Avoiding Community Collapse when Passing the Torch
A presentation at DevOpsDays Organizer Summit 2023 in in Chicago, IL, USA by Laura Santamaria
@nimbinatus Avoiding Community Collapse when Passing the Torch Laura Santamaria
@nimbinatus A bit of Austin community history An overview of the past 11 years
@nimbinatus DevOpsDays Austin and local meetups
@nimbinatus The diverse sets of core organizers
@nimbinatus … And a culture of support
@nimbinatus And then the world changes
@nimbinatus Dangers and pitfalls in passing the torch Failure lessons from Docker Austin
@nimbinatus Failure lessons from Docker Austin
@nimbinatus For the leader stepping down
@nimbinatus For the newcomer stepping up
@nimbinatus Keeping things afloat Selected successes
@nimbinatus Successes from DevOpsDays Austin
@nimbinatus Successes from Cloud Austin
@nimbinatus Handoffs aren’t goodbye forever
@nimbinatus Change is good
@nimbinatus Don’t be afraid to change
@nimbinatus Help the community go along
@nimbinatus Remember, temporary is better than forever
@nimbinatus Thanks Let’s do some open spaces
We as a global group have reached the point where some folks who have maintained their communities are getting tired. They’re ready to pass it on to the next people. The Austin community has experienced this change in this past year as our three core organizers (and about half of the rest) have stepped down and away, while our local meetups have also experienced changes in leadership. The most common problem with community leadership changes is struggling to maintain a community. Let’s talk about (1) the common dangers and pitfalls we encountered during one failed leadership change in Austin, (2) the successful tactics that kept other communities in Austin afloat [including DevOpsDays Austin], and (3) the best ways to help the community embrace changes.
