Isaac Z. Schlueter
Non-Violent Communication for Fun, Profit, and Self Defense
Managing open source projects exposes a maintainer to the vagaries of the internet. For all the joy and convenience that a bit of technology may bring to its users, users typically show up when they are in an unhappy place, and the job of the maintainer can quickly become an overwhelming source of stress and burnout.
This talk will introduce Non-Violent Communication as a toolkit for helping users at their worst, and also prevent the flood of bad vibes from becoming a source of toxicity. By exposing our vulnerability in a direct and honest way, we can turn conversations away from blame and antagonism, towards meaningful connection and opportunities for growth and collaboration. Open source is a social machine, and compassion helps keep the gears from grinding to a halt.
Speaker Bio
You might know Isaac Z. Schlueter from such open source software communities as Node.js and npm. Having transitioned from programming computers full time to managing people in the last few years, he's been pretty interested in feelings as well. Also he makes jokes on Twitter sometimes.