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• The idea of "forced vacation" and stepping away from a project to recharge
• The distinction between being a "Lynchpin" and a "cog" in a team or organization
• The analogy of a drummer in a band, highlighting the importance of letting others take the lead and shine
• The potential for burnout and the need to prioritize one's own role and responsibilities
• The concept of a linchpin and its differences from a cog in a system
• Pressure and responsibility associated with being a linchpin
• Comparison between being a linchpin and a cog, with the latter being easier to replace
• The idea that being a linchpin can lead to unhealthy pressure and a sense of importance
• The benefits of being a purposeful cog, knowing one's role and delivering it effectively
• The psychological difference between being a linchpin and a cog, with the latter being part of a larger whole
• Discussing the failure of a watch
• Appreciation for conferences and catching up with people
• Benefits of open source software and maintainers
• Promotion of Maintainer Month and associated resources
• Gratitude to sponsors and participants
• Wrap-up and closing of the show
[0.00 --> 8.42] This week on The Change Law, we're continuing our Maintainer Month series by taking you back
[8.42 --> 15.20] to the hallway track of the Linux Foundation's Open Source Summit North America 2023 in Vancouver,
[15.38 --> 21.44] Canada. Today's anthology episode features Stormy Peters, VP of Communities at GitHub,
[22.20 --> 29.10] Dr. Don Foster, Director of Open Source Community Strategy at VMware, and Angie Byron, Drupal
[29.10 --> 35.24] Core Product Manager and Community Director at Avon. On this episode, we talk about the core issues
[35.24 --> 41.84] of open source software maintainers, finding balance, understanding project health, identifying
[41.84 --> 47.22] new contributors, getting funding and support, knowing when to step back, healthy succession
[47.22 --> 52.82] plans for leaders, and even a dash of choosing the right license. Learn more about Maintainer
[52.82 --> 59.08] Month at maintainermonth.github.com. Special thanks to our friends at GitHub for sponsoring
[59.08 --> 64.52] us to attend this conference as part of Maintainer Month. And also a big thanks to our friends
[64.52 --> 70.16] and partners at Fastly and Fly. Our pods are fast to download globally because Fastly is
[70.16 --> 75.76] fast globally. Check them out at fastly.com. And our friends at Fly help us put our app and
[75.76 --> 81.02] our database close to our users all over the world. And they'll do it for you too, with no
[81.02 --> 83.90] ops. Check them out at fly.io.
[95.14 --> 100.56] Well, I'm here with Richard Moot, the API design lead for all of Square. And we're talking about the
[100.56 --> 106.62] GraphQL API that is now in OpenAlpha looking for feedback. So Richard, what's the story with this API?
[106.62 --> 114.14] So we've announced this at Unbox last year, and we've been just incrementally adding parts to
[114.14 --> 121.10] our GraphQL API. It's been a big ask from developers within our community because it makes using Square's
[121.10 --> 126.30] platform so much easier for particular things. You're no longer having to, let's say, call like
[126.30 --> 131.38] three or four different APIs to like pull together, you know, a bunch of different data. And so we've just
[131.38 --> 136.46] been trying to learn more and more like how developers are planning on using this and making sure that we get
[136.62 --> 140.90] right before we actually transition to the next phase and its release.
[141.42 --> 148.48] So you have the orders API out there, the catalog API, the customers API, the merchants API, the
[148.48 --> 155.40] payments API, the refunds API, and the inventory API out there. And you also have the GraphQL
[155.40 --> 160.18] Explorer out there. Tell me, what are you expecting from developers? What feedback do you want? What are
[160.18 --> 160.64] your expectations?
[161.32 --> 166.34] I think our expectations is to find out all the different ways that you're using it and that we can
[166.34 --> 171.20] make it better for you. I mean, right now, you know, we've gotten really good feedback. We have,
[171.50 --> 176.80] I mean, as soon as I announced the update to our docs that we recently did, the very first question
[176.80 --> 181.70] that I got on Twitter from someone was like, when is this going out of alpha? And so like, we're really
[181.70 --> 186.46] happy to see that. But we also are still wanting to hear from developers like, you know, you're
[186.46 --> 191.30] implementing this, you're trying to build something. What is causing you angst? Like, what is,
[191.30 --> 198.06] is it issues with like constraints around query depths or a number of queries? Is it fast enough
[198.06 --> 203.16] for you? Are you trying to use it in a particular mobile app or electron app or something? And like,
[203.24 --> 207.96] you know, what, what issues are you kind of coming across and like, what, how can we make it better?
