Maintaining the Maintainers

This talk explores the critical challenge of sustaining open source project maintainers over extended periods. Learn practical strategies for maintaining project health as contributors come and go through retirement, role changes, or shifting interests. Drawing from experiences with containerd (a graduated CNCF project) and related projects, discover effective governance approaches, the implementation of emeritus status, best practices for maintainer interactions, and techniques for keeping contributors engaged. Gain insights on developing a pipeline of new contributors who can evolve into maintainers, ensuring your project's longevity and continued success over years or even decades.