I stumbled into being a maintainer on a big open source project pretty much by accident; I was contributing patches a lot and didn't want to be a nuisance, so I asked for commit privileges. At first I was just expediting my own patches, but then there were all these outstanding issues, and before I knew it I was a top committer on the project. Being a maintainer is fun, but it can also be annoying and exhausting. I'll talk about the things that I've struggled with as a maintainer and the workflow I've developed over time to keep myself sane. There will be Git tips gleaned from kernel maintainers, ideas on encouraging contributions without feeling the need to accept every patch, straight talk on avoiding burnout, and most importantly I'll try to get across the joy that comes from being instrumental in moving a useful piece of software forward. Not an open source maintainer and have no plans to ever be one? You should still come, since everything I talk about will also help you be a better open source contributor as well!