Held Strong Convictions", where I argued that humans needlessly isolate "others", and how that hurts everyone. The next day, an attendee told me how they saw many parallels between my message of inclusion and the (then) emerging Syrian refugee crisis. My talk was about software, but it gave someone insight into global politics, and I learned a lot, too.
I've not presented on this specific topic before.
I've always been a believer in open source, and when writing books or tutorials, I would always open source my code. But it wasn't until a few years ago that my open source practices became a significant portion of my day-to-day life.
The company I work for practices "open source by default", and 100% of the code I write is actually in the open. This has led to interesting challenges, especially in iOS – a field that historically had eschewed open source altogether. Solving those problems has only been possible with the help of others, and it's been a thoroughly rewarding experience to see other teams, developers, and companies adopt an open source by default mindset, too.
I've been writing in the iOS software development community since 2010, published my first book in 2012, followed by a few others (some self-published). In 2014, I expanded my interests beyond only writing/teaching to include coding in the open.
But open source extends beyond computers; I organize a Saturday-morning "peer lab" where developers are encouraged to work on side projects and ask each other for help. I also helped develop the iOS curriculum for Coalition for Queens, a non-profit that gives underrepresented people in tech living in Queens, New York the skills necessary to become professional developers and change their lives.