Growing Contributors to Maintainers

When I talk about open source projects, a huge point of emphasis for me is sustainability. It’s also a point that is quite challenging to wrap your head around; after all, it’s really hard to think about the future with so much going on in the present. Open source projects often model the same pattern that start-up companies have, and for a start-up, thinking about the long term before the short term is hard because, without some degree of revenue and success, there is no long term. Open source projects tend to not be so heavily dependent on the short term, but at the same time, they can’t ignore it. A good project, just like a good company, focuses the appropriate attention on both and considers both in decision-making.

A piece of the sustainability puzzle is bringing more people into the project in various roles. The natural pool of these individuals is people already invested in the project; within a community of end users...