REfactoring a Community: Resiliency through Maintenance Mode

Summary:
Stopping work that doesn't serve your defined goals is a form of strength. Permission to do so is a learned skill. Find a metaphor that gives you permission to stop.

Abstract:
We are used to slowdowns before a big push forward: the code freeze before every software release and maintenance mode before a deployment. But what happens when you need to take a full step back and reevaluate the direction your initiative is heading in?

This is the story of Sensu — an Open Source project that was wildly successful without much structure, but then it hit a plateau. After several conversations with the top contributors, VP of Community, Matt Broberg took drastic measures and announced that the project was going on “Maintenance Mode,” giving all project participants the ability to rethink how they communicated. The Sensu community has since come out of Maintenance Mode with clearer contributor guidelines, better coding practices and a stronger communication structure. But that’s just one story.

This talk digs into why all companies benefit from a Maintenance Mode at times of significant change. It will provide a framework to identify contributor needs and give recommendations on how to set up your initiative for success. Whether you’re a lead of a community, or software stack of an entire freaking company, this intentional look at what you’re building and how people can communicate about it is relevant to you.

Transcript

1. REfactoring a Community VP Community, Sensu Inc. Matt Broberg @mbbroberg REdeploy ‘18 Resiliency through Maintenance Mode
2. 2011 @mbbroberg
3. @portertech eh on the wind. @mbbroberg
4. @mbbroberg
5. @mbbroberg
6. @mbbroberg 330 Reference: timqian.com/star-history/#sensu/sensu GitHub 07/10/2011
7. @mbbroberg Plugins
9. 2015 @mbbroberg
10. 100s of plugins @mbbroberg
11. <3 maintainers @mbbroberg
12. Monorepo => GitHub Org @mbbroberg
13. sensu/sensu -community -plugins @mbbroberg sensu-plugins/* =>
14. 2017 @mbbroberg
15. @mbbroberg
16. @mbbroberg $ via tenor
17. @mbbroberg Participation Time
18. @mbbroberg ? Participation Time
19. @mbbroberg 2,857 Reference: github.com/sensu/sensu GitHub
20. @mbbroberg 18,170 Reference: github.com/prometheus/prometheus 2,857
21. @mbbroberg ebaumsworld.com/pictures/vintage-cartoon-characters-gifs/84267579/
22. @mbbroberg
23. “It does more than Nagios, and better.” @mbbroberg
24. “Like what?” @mbbroberg
25. “Everything” @mbbroberg
26. @mbbroberg
27. “It’s the first thing I setup at a new job.” @mbbroberg
28. @mbbroberg
29. Codified tribal knowledge @mbbroberg
30. Latent Resilience @mbbroberg
31. @mbbroberg Leadership Doing something you’re not sure you’re qualified to do Startup
32. @mbbroberg ? Participation Time
33. Community is a map of human intention @mbbroberg
34. Spreadsheet Science @mbbroberg
35. 1. How are you involved in the community right now? 2. Are you looking to contribute more actively (or less)? 3. If more, what’s holding you back from doing so? 4. Where do you participate in the community (both online and offline)? 5. What’s your experience communicating with other Sensu users? 6. What’s the best part of the community? 7. What’s the worst part? 8. What’s one thing we can fix today to make it better? @mbbroberg
36. @mbbroberg Sensu Plugins Vision
37. Technical Debt @mbbroberg
38. Social Debt @mbbroberg
39. Social => Technical @mbbroberg
40. Exhibit A: IRC @mbbroberg
41. newbie_1 joined @mbbroberg
42. newbie_1 08:13:00 how do I verify sensu server is online? @mbbroberg
43. newbie_1 08:13:00 how do I verify sensu server is online? @mbbroberg maintainer_5 08:20:00 hey newbie_1, run `curl 127.0.0.1:4567` to confirm
44. newbie_1 quit @mbbroberg
45. newbie_1 is frustrated maintainer_5 is frustrated @mbbroberg
46. maintainer_5 12:12:45 Could someone review this PR? @mbbroberg
47. maintainer_5 12:12:45 Could someone review this PR? maintainer_5 14:30:00 Anyone? @mbbroberg
