Ruby on Rails has shown the world that it's possible to build an open-source project that is optimized for developer happiness. In the five years since it was originally announced, Rails has gone through the typical hype cycle: enthusiastic early adopters followed by negative press attention followed by a quieter period of productivity.

What challenges did Rails face as it made its way to being a successful, well-regarded framework, and how did it overcome them? In this talk, Yehuda will talk about how the Rails team faced its challenges, and what lessons you can take away when working on your own open source project.