Kelsey Hightower - Why and How to Invest in Upstream Work | My Open Source Experience Podcast

0:00 Episode Trailer 2:34 Meet Kelsey Hightower 10:35 How Kelsey Discovered Open Source Software, and What He Liked about It 15:51 Kelsey's First Experiences of Getting Involved and (Literally) Investing in Open Source 26:56 The Temporary Checkpoint Concept 33:42 How to Determine What a Company's Employees Should Work on Upstream 42:27 Clear Communication and Avoiding Maintainer Burnout 46:40 Kelsey's Approach to Life Getting involved and investing time and resources into upstream projects can be a complicated decision and process for individuals and companies alike. Have you experienced this already? In this episode of the MOSE podcast, Kelsey Hightower talks about his open source journey, and shares tips and tricks to ensure a successful and sustainable engagement in the ecosystem. He has a versatile background, as he's been an entrepreneur, a full-time employee, and creator and contributor of open source projects. He's always been driven to learn, including new tech just as much as building fundamental knowledge, and this approach became key to be successful at his work in companies and communities. Kelsey shares some of the key findings he's had throughout his career: - Incentives to invest in upstream work, both in personl and corporate context - Temporary checkpoint concept - How to make the right decision in a given moment, and then re-evaluate it - Transparency and clear communication