Kubernetes Kubernetes Contributor Summit - NA (Detroit) 2022, 2 Dec 2022

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From YouTube: KCSNA22 - No One is Saving Us But Us

Description

Speakers: Paris Pittman and Tabitha Sable

No one corporation, individual, or organization can save or sustain open source. There is no sweeping solution to sustainability, as we have seen in decades of trying to maintain the commons we all depend on. Project funding, corporate support of full-time contributors, and balance in contributors’ lives are all critical to keep a large project healthy. But this isn’t all doom and gloom: we provide hope for our own future. Join Tabitha and Paris, as they discuss how your intentionality helps our sustainability. As an organization participating or an individual donating their time, how can we help each other successfully let our projects go on without us? How do mutual aid principles apply in open source? Where do corporations fit into the larger “us”? Intentional open source strategies sustain our long term needs by supporting the people doing the work. There isn’t one person or group working on open source sustainability - we all need to in whatever way we can: through participation, sticking around, and having a plan. Walk away with a beautiful idea of how you are contributing to the long term success of Kubernetes and the open source projects that you care about.

A

Who here has heard about the Detroit Water Project you'd better, yet he's donated all right? Well, if you haven't uh known about this project, this initiative was created by Tiffany, Ashley, Bell and Christy Tillman. To answer an extremely large need that the community here in Detroit had several years ago as many families and other at-risk groups had their water shut off a direct quote from Tiffany, so I don't put words in her mouth about the situation quote.

A

It turns out this whole Water Crisis thing goes back a while in the city of Detroit. The water company is the one thing that still brings in money every month. There are a lot of people who pay consistently, though, but the city has taken out billions in bonds, so they owe Wall Street a lot of money.

A

They see the water company as the only place to try and get that money back once you're behind on your bill for two months and the water has been turned off, there's a thirty dollar reconnection fee to turn it back on. If you're already behind on your bill, though there's a chance, you can't afford that Tiffany figure. It out a way for me and you to directly give money to these folks so that they can have their unpaid water bills paid, because without this basic right they don't have access to clean water.

A

They wrote postcards and canvas people on the ground once they figured out that it's possible to take direct action in the first 16 months. They, the project, helped 950 folks.

A

Today, it's now the human utility, with the same Mission plus additional locations like in my hometown of Baltimore Tiffany, has also evolved to fighting for policy change at the root. This is an example of a mutual Aid project where people come together to help others who are directly affected, because no.

B

One is going to save us, but us so like as maintainers. Do we always have a really easy time paying our projects utility bills, electric bill hosting Bill Cloud bills? Are there always plenty of folks clamoring, with time and energy, to show up and do the work in the project that makes things roll forward?

B

Let's have a little look at history: 2006 the dunk tank effort to bring together funding to get the Debian Edge release out on time, 2009 one of the core Capistrano devs quits abruptly, and leaves us all a note explaining the problems that drove him away. 2011.

B

A kernel developer that you may have interacted with on a mailing list is giving an interview calling out one of the major Linux distros for their business decision to not contribute 2013 a popular open source project that most of you probably use every day spends an entire year, trying to scrape together twenty thousand dollars to pay the electric bill for their self-hosted build infrastructure.

B

2015 one of the core developers of the hypothesis framework again quits abruptly leaves us a note explaining the problems that drove him out of it. Like I could keep going, but let's just skip forward to today.

A

This happens in our own ecosystem and community. That's right! These are open source problems, it's not in us or them problem, but it's a matter for us to solve together in kubernetes, we ask for full-time support all the time in places that don't see, productized feature requests like testing infrastructure, docs and community and heck. We do ask for full-time support in the rest of the areas too.

A

Xcd also has a need for full-time maintainers to Shepherd. All of that including features their Community isn't as large as ours to distribute the load, but they are raising flags and they're asking for help.

A

After several months, though, and even years SCD still needs me still needs maintainers y'all and we still need testing and infrastructure support, but we carry on until we break down the proof can be found online over the years, as you heard in Tabitha's brief history and I'm sure, there's a ton more examples of things that you can think of out there and frankly, we can probably give a 30-minute talk on Justice history alone.

A

There were some notable clusters, though, of years that received a ton of press hot, takes blogs, tweets, whatever medium that you saw, but a lot of them were around security incidents and other open source. Natural disasters like log4j harp, lead, openssl and more.

A

They strain our time and energy breaking down our ability to engage at the same level as before. Sometimes we advocate for change via blog posts, like this conference talk as well and fundraising campaigns. Sometimes we just walk away.

B

But I'm really tired of seeing my friends and colleagues break down or walk away. I don't want to get to the point where I'm going to break down or walk away myself in principle, some of these kinds of disasters can be prevented like if we can provide additional support in places. We can avoid the shocking loss of a solo maintainer, but others really are completely out of our hands like the onset of a global pandemic.

B

Anybody you know the the stress that comes from handling a major security incident, that is global, Front Page News, but we can prepare to support each other better when these things happen. So that's the question: how can we be inspired by the success of mutual Aid projects like the human utility? How can we build new ways to come together and support each other through our everyday stress and also through the disasters?

