The Failure of Open Source Leadership

Oct 7, 2025

Open source leadership is fraught with challenges, as discussed through various conflicts like Python's tricky migration and Node.js's split with Joyent. The hosts dive into Rust's governance issues, WordPress power struggles, and the controversial rollout of Go modules. Communication failures exacerbate these conflicts, while soft governance often leads to accountability avoidance. They emphasize the importance of setting clear community goals and advocating for honest feedback to foster healthier project dynamics.

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INSIGHT

Breaking Changes Often Fail Without Migration Plan

Large language communities repeatedly make disruptive, poorly-managed breaking changes.
Leaders often underestimate migration complexity and harm from top-down decisions.

ANECDOTE

Node's Fork Led To Foundation Solution

Node.js split (io.js) happened when corporate stewards diverged from community goals.
The community resolved it by creating an independent foundation and reconciling governance.

INSIGHT

Unclear Governance Burns Maintainers

Governance ambiguity generates internal conflict and leadership crises.
Rust rebuilt governance after moderation/core-team disputes drained productive work.

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Open source project leaders have faced heavy challenges over the last decade and a half. It seems every language community has had conflicts with its leadership: Python with the struggles of the Python 2 to 3 migration; Node.JS and the community's conflict with Joyent; Rust and their handling of trademarks and IP; Wordpress and their conflict with WPEngine; and of course Go and their conflict around dependency management (and error handling). Now we've added another: the recent conflict between Ruby Central and the community.

In this episode, Kris, Matt, and Steve discuss these conflicts and what they tell us about the way we've come to see leadership within open source projects, where the blame actually lies, and what changes we can make to avoid these issues in the future.

We continue this discussion in this week's episode of Break! We get into some of the topics briefly mentioned during the main episode. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show.

For our supporters, we have extra chapters about the sustainability of the current model and where we should place blame for the current problems. Not a supporter yet? You can fix that by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!

Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!

Show Notes:

Table of Contents:

Prologue (00:00:00)
Chapter 1: How Did We Get Here? (00:02:07)
Chapter 2: Why Does Open Source Like Dictators? (00:41:04)
Chapter 3: So what happened with Ruby? (00:45:21)
Chapter 4: How Sustainable Is All Of This? [Extended Only] (01:01:49)
Chapter 5: Blame Lies Everywhere [Extended Only] (01:02:19)
Chapter 6: It's Not The Individual, It's The System (01:03:06)
Chapter 7: We Actually Can All Get Along (01:13:41)
Chapter 8: Nuance Was Had (01:24:24)

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(00:00) - Prologue
(02:07) - Chapter 1: How Did We Get Here?
(41:04) - Chapter 2: Why Does Open Source Like Dictators?
(45:21) - Chapter 3: So what happened with Ruby?
(01:01:49) - Chapter 4: How Sustainable Is All Of This? [Extended Only]
(01:02:19) - Chapter 5: Blame Lies Everywhere [Extended Only]
(01:03:06) - Chapter 6: It's Not The Individual, It's The System
(01:13:41) - Chapter 7: We Actually Can All Get Along
(01:24:24) - Chapter 8: Nuance Was Had