Running with Scissors: Open Source Team Dynamics
summary
Maps concrete team roles to repeated problems: misread signals with coworkers, three responses to misfit teams (adapt migrate or die), and a concrete win — the Drupal configuration management work that moves settings into files so deployments actually carry config across environments; that fixed a long‑standing pain but burned out contributors. Notes growth metrics (conferences from ~1,500 to ~3,000 attendees, companies sending 140 people), tools and debrief rituals for onboarding, and when to escalate, reset, or remove a client or contractor.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (25)
- 0:00Intro
- 2:28Teams
- 6:00Relationships
- 6:25Coworkers
- 8:41Managers
- 11:06Design Team
- 13:14Developers
- 13:43Client
- 14:36Team
- 16:11James Bond
- 17:17Client onboarding
- 17:56Client wants to fire you
- 18:32Client wants to fire someone else
- 19:21Client that you want to fire
- 20:29Follow on trail
- 20:45Client view
- 21:29Resetting relationships
- 22:17Drupal
- 24:00Developer
- 24:33Translator
- 26:14Core
- 28:21Community Management
- 29:03Founders
- 29:55Working with other projects
- 34:49Open Source Community
related talks
43mScaling Yourself for Managing Distributed Teams...
49mBuilding a High-Performance Team is Everyone's Job
30mThe Elements of Scaling
51mBuilding a High-Performance Team is Everyone's Job
01h 37mDynamic Reteaming, The Art and Wisdom of Changing Teams
32mPanel discussion: The journey to building effective engineering teams
43mSweat the Small Stuff
01h 00mImproving Your Team(work)
