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]