B

We're going to encounter Paris and I have been reflecting on our time in open source and Community, organizing and we'd like to share some thoughts about Mutual, Aid and two broad categories of ideas that we have seen help our friends and our colleagues.

A

The first step in building any kind of mutual Aid project is and changing the things around. You is understanding the structures Dean spade a lawyer and activist lists three key elements to any Mutual Aid project in his latest book for building these programs in a times of crisis, one element is knowing why you aren't getting what you need, which is a crucial first step to getting it. Knowledge is power as a future or current maintainer. How do these power structures around you work? Who do you ask for help or resources?

A

And what do they do with that request? Who makes decisions about the priority of your needs? For instance, how does your Project's top governing body hear you and take action on those needs so we're here today with kubernetes contributor Summit? That would be the kubernetes steering committee.

A

How does the cncf work? How does that committee interact with cncf the cncf offers a lot of services learn those and how to request them, and not only that, but how to escalate when your needs aren't being met?

A

You can find this out by asking one of those committee members that you just saw in the AMA or me as the representative for the governing board for kubernetes and, if you're involved in other cncf projects, that's Richard Hartman.

A

So what about the orgs that we are asking things from notoriously this full-time support? How do they work? Well, businesses, invest in a business, invest money to gain value and or reduce risk. We know that, but how does your employer get approval for regular headcount, fair and, if you're going to ask for full-time support? What's the value for them for hiring someone?

A

Do they want to get their desired features Upstream? Do they want the reputational benefits of Open Source? Are they now worried about the future of tech that they rely on and depend on, because the security incidents or anything else?

A

How much does the support you want cost them? It's been my experience. It's a lot easier for organizations to uh to write an expense like a check than it does with full-time headcount and benefits. There are two different accounting items: understanding these power structures around. You reduces time wasted for asking for things that you're not going to get it lets. You set your expectations appropriately.

A

It helps you ask in ways that you'll be heard and it's acted on. All of this is power.

B

So, let's, let's expand that a little bit, make it a little more concrete like remember: the leaders of a company need to make money. That means growing, Revenue, shrinking costs and managing risk. Think about ourselves. Those last two: that's us we're usually seen as cost and risk. The short-term Optimum is to provide the lowest amount of support.

B

That's practical, not everybody or every company is as ruthless as that, but even really generous, really intentional folks have to struggle with those forces when they are advocating for what they are trying to advocate for so this means that full-time Staffing only happens when somebody in an organization personally understands the value and then advocates for that, using their local power within their chain of command. This is extremely difficult. So it's a lot easier to justify carving time out of a team schedule for Upstream work for filing bug.

B

Reports for upstreaming patches instead of carrying them over time and those kinds of contributions are really valuable, but we can't expect them to make all of our problems disappear, even as individuals. We need to recognize that we can't carry the project single-handedly like I, get it I mean I'm. Looking at you, you're, clearly brilliant you're, clearly passionate you clearly can live happily without sleep, but you're not enough by yourself.

B

Our projects are just too big for that, and even you only have 24 hours in a day like your hard-working Brilliance can actually hurt up and coming new contributors and new maintainers. They can see your superhuman effort and they know they can't match it. They know they can't equal it and that's so disheartening, and also the copious stream of fixes that you can put out by overextending yourself starves them of good first issues.

B

You really can't fix the project by yourself, but you can hurt it terribly by trying so like do we want to persist in heroic individual efforts and Wrecking ourselves. Do you want to keep asking the businesses around us for support and then being mad when we don't get it very often, I.

A

Don't, instead of being mad, let's mobilize our people, expand solidarity and build movements, because we can- and we can do this by holding space for each other's Joy and Pain, and we can share stories and learn from each other.

A

One such group that we have within the cncf community is maintain our Circle and frankly, this contributor, Summit I, would count that too.

A

This is a mutual Aid project in and itself I created the the maintainer circle, but I'm, not the leader and I never intended to be because we are all leaders- and this is a shared resource.

A

Since the group's Inception we've brought in speakers to do deep, Dives on requested topics like code review or growth and burnout, so join the cncf slack of the same name and I'd like to see you all start hosting your own circles.

A

Summing up some of those elements that we've heard about Mutual Aid, one, knowing the structures and understanding how to put that into action, two saviors continue the cycle not break it and three holding space for each other is so key like a maintainer circle.

A

So the first role in Tabby and I have seen work is saving yourself first as a future current maintainer, a healthy and not overwhelmed to you, is doing what's best for you and the project. Burnout is a topic that we hear frequently in many industry circles.

A

You might hear some people say quote: project first and I want to challenge. You know you first, you can't pour from an empty cup, fill it up.

A

So how can we start saving ourselves? We can start by writing down what it is we do and thinking about how to onboard more people into your role before you need them. Many maintainers ask me Paris. How is this really going to help me?

