The Graceful Exit: Approaches for Changing One's Role in an Open Community
summary
Advice for exiting an open community with less chaos: claim a concrete handover (written notes, shared Google Docs, change document ownership), stage the transition around a milestone or tiered reduction, use real tools like Skype/Google Hangouts and a CMS not buried in email, expect scale issues — HOT grew from $0 to $1M and emergency responses jumped from 600 to 7,000 mappers — train successors and verify donor/contractor communications so programs keep running.
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chapters (14)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:38How not to rage quit
- 1:03Kates background
- 6:49Why change your role
- 7:22Common reasons
- 7:40Personal reasons
- 9:51Key signs
- 10:01Losing empathy
- 13:05Change too late
- 14:00Communication
- 17:03I quit
- 17:13Filling the void
- 18:27How to know you made the right decision
- 22:05Questions to ask yourself
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