Open source projects rarely fail because of bad code. They fail because the social system around the code does not scale. Contribution paths are unclear, expectations are implicit, and a small group of maintainers quietly absorbs all the pressure until burnout hits.

This talk reframes open source as a socio-technical system, where community design decisions are as important as technical ones. Drawing from real-world examples, we’ll look at how governance, contributor experience, and local communities influence long-term sustainability. Instead of abstract ideals, this session focuses on practical trade-offs: what to optimize for early, what to delay, and which “best practices” often backfire at scale.

The goal is to give developers and community builders a clearer mental model for why some projects thrive while others slowly decay, and what they can realistically influence without becoming full-time maintainers.