Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software
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Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Nadia Eghbal (Author), Tara Oakes (Narrator), Stripe Press (Publisher)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 396 ratings
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An inside look at modern open-source software developers - and their influence on our online social world.

Open-source software in which developers publish code that anyone can use has long served as a bellwether for other online behavior. In the late 1990s, it provided an optimistic model for public collaboration, but in the last 20 years it shifted to solo operators who write and publish code that's consumed by millions.

In Working in Public, Nadia Eghbal takes an inside look at modern open-source software development, its evolution over the last two decades, and its ramifications for an internet reorienting itself around individual creators. Eghbal, who interviewed hundreds of developers while working to improve their experience at GitHub, argues that modern open source offers us a model through which to understand the challenges faced by online creators. She examines the trajectory of open-source projects, including:

  • The platform of GitHub, for hosting and development
  • The structures, roles, incentives, and relationships involved
  • The often-overlooked maintenance required of its creators
  • And the costs of production that endure through an application's lifetime

Eghbal also scrutinizes the role of platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram that reduce infrastructure and distribution costs for creators but massively increase the scope of interactions with their audience.

Open-source communities are increasingly centered around the work of individual developers rather than teams. Similarly, if creators, rather than discrete communities, are going to become the epicenter of our online social systems, we need to better understand how they work and we can do so by studying what happened to open source.

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  1. Listening Length
    7 hours and 35 minutes
  2. Author
    Nadia Eghbal
  3. Narrator
    Tara Oakes
  4. Audible release date
    October 9, 2020
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Stripe Press
  7. ASIN
    B08KWR85F8
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 7 hours and 35 minutes
Author Nadia Eghbal
Narrator Tara Oakes
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date October 09, 2020
Publisher Stripe Press
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B08KWR85F8
Best Sellers Rank #129,622 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#190 in Programming & Software Development
#206 in Software Testing
#661 in Software Development (Books)

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
396 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Dan Ashton
5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic and funny
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2020
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"Running a successful open source project is just Good Will Hunting in reverse, where you start out as a respected genius and end up being a janitor who gets into fights." - Byrne Hobart from The Diff on "Working in Public".

The book gives a nuanced overview of the many communities and economics of open source, from the idealistic communities of 30 years ago that we usually think about to the modern GitHub era.

"Working in Public" offers a unique lens into the economics and communities of online creatives, tracking open source's evolution from fringe idealism to becoming a ubiquitous utility - while creating trillions in economic value along the way (relatively little of which went to creators).

As work on a project gets less and less fun over time, the book offers creative solutions for incentive problems, ranging from creator monetization features from Twitch, to patronage, to a peer-sourced community, to not maintaining projects to get your attention back - all part of a buffet of emerging options for an economic model stuck in the past that looks like Esports a la 2011.

The book is also witty and funny (my favorite analogy for maintenance was a neighbor who comes and knocks on your doors with requests for how you should put up your Christmas lights), and has a high bar for craft throughout - everything is impeccably well designed, including the cover texture, page weight, and lie flat binding. The same level of craft and precision went into every detail about what was in and out of scope for the book, necessary given how demanding extractive contributors can be (and surely will be about this book!).

