Fallthrough

The Failure of Open Source Leadership


Listen Later

Open source project leaders have faced heavy challenges over the last decade and a half. It seems every language community has had conflicts with its leadership: Python with the struggles of the Python 2 to 3 migration; Node.JS and the community's conflict with Joyent; Rust and their handling of trademarks and IP; Wordpress and their conflict with WPEngine; and of course Go and their conflict around dependency management (and error handling). Now we've added another: the recent conflict between Ruby Central and the community.

In this episode, Kris, Matt, and Steve discuss these conflicts and what they tell us about the way we've come to see leadership within open source projects, where the blame actually lies, and what changes we can make to avoid these issues in the future.

We continue this discussion in this week's episode of Break! We get into some of the topics briefly mentioned during the main episode. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show.

For our supporters, we have extra chapters about the sustainability of the current model and where we should place blame for the current problems. Not a supporter yet? You can fix that by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!

Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!

Show Notes:

  • Bryan Cantrill Platform as a Reflection of Values
  • Low Level Rust is causing a lot of problems
  • If WordPress is to survive, Matt Mullenweg must be removed
  • ‘This Is Just How We Do Things Now’: The Quiet Collapse of Standards

Table of Contents:

  • Prologue (00:00:00)
  • Chapter 1: How Did We Get Here? (00:02:07)
  • Chapter 2: Why Does Open Source Like Dictators? (00:41:04)
  • Chapter 3: So what happened with Ruby? (00:45:21)
  • Chapter 4: How Sustainable Is All Of This? [Extended Only] (01:01:49)
  • Chapter 5: Blame Lies Everywhere [Extended Only] (01:02:19)
  • Chapter 6: It's Not The Individual, It's The System (01:03:06)
  • Chapter 7: We Actually Can All Get Along (01:13:41)
  • Chapter 8: Nuance Was Had (01:24:24)


Hosts

  • Kris Brandow - Host
  • Matthew Sanabria - Host
  • Steve Klabnik - Host

  • Socials:
    • Website
    • Bluesky
    • Threads
    • X/Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Instagram
    • (00:00) - Prologue
  • (02:07) - Chapter 1: How Did We Get Here?
  • (41:04) - Chapter 2: Why Does Open Source Like Dictators?
  • (45:21) - Chapter 3: So what happened with Ruby?
  • (01:01:49) - Chapter 4: How Sustainable Is All Of This? [Extended Only]
  • (01:02:19) - Chapter 5: Blame Lies Everywhere [Extended Only]
  • (01:03:06) - Chapter 6: It's Not The Individual, It's The System
  • (01:13:41) - Chapter 7: We Actually Can All Get Along
  • (01:24:24) - Chapter 8: Nuance Was Had
  • ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    FallthroughBy Fallthrough Media

    • 4.2
    • 4.2
    • 4.2
    • 4.2
    • 4.2

    4.2

    13 ratings


    More shows like Fallthrough

    View all
    Software Engineering Radio by se-radio@computer.org

    Software Engineering Radio

    271 Listeners

    Hanselminutes with Scott Hanselman by Scott Hanselman

    Hanselminutes with Scott Hanselman

    380 Listeners

    The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source by Changelog Media

    The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

    291 Listeners

    Software Engineering Daily by Software Engineering Daily

    Software Engineering Daily

    623 Listeners

    LINUX Unplugged by Jupiter Broadcasting

    LINUX Unplugged

    266 Listeners

    Talk Python To Me by Michael Kennedy

    Talk Python To Me

    587 Listeners

    Soft Skills Engineering by Jamison Dance and Dave Smith

    Soft Skills Engineering

    284 Listeners

    Thoughtworks Technology Podcast by Thoughtworks

    Thoughtworks Technology Podcast

    41 Listeners

    Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats by Wes Bos & Scott Tolinski - Full Stack JavaScript Web Developers

    Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

    984 Listeners

    CoRecursive: Coding Stories by Adam Gordon Bell - Software Developer

    CoRecursive: Coding Stories

    188 Listeners

    Kubernetes Podcast from Google by Abdel Sghiouar, Kaslin Fields

    Kubernetes Podcast from Google

    182 Listeners

    The Stack Overflow Podcast by The Stack Overflow Podcast

    The Stack Overflow Podcast

    62 Listeners

    Oxide and Friends by Oxide Computer Company

    Oxide and Friends

    59 Listeners

    Cup o' Go by Jonathan Hall & Shay Nehmad

    Cup o' Go

    16 Listeners

    The Pragmatic Engineer by Gergely Orosz

    The Pragmatic Engineer

    65 Listeners