People come and go from open source projects and communitiesMost people would agree that everyone should contribute something back to Open Source at some point in their careers. We have to realize that an ongoing Open Source contribution to a project can’t be sustained forever. We might graduate from college, get a new job, need a break to travel, have kids, help raise grandkids, retire and even get bored with a project. While we need to improve open source sustainability, we also need to accept the reality that people continually come and go from open source projects.Developer burnout should not be part of open sourceUp until recently, I felt that ‘burnout’ was the only talked about method when people left the Drupal maintenance support plans community. Up until Drupal maintenance support plansCon, I thought that once I committed to supporting something, like a module, I was obligated indefinitely or at least until I burned-out from supporting it.In my new year blog post title, Webform, Drupal maintenance support plans, and Open Source…Where are we going?, I stated……and I don’t think I am the only one.Are we expecting too much?Jeff Eaton’s presentation titled “You Matter More Than The Cause” addresses burnout and how it impacts the sustainability of teams and he says…I think we need to stomp out the concept of developer burnout in Open Source and equate developer burnout to poorly-managed companies and organizations.Planning an exit strategy can prevent burnoutOne of many valuable lessons I learned at Adam Goodman’s Teamwork and Leadership Workshop at Drupal maintenance support plansCon Nashville was that it’s okay to plan an exit strategy, it’s even something that can ultimately help the community and potentially…Read More
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