Flutter's Labor Shortage Problem

• Flutter team approximately 50 people serving ~1 million developers (1:20,000 ratio)
• Google layoffs hit Flutter team hard, reducing headcount and morale
• Team frozen in 2023, small layoffs in 2024, now expanding through outsourcing
• Flutter expanded from mobile-only to web, desktop (Mac/Windows/Linux) without proportional team growth
• Desktop platforms now in maintenance mode due to Google's AI refocus
• Canonical working on multi-window support for Flutter, focusing initially on Windows

Flutter vs React Native Team Structure Comparison

• React Native has distributed ownership: Twitter built web support, Microsoft maintains Mac/Windows
• Meta heavily dogfoods React Native across Facebook, Instagram, Quest VR platform
• React team understands app development needs through internal usage
• Flutter team doesn't build Flutter apps - Google doesn't invest in Flutter applications
• Creates blind spots where team doesn't understand real developer pain points

Community Contribution Barriers

• Limited review labor - takes years for PR reviews
• Contributors often forget context by time team responds
• Everything takes forever, blocked by non-critical details and internal discussions
• Communication monoculture - Google's internal communication style doesn't match external contributors
• Design docs and conference calls required for small fixes
• Package fixes can't land until 6+ months after engine changes
• Only ~100 external contributors merged over nearly a decade despite PR messaging welcoming contributions

Introducing Flock Fork

• Community-driven fork of Flutter called "Flock" (Flutter Plus)
• Led by Matt Carroll as Director, Jesse as engine lead
• Goal: remain up-to-date with Flutter while implementing community-requested fixes/features
• Not forking the community - want to stay aligned with Flutter ecosystem
• Leverage model similar to Node.js/io.js situation

Flock's Approach and Advantages

• Recruit larger PR review team for faster review times
• Facilitate contributions instead of merely tolerating them
• Optimize policies - eliminate unnecessary design docs/conference calls
• Use contribution success to promote more contributions socially
• Reviewers help contributors achieve final 10% of PR completion
• Seeking leads for different areas: Flutter tools, per-platform engine leads (Android/iOS/Mac/Windows/Linux)

Other Flutter Forks Context

• Shorebird: Created by Flutter co-creator for code push capability (can't self-host bundles)
• Aurora OS: Russian-maintained fork
• Apple TV fork: Due to difficulty getting new platform support merged
• Flutter's architecture makes platform separation harder than React Native's modular approach

Community Support Actions

• Alpha test Flock in existing Flutter apps
• Become PR reviewers (asking clarifying questions encouraged)
• Become area leads for specific Flutter components
• Report issues and provide updated reproduction cases for old bugs
• Use tools like CodeRabbit for automated first-pass reviews