You are probably thinking flowers are dumb: they die and they don’t do anything; they are for dates, weddings and funerals. Besides, open source developers do not need flowers, they need money. But nobody wants to pay for software, let alone open source software. Even though today open source software is as vital as roads and bridges, nobody wants to pay to maintain it.
So by all means let’s figure out a way to get more money for open source developers. But in the meantime, here’s why you should still send flowers.
- Flowers show appreciation
Taskwarrior share some great lessons learnt for open source maintainers. This includes cautionary tales like: “People will pick a fight with you about all your incidental choices. Your issue tracker, your branching strategy, your version numbers, the text editor you use, and so on.” Open source developers are a tough bunch, but are still likely to suffer from burnout. Sending flowers is the ultimate gesture of positivity and understanding. Plus there is all sorts of research out there that suggests flowers & plants improve mood and promote creativity in the workplace.
- People think you are more capable & emotionally intelligent
If altruistic reasons are not enough, then consider this. The act of giving flowers has benefits for the giver. The act of giving makes people happy. There is also research that says people who send flower are perceived as having higher emotional intelligence, capable and courageous.
- You will be a better leader
Small things can make all the difference. This idea is partly inspired by my favourite blogger, who wrote about the effect receiving flowers from Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce had on her. Basically really good leaders are always thinking of thoughtful ways to get the best out of everybody.
OK so now I have a confession to make. Maybe I am telling you this because Kichwa Coders have recently joined the realm of open source maintainers, heading up and contributing to the January project (numpy & datastructures for Java). And we are gearing up, together with the rest of the Eclipse Science Working Group, for our first major science release. It is an amazing project that will provide tool infrastructure for countless scientific projects. So it will be awesome, but there is still some trepidation when you cross the threshold from open source user to open source maintainer. It is a little bit like how when you have your own kids, you finally really appreciate your parents and wonder how they did it. Right now I am in awe of open source leads and maintainers everywhere. So just do it. Send flowers to open source developers. And while you’re at it, send some to your parents too.
Kichwa Coders 