Move Slow and Try Not to Break Each Other
summary
Sustainable open source prioritizes people over frantic shipping and requires concrete practices: publish and repeat your goals (share your mission on the front page), expect fewer features and reprioritise rather than burn out, and build operational redundancy like two people with access so life events don’t halt releases. Examples include MediaGoblin’s surprise use in an elementary school, Heartbleed’s cross‑project coordination, and community tools like Open Hatch / First Timers for onboarding and mentorship.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (35)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:39Current state of things
- 2:19Sustainability
- 4:34Sustainability in Open Source
- 5:28Slow Down
- 6:19Snails
- 7:25Adherence
- 8:08Share your mission
- 9:26Attract people who want to help
- 11:53Spread out the work
- 12:12Social lubrication
- 12:28Building relationships
- 13:50Collaboration
- 16:10Twoway relationships
- 16:51Leave all doors open
- 17:15Recognize other snails
- 18:00Build redundancies
- 18:30Life happens
- 21:02Set longterm goals
- 22:40Do less
- 24:01Unreasonable deadlines
- 24:37Repulsing predators
- 27:08Slow is kinder
- 28:38Not everyone is ready
- 28:57When you choose slow
- 29:17You give people time
- 30:06You give yourself time
- 31:08Be picky
- 32:34Be extraordinary
- 34:10Questions
- 34:55Elon Musk
- 36:10Open Hatch
- 38:40Projects that do well
- 40:50Sales targets
- 42:50Transition from fast to slow
related talks
26mBuilding Open Source Communities
29mDon't Be A Hero: Sustainable Open Source
28mBuilding Open Source Communities
49mCommunities Over Code: How to Build a Successful Project
24mBest practices and (very) small projects
28mGrowing Open Source Seeds
05mThe Slings and Arrows of Open Source
42mBuilding On-Ramps for Non-Code Contributors in Open Source