Episode 179: Maintainer Month with GitHub's Martin Woodward

Guest Martin Woodward Panelists Richard Littauer | Ben Nickolls
Show Notes Hello and welcome to Sustain! The podcast where we talk
about sustaining open source for the long haul. This is a special
podcast and one of several in this series for GitHub’s Maintainer
Month. We’re interviewing maintainers to ask them about their
experience of open source and their experience of living as
maintainers. We are super excited to talk to our guest, Martin
Woodward, who’s the VP of Developer Relations at GitHub. Today,
Martin explains the origins of Maintainer Month and discusses his
role in supporting open source maintainers and helping them succeed
with GitHub. The conversation also covers topics such as the
distinction between open source authors and maintainers, the GitHub
Accelerator program and the M12 fund, the future of maintainership
and funding challenges, and strategies for setting expectations for
senior management and funders. There’s much more, so hit download
now! [00:01:30] Martin explains that his role involves supporting
open source maintainers and helping them succeed with GitHub.
[00:02:46] How does Martin distinguish between DevRel and GitHub
and make sure the work he does helps people who are maintainers.
[00:04:54] Martin discusses the origins of Maintainer Month,
starting with a virtual maintainer summit during the pandemic,
which later expanded to involve the entire community. [00:07:38]
Ben brings up how Maintainer’s month seems to be evolving, and
Martin tells us the event aims to provide a safe space for
maintainers to connect, share best practices, and raise awareness
among developers about the challenges and importance of maintaining
open source projects. [00:10:17] Martin explains the different
segments within the maintainer community, ranging from contributors
to maintainers who set the direction and run the projects, and
emphasizes the need for respect and understanding of the diverse
governance structures. [00:12:32] Ben discusses the distinction
between open source authors and maintainers, highlighting the
challenge of maintaining projects and the need for support and
resources in that role, and he brings up a resource library.
[00:15:34] The conversation shifts to the future of maintainership,
focusing on the funding challenges faced by maintainers and the
various motivations and expectations within the open source
community. [00:17:12] The discussion touches on the involvement of
venture capital firms asking for open source strategies from
start-ups. [00:18:54] We hear about the involvement in the GitHub
Accelerator program and M12 fund, with members of their team
driving the first cohort and providing funding and training to open
source start-ups. [00:22:44] Martin acknowledges the importance of
maintaining boundaries and saying no as a maintainer, and shares
how GitHub is incorporating feedback from maintainers into product
features, such as interaction limits and status settings. He also
mentions personal strategies for avoiding burnout as a maintainer.
[00:27:26] Richard asks Martin for his thoughts on setting
expectations for people above him such as senior management and
funders, regarding keeping open source sustainable. [00:32:21] Why
did Martin get into open source? [00:34:56] The conversation turns
to the relationship between Microsoft and GitHub, with Martin
stating that GitHub remains an independent entity while benefitting
from the scale and resources of the parent company. [00:37:22] Find
out where you follow Martin on the web. Quotes [00:08:37] “Other
people start using it and all of a sudden you find you’re the
maintainer of an open source project.” [00:21:34] “Maintainers are
the givers.” [00:21:55] “Maintainers build communities.” [00:25:26]
“You don’t have to take everybody’s PR’s.” [00:29:17] “Open source
communities value co-contribution over everything else.” Spotlight
[00:38:42] Ben’s spotlight is the Merlin App. [00:39:32] Richard’s
*spotlight is getting your ears cleaned. [00:40:04] Martin’s
spotlight is the WLED Project. Links SustainOSS
(https://sustainoss.org/) SustainOSS Twitter
(https://twitter.com/SustainOSS?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
SustainOSS Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/)
podcast@sustainoss.org (mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS
Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) Richard Littauer
Twitter
(https://twitter.com/richlitt?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
Ben Nickolls Twitter
(https://twitter.com/BenJam?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
Martin Woodward Twitter (https://twitter.com/martinwoodward) Martin
Woodward Website (https://martinwoodward.github.io/martin.social/)
GitHub (https://github.com/) GitHub Maintainer Month
(https://maintainermonth.github.com/) Dear GitHub
(https://github.com/dear-github/dear-github) Abigail Cabunoc Mayes
LinkedIn (https://ca.linkedin.com/in/abbycabs) Maintainerati
(https://maintainerati.org/) OctoPrint
(https://github.com/OctoPrint/OctoPrint) Sustain Podcast-Episode
157: Joel Wasserman on lessons learned with Flossbank
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/157) Sustain Podcast-2 episodes
featuring Mike McQuaid from Homebrew
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/mcquaid) Sustain
Podcast-Episode 149: Naytri Sramek on the GitHub Accelerator and
M12 GitHub Fund (https://podcast.sustainoss.org/149) Sustain
Podcast-2 episodes featuring Duane O’Brien
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/duane-obrien) Merlin
(https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/) Birding in Vermont
(https://birdinginvermont.com/) WLED Project (https://kno.wled.ge/)
Octolamp-GitHub (https://github.com/martinwoodward/octolamp)
Credits Produced by Richard Littauer (https://www.burntfen.com/)
Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound
(https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by DeAnn Bahr
Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Special Guest:
Martin Woodward.