Creators first. This book lives that message, from its physical form to its message. Great book!
23 people found this helpful
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J. Siegrist
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview of Open Source Software
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2020
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The author has written an excellent account of open source software as it is developed on today. Even though the author is not a developer herself, she seems to have a better grasp of the topic than many developers among the open source contributors and consumers. While no definitive answers are provided in this book on burning questions such as how best to make open source “sustainable”, this book does a magnificent job of framing the pertinent issues and pointing towards the critical few variables that will need to be solved for. More importantly, this book discusses the important relationships around software projects - between maintainers and core non-code contributors, between project members and consumers, between maintainers and their platforms and tools. Given how important open source has become to the software industry, this book is a must read for everyone in either open source communities or in the commercial software development profession.
10 people found this helpful
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Joseph F. Heck
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful work I've been waiting years to see, and I'm thrilled it's here!
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2020
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Nadia distills years of the open source movement, overlapping with the growth of social media, into readily understandable terms and highlights not only successes, but failures. In doing so, she makes a path forward achievable for both those wanting to help produce, and who want to consume, these kinds of abundant services without a tragedy of the commons kind of outcome. Well founded insights are wrapped into some thoughtful hypothesis of the road's forward and where they might lead. If you're interested in OSS, how it works, and where it's (likely) going - this is a must-read.
5 people found this helpful
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Courtney Robertson
4.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for Open Source Leaders and Managers
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2022
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A great primer on various methods of contributing to and funding open source. It is refreshing to learn many of us struggle with the very same things and consider the successes from various projects.
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John W Horton
5.0 out of 5 stars fun to read w/ lots of clever analogies to help the reader
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2020
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I'm a finance person working w/ some SaaS co.s and I needed some coaching up re: open source, Git versus GitHub etc. A big help! Just one example, pages 56 - 65 explain how to think about a project's user growth rates - versus contributor growth rates - via a matrix of clever analogies (federations vs. clubs vs. toys vs. stadiums). Also I enjoyed learning about some of the individual creators and personalities (some a bit wacky) behind the structure of the industry.
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Reader
3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad but could be much better
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2021
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The book has it's moments and sometimes good insights, but the author writes too much about social media in general, than about open source projects. The last chapter is very disappointing,
2 people found this helpful
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Technophobe01
5.0 out of 5 stars A profoundly well written and researched book on Open Source Software Development
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2020
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Nadia Eghbal has done the open source community a profound service in writing this book. It is marvelous. The book covers both the social, economic and unseen costs of developing open source software. It gives the reader an appreciation for the subtleties of the process, and articulates the impact of the approach upon both the contributor and consumer of open source code projects.

The cited references add weight by example and provide a wealth of insight. Highly recommended.
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Philip Nelson
5.0 out of 5 stars Really clear and in depth coverage of open source as it exists today
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2020
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I really got a lot out of this book, learned some things I really hadn't thought about in spite of having been a user and sometimes contributor and maintainer of open source software for many years. The ideas and concepts are exceptionally clear and supported with examples and footnotes for more reading. I managed to read it as a before bed book, something most technical topics do not manage!
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Top reviews from other countries

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Sergio
5.0 out of 5 stars Muy top. Un must para todas aquellas personas que se dediquen al OSS o tengan interés en ello
Reviewed in Spain on April 21, 2024
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Te plantea los problemas actuales del mundo del OSS, las preocupaciones y problemas que sufren los maintainers, las necesidades que cada tipo de proyecto OSS puede llegar a tener.

Veo opiniones negativas alegando que no profundiza en la historia del OSS, o que si te dedicas al OSS no vas a aprender nada de este libro. Totalmente erróneo.
Si de verdad te dedicas al mundo del OSS, en proyectos de los que dependes cientos o miles de usuarios, sabrás bien lo dificil que es ser maintainer, como lidiar con esos cientos y cientos de comentarios, notificaciones etc.
Este libro te hace no sentirte solo y a demás, te ayuda a gestionar esa frustración y a elaborar una estrategia para mantener tu comunidad alrededor de tu(s) proyectos.
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Vincent Crepin
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Well documented
Reviewed in Canada on January 12, 2021
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This is very detailed book on a complex subject. I suspect the author spent NUMEROUS hours researching the different topics covered in the book. As a bonus her writing skills are superior. Very easy to read.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Opened my eyes to the challenges and potentials of open-source and content creation.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 3, 2022
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Very engaging read. Great experience on Kindle app (iPad).

As a relatively new developer keen to get involved in open-source, this book has provided an excellent grounding in ‘why’ people write open-source products, how they avoid becoming overwhelmed by user requests/issues, and a few potential mechanisms for earning a modest livelihood along the way.

I particularly liked the author’s comparisons to news outlets and social media influencers as alternative examples of ‘content creators’. I had never really considered open-source developers to be content creators, but in retrospect this makes a lot of sense. We’re seeing an increase in ‘influencer culture’ in the tech space - now I understand why.

Definitely worth reading this book! I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Ibrahim Cesar
5.0 out of 5 stars Grande leitura
Reviewed in Brazil on October 20, 2020
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Um livro profundo, que engaja desde o início, sempre trazendo insights e comentários interessantes sobre a comunidade do open source e suas implicações para o mundo moderno que cada vez mais depende dessa infra-estrutura.
2 people found this helpful
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tanmay pai
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly insightful!
Reviewed in India on August 27, 2020
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Fascinating read on the history, present, and near future of open source software development. The author does a great job elucidating the phenomenon to a casual reader. She also touches on wider implications for social media and content creation.
One person found this helpful
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