Episode 252: Nolan Lawson of PouchDB on what it feels like to be a maintainer

Guest Nolan Lawson Panelist Richard Littauer | Eric Berry | Justin
Dorfman Show Notes In this episode of Sustain, Richard, Justin, and
Eric revisit an unreleased interview with Nolan Lawson from 2020.
They discuss Nolan's experience as a former maintainer of PouchDB,
the emotional labor of being an open source maintainer, and the
challenges that led him to step away from such high-profile
projects. Nolan also shares his thoughts on the impact of
reputation-driven development, open source community dynamics, and
his journey towards a healthier relationship with open source. The
conversation delves into the candid realities of burnout and the
personal sacrifices often made by unpaid open source contributors.
Nolan highlights his transition to more sustainable open source
practices and his new interests including his work on a Mastodon
client called Pinafore. Download now to hear more! [00:01:43] Nolan
explains his background with PouchDB and shares his fascination
with databases and browser technologies. [00:02:58] Richard shares
his personal connection to PouchDB, mentioning how he discovered
Nolan through his work on the project. [00:03:26] Nolan talks about
his blog post form 2017 titled, “What it feels like to be an open
source maintainer,” which reflected on the emotional toll and
burnout he experienced for maintaining PouchDB. [00:05:33] Justin
reflects on the impact of Nolan’s blog post, describing it as a
“shot heard around the world” in the open source community.
[00:06:48] Eric asks why Nolan and other maintainers stay involved
in open source despite the challenges. Nolan explains that
reputational benefits and personal interest in the technology were
initial motivators for staying involved. [00:10:27] Eric asks Nolan
how he realized it was time to step away from maintaining PouchDB.
Nolan shares that personal life changes helped him reassess his
involvement in open source and reflects on advice he received from
other maintainers. [00:14:36] Richard emphasizes the personal and
emotional investment many maintainers have in their projects and
Nolan acknowledges the privilege of being able to work on open
source, but also the challenges it poses for maintainers who feel
they cannot leave. [00:21:13] Nolan shares stepping away from
PouchDB has improved his mental health and personal relationships
and he maintains smaller open source projects. [00:24:00] Nolan
explains the importance of being personally invested in a project
and realizing when it’s time to move on and Justin reflects on his
own experience of stepping away from maintaining a project after
years of involvement. [00:26:00] Eric asks if funding could have
made a difference for Nolan’s involvement in open source, and Nolan
shares that he avoided funding, preferring to keep his work as a
“labor of love.” [00:26:52] What is Nolan currently doing? He talks
about maintaining a Mastodon client and focusing on personal
projects that bring him joy. [00:30:00] Richard discusses the
importance of balancing open source work with personal life and the
need for a sustainable approach to maintaining projects. [00:30:46]
Eric highlights the vulnerability and self-awareness Nolan has
shown in discussing his open source journey, thanking him for
sharing his experiences. [00:33:13] Find out where you can follow
Nolan on the internet. Spotlight [00:33:41] Justin’s spotlight is
Metabase. [00:34:16] Eric’s spotlight is Parametric. [00:35:08]
Richard’s spotlight is IPFS. [00:35:22] Nolan’s spotlight is
fake-indexeddb. Links SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/)
podcast@sustainoss.org (mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org)
richard@sustainoss.org (mailto:richard@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS
Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/) SustainOSS Mastodon
(https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) Open
Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute)
(https://opencollective.com/sustainoss) Richard Littauer Socials
(https://www.burntfen.com/2023-05-30/socials) Justin Dorfman X
(https://twitter.com/jdorfman?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
Eric Berry X (https://x.com/coderberry?lang=en) Nolan Lawson Blog
(https://nolanlawson.com/) Nolan Lawson Mastodon
(https://toot.cafe/@nolan) “What it feels like to be an open source
maintainer” (Blog post by Nolan)
(https://nolanlawson.com/2017/03/05/what-it-feels-like-to-be-an-open-source-maintainer/)
PouchDB (https://pouchdb.com/) Pinafore (https://pinafore.social/)
Salesforce (https://www.salesforce.com/) Working in Public: The
Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software by Nadia Eghbal
(https://press.stripe.com/working-in-public) Metabase
(https://www.metabase.com/) Parametric
(https://github.com/ismasan/parametric) IPFS
(https://www.ipfs.com/) fake-indexeddb (GitHub)
(https://github.com/dumbmatter/fakeIndexedDB) 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: Nolan Lawson.