All Hands On Deck: The RN Community Experience

A useful metaphor for the React Native project is that of a huge ship. Operating such a vessel is a massive effort, that requires many people running back and forth the deck hoisting the sails and lowering the anchor - but also rowers, cooks, and skippers just to mention a few. During my two years on this journey, as a developer not working for FB, I've experienced and participated in the evolution of the project from a unique vantage point.

I could tell tales for days of the many seas we've been through, the high waves and the storms we've weathered - but one constant has been the help provided from other sailors like me, part of the community. The collaboration with the RN team allowed for increasingly more complex roles and projects to ship - and we are all but done.

So I want to raise a glass to these companions, and through my narration showcase what the community accomplished - and the new horizons we are steering towards.

Transcript

1. ALL HANDS ON DECK
   The React Native Community Experience
   

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2. HELLO!
   I’M @KELSET
   Lorenzo
   THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE 2
   Software Engineer
   @ Formidable
   Maintainer
   @ React Native
   “Owner”
   @ React Native Community
   

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3. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
   MY STORY
   3
   WRITING
   ...BLOGPOSTS ON MEDIUM
   

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4. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE 4
   REACT NAVIGATION
   MY STORY
   

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5. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE 5
   REACT NATIVE
   MY STORY
   

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6. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
   MY STORY
   6
   TWO BOATS
   

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7. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE 7
   LEAN CORE
   MY STORY
   

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8. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE 8
   CHANGING ROLE
   INTO CARTOGRAPHER
   MY STORY
   ASKING
   HOW & WHY
   

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9. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
   = “WHOOP”
   = “BOOOH”
   = YOU DECIDE!
   9
   LET’S PLAY A GAME!
   

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10. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE 10
    WE FOUND A TREASURE
    

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11. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE 11
    PIRATES WANT US DEAD
    

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12. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE 12
    JACK SPARROW
    

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13. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    REACT NATIVE
    13
    78 734 Stars
    77 000 Android Apps
    240 914 Repos
    

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14. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY
    14
    77 258 Stars
    70 Repositories (25 Lean Core’s)
    45 Repositories Have 1 Maintainer
    

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15. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    THE MAINTAINER’S RESPONSIBILITIES
    15
    ‣ submitting PRs to keep the library up to date against the React Native
    ‣ publishing new version
    ‣ write the changelog
    ‣ adding tools like CI
    ‣ reviews external PRs
    ‣ do issue triaging
    ‣ introduce & configure bots like ProBots
    ‣ maintain the non-code files in a repo, ex. issue templates, CoC, README etc
    WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
    

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16. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    THE REPOSITORIES INVOLVED
    16
    .github apple-sign-in art async-storage bob boost-for-react-native cameraview ci-sample cli
    discussion-and-proposal docker-android eslint-plugin-react-native-globals jsc-android-buildscripts
    lottie-react-native normalize-css-color react-native-audio-toolkit react-native-blur react-native-
    button react-native-camera react-native-cameraroll react-native-checkbox react-native-circleci-orb
    react-native-clipboard react-native-datetimepicker react-native-device-info react-native-directory
    react-native-drawer-layout react-native-drawer-layout-polyfill react-native-dummy react-native-
    geolocation react-native-google-analytics react-native-google-signin react-native-hooks react-
    native-image-editor react-native-image-picker react-native-image-picker-ios react-native-linear-
    gradient react-native-localize react-native-maps react-native-masked-view react-native-modal
    react-native-navbar react-native-netinfo react-native-picker react-native-platform-touchable react-
    native-progress-bar-android react-native-progress-view react-native-push-notification-ios react-
    native-safe-area-view react-native-segmented-control react-native-share react-native-side-menu
    react-native-simple-share react-native-slider react-native-statusbar react-native-svg react-native-tab-
    view react-native-template-typescript react-native-text-input-mask react-native-tvos react-native-
    video react-native-viewpager react-native-voice react-native-webgl react-native-webview releases
    rn-diff-purge rncamera-example template upgrade-helper
    WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
    

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17. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    WHAT CAN THIS LEAD TO
    17
    WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
    RN-FETCH-BLOB*
    REACT-NATIVE-PUSH-NOTIFICATION
    …
    

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18. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    THE OPEN SOURCE WORLD
    18
    WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN
    OPENSSL
    BEFORE “HEARTBLEED” IT WASN’T ABLE TO SUPPORT ONE PERSON’S WORK.
    EXPRESS.JS
    THE MAINTAINER, GIVING THE REPO TO STRONGLOOP, KILLED THE
    CONTRIBUTOR COMMUNITY
    NODE.JS
    CREATED BY A FEW, THEN WAS FORKED THEN WAS RECONCILED INTO THE
    NODE.JS FOUNDATION - TO SOLVE ITS GOVERNANCE ISSUES
    https://www.fordfoundation.org/about/library/reports-and-studies/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/
    

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19. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    IN REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY
    19
    WHY THIS CAN HAPPEN
    GOVERNANCE
    SUSTAINABILITY
    

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20. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    WHAT’S THE ORG ADDED VALUE
    20
    GOVERNANCE
    SHARED OWNERSHIP
    COMMON TOOLS
    /.github /react-native-bob
    /template /react-native-circleci-orb
    

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21. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    HOW IS IT WORKING NOW
    21
    GOVERNANCE
    %
    