[208.20 --> 212.36] And I would definitely say that like anything that you come across when you come and you try it out,
[212.42 --> 217.66] whether it's in the GraphQL Explorer, in your command line, in your app, we want you to reach out to us
[217.66 --> 223.62] on our Slack or our forums. Those would be great. You can also tweet at us. I will definitely be
[223.62 --> 228.12] keeping an eye on that. But I will probably still always say like, hey, like the forums are a great
[228.12 --> 232.22] resource because we have a lot of questions that are already asked there. And we really just want
[232.22 --> 238.50] to like funnel all that feedback to the team so that we can get this into there in time to make
[238.50 --> 243.52] this ready for the next phase. Very cool. Okay. So if you want to check this API out yourself,
[243.52 --> 250.56] go to developer.squareup.com. Again, developer.squareup.com. It is an open alpha. They're
[250.56 --> 255.78] looking for feedback. Hit them up on Slack, head to the forums, whatever works for you. Once again,
[255.86 --> 257.60] developer.squareup.com.
[273.52 --> 281.98] GitHub Sponsors. What is the state of GitHub Sponsors?
[282.60 --> 288.68] So GitHub Sponsors is now generally available for companies as well as individuals to donate money
[288.68 --> 293.40] to maintainers or give money to maintainers, not donate. It's been a journey. You've had a couple
[293.40 --> 297.68] people in charge of it. The last time we talked to Jessica Lord, she was, this was about a year and a
[297.68 --> 302.24] half ago, was it? Probably. She came back to GitHub. She was a boomerang. Yeah. She did.
[302.46 --> 304.76] She loves GitHub so much. I'm glad she came back. Yeah. She's awesome.
[306.20 --> 309.12] Is she still in charge? She's not still in charge of GitHub Sponsors, right?
[309.12 --> 314.22] She's not doing sponsors now. Okay. Is anyone in charge of it? Who is in charge of it? How's it work?
[314.32 --> 316.88] We actually have an open job rec right now. Is that right?
[316.88 --> 320.06] If you would like to be in charge of it, you can apply. Gosh, I could slay that.
[321.18 --> 326.86] It's actually for a team that's going to be looking at how to change the open source ecosystem so that
[326.86 --> 332.86] we fund maintainers in ways that aren't just a paycheck. Yeah. It's a tough job. Who could do
[332.86 --> 338.46] that job well? What would they have done beforehand to do that job well? It's been kind of fun trying
[338.46 --> 343.20] to recruit. We really want someone who's passionate about open source software, who has some kind of
[343.20 --> 344.16] background in it. We love open source. You know that right.
[344.16 --> 351.26] Yeah. We could pair up on that job, Jared. I've also interviewed people who were in insurance before
[351.26 --> 356.08] and just in insurance models. I've interviewed people that were in venture capital money. We're just
[356.08 --> 359.86] kind of experimenting with who can bring new ideas to the space.
[360.46 --> 365.74] It has to begin with a desire. What is GitHub optimizing for when it comes to sponsors? What
[365.74 --> 370.88] does GitHub want with sponsors in general? What are the possibilities?
[371.78 --> 376.36] Our ultimate goal is to make open source software successful. That means providing ways for
[376.36 --> 381.66] maintainers to have time and energy to invest in open source software. Part of that solution
[381.66 --> 387.42] is helping companies understand what dependencies they have and making sure that software is secure
[387.42 --> 392.06] and reliable. Some of them know they have dependencies on open source software. They
[392.06 --> 395.94] really want to help make sure it's reliable. They need someone to help them if it goes down.
[395.94 --> 396.20] Yeah.
[396.44 --> 401.18] They understand money is part of that solution. How do we help them provide that? How do we help
[401.18 --> 403.80] maintainers say, here I am. Here's how I can help you.
[403.98 --> 408.26] Right. That sounds like a challenge. You said it's now available to companies.
[408.26 --> 413.22] It was always available to companies, but until recently they had to pay via credit card,
[413.78 --> 417.52] which how many people at a company can put a couple hundred thousand dollars on their credit
[417.52 --> 422.58] card. Right. So we added things like invoices and normal corporate things. I see. So you
[422.58 --> 428.80] grease the skids, as they say, for companies to be able to actually give at a higher clip than
[428.80 --> 432.22] they could with some sort of corporate credit card. Yep. This has been an effort in the making
[432.22 --> 436.74] because I know when we talked to Jessica, that was the plan to get there and you're saying
[436.74 --> 442.72] now it's available. Yep. Okay. How has that changed things? Like has the giving or supporting
[442.72 --> 449.66] gotten easier? Has the amounts increased? What are the stats behind this new feature being there
[449.66 --> 456.34] for sponsors? Yeah. I think it's worth looking at before we were generally available in just our
[456.34 --> 460.84] beta program. We already had like $30 million flow through the program. So obviously there was like