WEBVTT
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Hello, I'm Bastien Guerry,
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and I'm happy to be here.
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I've been the Org-mode maintainer
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for the last 10 years,
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and I would like to ask the question
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how to help GNU Emacs maintainers in general.
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By GNU Emacs, I mean
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the whole GNU Emacs ecosystem,
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including packages,
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not just the core GNU Emacs
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that we all love.
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After a decade of dealing with
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the Org community,
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my view of what a maintainer is changed.
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I'd like to share some ideas with you
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as I think they could be useful
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to help Emacs maintainers in general.
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And hopefully, these ideas also apply
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to other free software projects,
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at least those where contributors
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are all volunteers.
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First of all, what is a free software maintainer?
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- Obviously this is some rich dude
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with a lot of free time
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- Acting both as a supersmart hacker
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and a super-patient community manager
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- Someone who acts as the central hotline
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for users and contributors
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- Who knows how to write many emails,
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probably at the same time
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- Who does not hesitate
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to publicly scold annoying users
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- and someone narcissistic enough
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to seek credits for community efforts
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- But really looking for a job
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in some big IT company
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Right? Well... no. That was a joke.
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But maybe you did smile
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and that's probably
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because there is some truth to it.
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Why? Because our culture encourages
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free software users and casual contributors
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to think about maintainers this way.
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Don't we continue to use the expression
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"Benevolent Dictator For Life"?
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This is what I'd call
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the "Spiderman syndrome":
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maintenance is perceived in terms of
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great power and great responsibility.
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But I believe our culture of superheroes
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is not helpful here:
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it does not reflect the truth,
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it does not set the right expectations,
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and it prevents contributors
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to properly understand
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how to help maintainers.
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So let's start again.
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Instead of asking what a maintainer is,
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let me take the list of
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what I do as the Org maintainer.
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Here is my TODO-list:
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- First of all, I take care of
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the orgmode.org website.
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- I also take care of the
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org-contrib NonGNU ELPA package.
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- I do gardening on the
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community-driven documentation, Worg.
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- I do add contributors to Worg.
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- I read emails on emacs-orgmode@,
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emacs-devel@ and bug-gnu-emacs@.
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- I contribute to email moderation
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of the emacs-orgmode@ list
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with a bunch of other contributors.
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- I reply to private emails
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asking me for help about org-mode.
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- I coordinate with GNU Emacs maintainers
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and thanks to them for Emacs/Org integration.
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- I contribute with public emails
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on the Org mailing list.
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- I release new versions of Org-mode.
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- and sometimes, sometimes,
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I contribute with code.
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Do you see a pattern here?
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Yes. I bet the last three tasks
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is what most people have in mind
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when they think of a maintainer:
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it's all about hacking
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and being an efficient hotline.
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But in fact, these tasks
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are only a superficial part
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of what I do as a maintainer.
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Some would consider that these core tasks
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are the /interesting/ ones,
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while the others are the /boring/ ones.
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I don't see it that way:
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some tasks are about the product,
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others are about the project.
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Without a good product,
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there is little chance
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you will have a good project,
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but maintaining a project requires thinking
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in terms of infrastructure,
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not in terms of bugs,
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thinking in terms of resources
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that enable both users and contributors,
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not in terms of commits.
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So let me try to define again
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what a free software maintainer is
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or should be.
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A free software maintainer
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is someone who cares about
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enabling users and contributors
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so that they collectively
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take care of the project.
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See another pattern here?
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That's all about the /project/,
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versus the product.
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It's about /taking care of it/,
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versus being a direct hotline for users,
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caring about the project infrastructure
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and about empowering users
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with tools and incentives
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so that they care too.
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How can you help such a maintainer?
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By focusing on the project
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and becoming an enabler yourself.
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Let's pause and summarize:
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our culture wants heroes
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and this leads us to expect maintainers
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to be superhackers and superactive hotlines.
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This is the HOT mindset of maintenance,
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where the maintainers are Headmasters Of Tweaks
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and soon becomes the Headmaster Of Troubles.
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To resist this HOT mindset,
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I suggest to redefine maintenance as ACDC:
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*Asynchronous Collective Distributed Care*:
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- /Asynchronous/ because time management
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is a private matter
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and we are all volunteers.
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- /Collective/ because, well,
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no man is an island.
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- /Distributed/: because the more power
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to the "edges", the more resilient
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the system and the project is.
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- /Care/ because this is all about care:
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with each other as users
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or as contributors,
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with the project's infrastructure
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(servers, websites, bug trackers, etc.)
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and care about having a useful product.
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/Enabling/ users and contributors means
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encouraging them to take ownership,
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which is more than just delegating tasks.
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Let your users and contributors know
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that they need to tap into
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the collective attention pool with care:
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the more autonomous they are, the better.
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So, with this ACDC definition in mind,
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how can /you/ help Emacs maintainers?
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- First of all, by *becoming a maintainer
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for your own project*, however small.
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Think in terms of project (vs product).
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Empower users and contributors.
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This will help you understand
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how to help other maintainers.
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("More power to the edges!")
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- *Volunteer as a contributor steward
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for another project*: you don't need to
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be a supersmart hacker
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to help others to contribute.
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(For Org-mode, we are lucky to have
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two great contributor stewards.)
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- *Learn how to teach*,
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because pedagogical skills are invaluable.
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(Taking the time to explain
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how to write a bug report or a patch
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is invaluable and this is a core part
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of the Org culture.)
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- *Test and enhance the project's
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contribution process*. (For Org-mode,
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you would read and suggest contributions to
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the org-contribute pages on Worg.)
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- *Take care of the project's calls for help*.
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(For Org-mode, this would be this list
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that we have on updates.orgmode.org
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For Emacs, this would be =etc/TODO= file.)
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If the calls for help are not explicit enough,
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try to contribute some.
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- *Encourage users from outside the project
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to contribute to the core forum*.
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(For Org-mode, there are many hacks and fixes
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being shared on reddit and stackoverflow:
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and that's fine, but we we should not
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wait for months before having this
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shared on the list.)
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- *Let the core forum know about
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what happens in this outside world*
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by sharing important information yourself.
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- *Propose your help for non-code tasks*:
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maintain a website,
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enhance the (community-driven) documentation,
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help with bug triage, etc.
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- *If you expect someone else to fix your bug,
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try fixing someone else's bug too*:
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that's how you'll learn Emacs Lisp
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and that's how you'll concretely
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train your empathy, your sense of taking care.
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That is so critical.
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- *Don't expect the maintainer
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to be a hotline*,
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especially a private one.
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Address yourself to the community.
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- and last but not least,
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*complete this list*.
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I'm trying to open a conversation here,
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so don't be shy.
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That's it. Is it hard? Yes, this is hard,
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and that's because helping maintainers
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by becoming such a enabler
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in this ACDC mindset
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is not immediately rewarding,
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whereas fixing a bug clearly, clearly is.
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But if you start thinking of the project
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as something that enables you
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to do amazing things, and I believe
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Org is this kind of project,
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and if you start thinking
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of the maintenance as something
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that enables more contributions,
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you will see how important and rewarding
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it is to become such an enabler.
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So, definitely grateful to all enablers
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that we have in Org's community!
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And to everyone who maintains
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a culture of teaching and learning
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through polite and respectful interactions
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on the mailing list and elsewhere:
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we always need more "power to the edges".
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And I'm also very grateful
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to the EmacsConf 2021 organizers,
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because that's really taking care
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of the community! Thanks very much.
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[captions by sachac]
