The open/closed equilibrium

This month, we consider the evolution of openness in open source. The ReadME Project’s Senior Editor, Mike Melanson joins hosts Martin and Neha to discuss expert advice on why “closed to contributions” sometimes makes sense and how that model aligns with open source expectations. Additionally, maintainer, founder, and CEO of Scarf Avi Press highlights the benefit of analytics to maintainers and the open source community, and discusses the metrics that matter most. Also, Jessica Januik, Senior Software Engineer at Google, answers a listener question and shares insight into why humor is paramount when building team chemistry.

Here’s what’s in store for this episode:

• 00:00 - The hosts examine what’s new in open source, highlighting new communities like Mastodon and Bluesky.
• 01:37 - First Commit: Open source saves the day! From climate change to nuclear radiation, open source is empowering communities to adapt to catastrophe.
• 05:48 - Feature Release: The ReadME Project’s Mike Melanson welcomes Ben Johnson to share key considerations when deciding how to approach project contributions.
• 20:00 - The Interview: Avi Press, maintainer, founder, and CEO of Scarf, shares his perspective on how the open source community, and maintainers in specific, can benefit from improved community analytics.
• 34:00 - #AskRMP: Jessica Januik highlights why humor is so important when building a team or community.

Looking for more stories and advice from the open source community? To learn more from the authors and experts featured on this episode, check out:

• How ‘open’ should your open source be? by Mike Melanson
• Formatters, linters, and compilers: Oh my! by Josh Goldberg
• Harness the power of generative AI for software development by Anton Mirgorodchenko
• GitHub’s Maintainer Month calendar
• Sustain Podcast Maintainer Month series

Special thanks to Avi Press for detailing community analytics for maintainers, Jessica Januik for sharing insight into building team chemistry, and Ben Johnson for walking us through his decision to limit contributions to Litestream.

Check-out The ReadME Project, for more episodes as well as featured articles, developer stories, helpful guides, and much more! Send your feedback, questions, and ideas to thereadmeproject@github.com.