Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software

Working in Public changed how I think about open source. Eghbal's research into who actually maintains popular projects—often solo maintainers juggling day jobs—explains why so many critical dependencies have one person keeping them alive. The chapter on burnout hit close to home: I've watched maintainers I respect step away from projects because the emotional labor of managing issues and feature requests became unsustainable. Her framework for understanding different types of open source projects—clubs, federations, stadiums, toys—helped me see why some projects thrive while others collapse under their own success. The economics section is eye-opening: most maintainers aren't making money, and the infrastructure that runs the internet depends on volunteer labor. My only critique is that some sections feel like they're building to policy recommendations that never fully materialize, but the diagnosis is sharp. If you maintain open source or depend on it heavily, this book will make you think differently about both.