A

This sounds like a bunch of baloney and it sounds like busy work, and you know what, by the time you're overwhelmed, it will sound like busy work, but if that's the case, stop what you're doing don't review any more PR's on board the people who can help you or you're just again creating that cycle.

A

People can't help until they understand the job. It's how you grow your contributors and what you can point to when current maintainers of the same project, your dependencies and your ecosystem want to help, and they can quote jump in and understand what that phrase jump in really means.

A

Help Wanted has obviously been a proven way. A proven, a good way to help folks jump in, but I want to encourage you to think bigger. I, don't often see requests for maintainers. For you know the need for maintainers for an area documented anywhere publicly people you don't ask can't help.

A

So what other needs are you struggling with and I realize that struggle is a pretty intense word right there, but we don't need to let it get to a disaster.

A

However, if it is don't be ashamed to say, what's going on, because suffering and silence or behind closed doors begets more suffering, be loud, be public, that's open source. This is actually one of my personal biggest regrets on this project.

A

My role as a governing board member functions almost solely behind closed doors, because that's how it works. When I bring issues to the table like needing more support or funding, it's usually their first time hearing about it. This doesn't get anywhere to help our cause.

A

What helps is detailed issues and annual reports stating what we need and what what's going to happen when we don't get them I've been advocating for cncf Budget transparency, more participation from Member companies, funding for our infrastructure and legal support for our committee members. Among many other things, however, it's not all drab sounds trab, but we have some success stories within this project.

A

For instance, Sig docs clearly asked for new leadership by using their mailing list and the 5 000 person developer mailing list and multiple other channels that included Twitter, which would bring in millions of eyeballs to recruit and Mentor. All of these folks into new leadership roles. They got the word out.

A

The moral of the story is a use of damn mailing list, so when the struggle is too much or when you're ready for exciting opportunities, it's time for emeritus.

A

The word Emeritus is an honor, it's an aspiring level and it can be used no matter what the situation is, consider this the top of the ladder after sub-project owner, and it should be achieved so others can grow behind you.

A

This mentality, from the start, like you, do like retirement from your day, job it's easier to save yourself and grow. Others even pal is going to thank you for not sending all of those guilt-based PR reviews that you haven't that you're adding up in your queue so be an example for others and have a positive outlook. So many people look up to you.

B

The next rule here is really the next step, lift each other up when your cup is full share from it. This means we need to listen, we need to use consent and meet each other where we are because the right approach depends on the situation.

B

Sometimes folks or a project know what they need what's missing and can ask for that help really clearly other times not so much other times. There's a struggle- and maybe all they can say is please help, please jump in and the way that you need to approach these things differs depending on what the situation is. So, let's go through each of them.

B

The biggest thing about of someone asking for help is to believe them like when someone is asking for help in a specific area. Know that you can do that. They're telling you how to help a lot of folks struggle with this, because they let their fear of not being a sufficient expert get in the way. But when someone has asked for help, that's because they know that's how they need help so show up to that, and do it do your best with it, because the maintainers are the best ones to know what they need.

B

The folks who are on the ground know what's best for them. If, if a job is well documented, so much the better, you can read the documentation, do what it says and jump in and if it's not what they're asking for something. If they're asking for please review PR's, whatever they're asking for you, can do those things you have their permission.

B

You can't do everything, though so also remember, you can use your voice, you can boost the signal and that really helps folks to get the word out like how many people have you told about the struggles in etcd. How many people have I told about the struggles in hcd, not as many as I would have liked to.

B

Sometimes the situation is, is more gray, more difficult and folks are struggling and they don't know how to ask for help, and when that's the case, you have to use your empathy. You have to use your consent talk to them, so, like think about your own work as a contributor as a maintainer, you know what overwhelms you.

B

Those things are likely to be overwhelming your peers as well, so think about what bothers you the most look at that look at that issue or concern or workflow in the context of their Pro on the context of their process and ask them to help ask them if you can help in that way. So like, for example, ask folks hey, would it be helpful if I review some of these PR's, even if I'm, not the utmost expert in that field, hey there's a lot of it looks like there's a lot of issues.

B

Would you like me to go through them for you, meetings, scheduling of them, facilitating them, taking notes in them is a struggle for so many. So if that is a thing that you would like more practice in ask hey, would you like it if I show up to the meetings and get things started on time, those any of those sorts of things whatever help you might want, you can ask them if they want and if they say yes, then that's an opportunity where you can lift them up so really.

B

Overall, we can stop struggling up by ourselves. We can create together communities of Care by asking each other for Help by offering help when we can, we can use the power of our knowledge to get more and more practical support from the companies and the organizations around us.

B

There isn't any savior coming for us, but we can save ourselves together. We take care of us.

A

Thank you so much. um There is a bibliography at the end of this deck that has a ton of resources, uh including the mutual aid book that we've referenced and I swear that Mutual aid book. If spoke to my maintainer heart I promise, you there's a whole section in there on consensus-based, consensus-based development, there's a whole section in there on burnout and how to prevent it within your groups and what to look for I promise. You it's worth your time, but anyway, in Paris, Tabitha.

B

Thank you so much for coming out.