48. maintainer_5 12:12:45 Could someone review this PR? maintainer_5 14:30:00 Anyone? newcontrib_2 14:33:03 Anyone what? @mbbroberg
49. newcontrib_2 quit @mbbroberg
50. newcontrib_2 is frustrated maintainer_5 is frustrated @mbbroberg
51. @mbbroberg ebaumsworld.com/pictures/vintage-cartoon-characters-gifs/84267579/ it me
52. +1
53. Buried via tenor
54. who has the time to improve? @mbbroberg
55. “I wish we could go into maintenance mode” @mbbroberg
56. Maintenance Mode™ @mbbroberg
57. Why not? @mbbroberg
58. Sunk Cost Fallacy @mbbroberg The Misconception: You make rational decisions based on the future value of objects, investments and experiences. The Truth: Your decisions are tainted by the emotional investments you accumulate, and the more you invest in something the harder it becomes to abandon it. Quote from https://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/03/25/the-sunk-cost-fallacy/
59. Hindsight Bias @mbbroberg Inclination to believe events as predictable, despite there having been little or no objective basis for predicting it. Adaptation of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindsight_bias
60. Why not? @mbbroberg
61. Narrative Bias @mbbroberg Refers to our tendency to make sense of the world through stories. Ref: https://moneymattersforglobetrotters.com/narrative-bias-how-to-make-it-work-for-your-advantage/
62. Framing Effect @mbbroberg The cognitive bias of reacting to a particular choice in different ways depending on how it is presented; e.g. as a loss or as a gain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framing_effect_(psychology)
63. Stop @mbbroberg
64. Stop @mbbroberg
65. Pivot @mbbroberg
66. @mbbroberg The Plan 1. No PR merges 2. Default issue reply only 3. All options on the table
67. @mbbroberg Standardize practices across our 200+ Plugins Increase maintainers from 1-2 to 10 Standardize our communication channels for discussion and backlog Why?
68. Communication @mbbroberg
69. @mbbroberg F Sync For casual, high throughput discussion Async For a definitive, recorded answer News To stay informed and empowered F2F To build a formidable bond
70. @mbbroberg Async Sync F2F News User groups & Conferences
71. @mbbroberg Async Sync F2F News
72. 6 months later @mbbroberg
73. @mbbroberg Async Sync F2F News
74. @mbbroberg
75. newbie_1 felt appreciated newcontrib_2 felt appreciated maintainer_5 felt appreciated @mbbroberg
76. Community Repo @mbbroberg
77. Monorepo @mbbroberg
78. @mbbroberg The perfect oxymoron
79. @mbbroberg
80. @mbbroberg 1000s > 100s
81. Done? LOL @mbbroberg
82. @mbbroberg Participation Time ?
83. better > perfect @mbbroberg
84. “It does more than Nagios, and better.” @mbbroberg
85. @mbbroberg Sensu backend (event pipeline) Event Filter Mutator Handler Event (Nagios PerfData) Filter (n/a) Mutator (PerfData => InfluxDB) Handler (InfluxDB) Event (HTTP 404!) Filter (only notify every 30m) Mutator (n/a) Handler (PagerDuty) Event (Host up!) Filter (only production) Mutator (n/a) Handler (CMDB registration) Event (Host down!) Filter (only production) Mutator (n/a) Handler (EC2 Verification) Event (Database replica lag!) Filter (only production) Mutator (n/a) Handler (In-house tooling)
86. @mbbroberg Sensu is a monitoring event pipeline.
87. better > perfect @mbbroberg
88. Permission @mbbroberg
89. Permission @mbbroberg to stop
90. Maintenance Mode™ @mbbroberg
91. 1. Give it a name 2. Have a why 3. Permission to pivot @mbbroberg Essentials
92. Resiliency @mbbroberg in stopping
93. Software Communities Companies People @mbbroberg
94. Personal Note @mbbroberg
96. PDX MSP @mbbroberg
97. @mbbroberg
98. @mbbroberg https://twitter.com/mbbroberg/status/1028349067255062531
99. Resiliency is not persistence, it’s the permission to pivot @mbbroberg
100. Thanks! VP Community, Sensu Inc. Matt Broberg @mbbroberg Maintainer Bits • Learn GitHub (bitly.com/git-it) • Readmes (awesome-readme) • Advice for maintainers (thread) • GitHub Maintainers program • All Contributors project • Sane GitHub Labels project Psychological Bits • Buy the cognitive bias codex • Ben Franklin Effect