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22. AS LONG AS THE STRUCTURE OF THE GROUP IS INFORMAL, THE RULES OF HOW DECISIONS
    ARE MADE ARE KNOWN ONLY TO A FEW AND AWARENESS OF POWER IS LIMITED TO THOSE
    WHO KNOW THE RULES.
    THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW THE RULES AND ARE NOT CHOSEN FOR INITIATION MUST
    REMAIN IN CONFUSION, OR SUFFER FROM PARANOID DELUSIONS THAT SOMETHING IS
    HAPPENING OF WHICH THEY ARE NOT QUITE AWARE.
    "The tyranny of structurelessness"
    THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE 22
    

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23. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    WHAT COULD WE DO
    23
    GOVERNANCE
    …SELECT A GROUP THAT DECIDES FOR EVERYONE?
    …ROUGH CONSENSUS?
    …A VOTING SYSTEM WITH TIERED RECURRING DONATIONS?
    “Rough consensus isn’t majority rule. It’s okay to go ahead with a solution that may not look like the best choice for everyone or
    even the majority. “Not the best choice” means that you believe there is a better way to solve the problem, but you accept that
    this one will work too.”
    

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24. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    NOT HAVING ONE
    24
    SUSTAINABILITY
    AT ANY GIVEN POINT, THE MAINTAINER COULD RIGHTFULLY STOP
    ‣ There is a lot of work to do
    ‣ Doesn't have free time to spare anymore
    ‣ There is a change in priorities
    ‣ Doesn't have the drive to work on the repo anymore
    ‣ They stopped using it in prod
    MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES & BURNOUT
    overworking
    

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25. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    THE BIG QUESTION
    25
    SUSTAINABILITY
    HOW CAN WE ENSURE THAT THE TASK OF BEING A CORE CONTRIBUTOR AND A
    MAINTAINER FOR A REPOSITORY IN THIS ORG IS NOT A STRESSFUL AND
    NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE,
    WHILE KEEPING SAID REPOSITORY IN A HEALTHY STATE, GIVEN ALSO THEIR
    RELEVANCE FOR THE BROADER COMMUNITY OF REACT NATIVE DEVELOPERS?
    

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26. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    WHAT COULD WE DO - PART 1
    26
    SUSTAINABILITY
    1) REDUCE THE WORKLOAD PER MAINTAINER
    Introduce more maintainers
    Use more bots and CI/CD
    2) INTRODUCE SOME ORG-LEVEL MONEY INFLUX
    Introduce an OpenCollective for the org
    In other instances the collected funds couldn't be used
    to directly pay for any development work
    

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27. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    WHAT COULD WE DO - PART 2
    27
    SUSTAINABILITY
    3) INTRODUCE SOME "PERSONAL" LEVEL MONEY INFLUX
    No need to manage money for someone
    "organic" imbalance problems as developers would
    receive donations based on their visibility
    4) INTRODUCE MORE CORPORATES / STAKEHOLDERS
    Companies “adopting” the repositories would pay their
    developers
    Quality and consistency and longer support
    

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28. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    WHO ARE YOU?
    28
    GETTING INVOLVED
    IF YOU ARE A COMPANY,
    CONSIDER DOING WHAT GODADDY AND CALLSTACK HAVE BEEN DOING.
    …OR WHAT FORMIDABLE AND FUTURICE HAVE BEEN DOING.
    IF YOU ARE AN INDIVIDUAL,
    REACH OUT TO THE MAINTAINERS OF ANY REPOSITORIES IN THE ORG!
    https://github.com/react-native-community/.github
    

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29. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    WHY YOU SHOULD NOT DO IT
    29
    GETTING INVOLVED
    FOR THE MONEY*
    *until we solve sustainability
    
    FOR THE GLORY*
    ⌛ *but it’s a great way to get started in OSS
    

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30. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    WHY YOU SHOULD DO IT
    30
    GETTING INVOLVED
    @esemesek @Krizzu @bestander @jgfidelis @gengjiawen @thymikee @satya164 @kmagiera
    @emilioicai @turnrye @lelandrichardson @sbeca @charpeni @sibelius @bartolkaruza
    @nicholaslee119 @matt-oakes @harisbaig100 @Swaagie @mikehardy @DanielMSchmidt
    @empyrical @janicduplessis @brentvatne @vonovak @dabit3 @Trancever @radex @zoontek
    @rborn @FonDorn @mmazzarolo @wagnermaciel @kdenz @rafaellincoln @jgcmarins @Kureev
    @Ansalibrahim @michalchudziak @dmtrKovalenko @msand @emin93 @ivanzotov @cobarx
    @ferrannp @gre @Titozzz @pvinis @dlowder-salesforce @IljaDaderko @jainkuniya @mkonicek
    @alvelig @DanielZlotin @DanielSanudo @machour @melihberberolu @christopherdro @rewieer
    @vivfang @cesargdm @hannigand @jenshandersson @jamonholmgren @lucasbento @CHaNGeTe
    @ericlewis @grabbou @Kudo @hufkens @Johan-dutoit @Naturalclar @salah-ghanim
    
    

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31. THE REACT NATIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
    “THE REAL TREASURE IS THE FRIENDS WE MADE ALONG THE WAY”
    31
    
    

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32. THANK YOU!
    @KELSET
    @FormidableLabs @ReactNative @ReactNativeComm
    Shoutout to:
    * Infinite Red & the sponsors
    * Facebook
    * Anna Peronetto ❤
    

    

    * Unsplash
    * my colleagues at Formidable
    https://github.com/react-native-community/.github
    

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