The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source The making of GitHub Sponsors (Interview)
Dec 1, 2019
Devon Zuegel, Open Source Product Manager at GitHub and a pivotal force behind GitHub Sponsors, discusses her journey to GitHub and the extensive research she undertook to tackle open source sustainability. She delves into various funding models and the importance of transparent financial decision-making for project maintainers. Also explored are the motivations for sponsorship, the significance of effective naming in tools, and insights on the future of community support in the open source ecosystem.
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Path to GitHub
- Devon Zuegel's path to GitHub began unexpectedly through housing policy activism.
- This led to a connection with Nat Friedman, who later became GitHub's CEO.
Open Source Coordination Problem
- Open source suffers from a coordination problem where individual incentives don't align with collective needs.
- GitHub is uniquely positioned to address this due to its central role in the open-source ecosystem.
Iterative Approach
- Approach open-source funding iteratively to avoid disrupting the existing paradigm.
- Start with small changes, gather feedback, and gradually move towards a sustainable model.