I’m Damien, I’m an engineer at Elastic, a maintainer of the OpenTelemetry Go SDK, an approver of the OpenTelemetry Collector and a member of several SIGs. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at what it means to be a maintainer: the responsibilities they carry, the challenges they navigate, and the impact they have on both the project and the broader community.
When people think about open source, they often picture lines of code, clever algorithms, or maybe a GitHub repo full of issues and pull requests. What can be harder to see is the human side. The people who quietly keep things moving, who make sure contributions land smoothly and help the community grow in a healthy way. That's the work of a maintainer.
Maintainers are more than just code reviewers. They are the stewards of the SIG's (Special Interest Group) health, direction, and community. They balance technical oversight with mentorship, governance with collaboration, and long-term vision with the day-to-day realities of issues and pull requests.
Open Source mentorship
One of the most rewarding parts of being a maintainer is mentorship. Every open source project depends on new contributors stepping in, learning the ropes, and eventually taking on more responsibility themselves. As maintainers, we’re often the first point of contact for someone who’s never contributed to the project before.
Mentorship can look like many different things. Sometimes it’s as simple as leaving a thoughtful code review that doesn’t just point out what’s wrong, but explains why a change matters. Other times, it’s guiding a contributor through their first issue, helping them understand the project’s structure, or showing them how to run tests locally. And every so often, it means stepping back to give someone room to try, even if they don’t get it right the first time.
The goal isn’t just to fix the immediate bug or land the pull request. It's to help contributors feel confident enough to come back again. A healthy project grows by sharing knowledge, not hoarding it. Mentorship is how maintainers make sure today's first-time contributor can become tomorrow's reviewer, and eventually, the next maintainer.
Setting direction and priorities
Another part of being a maintainer is shaping the project's roadmap. Open source moves fast: there are always new ideas, bug reports, and feature requests. Left unchecked, a project can easily become a grab bag of loosely connected changes. Part of our job as maintainers is to make sure the work stays aligned with the bigger picture.
That means asking questions like:
- Does this feature fit with our long-term goals?
- Is now the right time to tackle it?
- Do we have the capacity to maintain it once it’s merged?
Sometimes the answer is "not yet" or even "no", and it’s on us to communicate that clearly while still encouraging contributions.
Roadmapping isn't about dictating every detail. It's about setting priorities together with the community—listening to feedback, balancing what users need today with where the project should be tomorrow, and making tradeoffs that keep the project sustainable.
The roadmap gives everyone a shared sense of direction. Contributors know where their work fits in, users can see what's coming next, and the project as a whole stays focused instead of scattered.
Special Interest Group meetings
One of the maintainer's roles is also to facilitate the frequent meetings that help their SIG communicate and plan its work.
Facilitating a SIG meeting isn’t about running through an agenda like a checklist. It’s about creating space where everyone feels comfortable speaking up, from long-time contributors to someone joining their very first call. That means keeping discussions focused, making sure quieter voices get heard, and helping the group reach consensus without letting debates drag on forever.
There's also a practical side: preparing the agenda ahead of time, documenting decisions so they’re visible to the wider community, and following up on action items afterward.
In many ways, SIG meetings are where the "community" part of open source really comes to life. As maintainers, our role is to guide the conversation, not control it, making sure the project keeps moving forward while staying open and inclusive.
Challenges
Of course, maintaining isn’t all smooth sailing. One of the hardest parts is balancing the constant flow of contributions with the need to keep the codebase healthy. Every pull request represents someone's time and effort, and it’s important to honor that. Yet, at the same time, not every change fits the project's standards or long-term goals. Saying "no" gracefully is just as important as merging a great contribution.
Maintainers also find themselves balancing priorities that go beyond code. Different contributors, and often the companies backing them, come with their own needs and expectations. One team might want a new feature quickly, another might be focused on stability, while the community as a whole still needs clear direction. Managing those competing priorities, and making decisions that serve the project rather than any single interest, is a constant challenge.
Conflicts are another reality. With so many people involved, it's inevitable that disagreements will happen. Sometimes it's about technical design, sometimes about process, and occasionally about interpersonal dynamics. Part of the maintainer role is helping to navigate those moments: keeping discussions respectful, finding common ground, and making sure decisions are made transparently.
And yet, despite the difficulties, the impact of this work is enormous: when maintainers succeed, the entire community thrives.
The importance and impact of Open Source maintainers
When maintainers do their job well, the effects ripple far beyond the codebase. A well-tended project feels reliable and welcoming—contributors know their work will be reviewed thoughtfully, users trust the software to be stable, and the community grows because people want to come back.
Good project maintenance builds momentum. A contributor who feels supported on their first pull request is more likely to return for a second. Clear roadmaps and consistent standards give people confidence that their effort matters and will fit into the bigger picture. And when conflicts are handled with respect and transparency, it reinforces the culture of trust that makes open source sustainable.
The impact goes deeper than just keeping a project alive. Effective maintainers create the conditions for others to succeed. That's the real legacy of this role: not just code, but a thriving ecosystem and community built around it.
Conclusion
Being a maintainer is challenging work, but it’s also some of the most meaningful. It’s about more than merging code. It's about stewardship, mentorship, and creating a community where people feel empowered to contribute. Every healthy open source project owes its success to the care and commitment of its maintainers.
And while the challenges are real, the rewards are just as tangible: the chance to constantly learn, to collaborate on complex problems, and to connect with people from every corner of the world and every kind of background.
OpenTelemetry's maintainers embody this balance every day, helping the project grow while keeping its community strong.