Mullenweg Asked If He’s Adaptable To Change via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Matt Mullenweg, co-creator of WordPress, precocious held a question-and-answer league astatine WordCamp Asia 2025, wherever helium faced respective pugnacious questions. Topics included whether helium was unfastened to discussing change, the steep learning curve of WordPress, and whether helium would reconsider reducing Automattic’s contributions to WordPress core.

As pugnacious arsenic those questions were, Matt answered each of them gracefully and focused connected staying positive, adjacent erstwhile helium was saying no.

Mullenweg Says Being Adaptable To Change Is Important

In 1 of these exchanges idiosyncratic asked what WordPress would beryllium similar successful 5 years and helium couldn’t reply it. He explained it that not having a program beyond Gutenberg was fundamentally a diagnostic and not a bug, explaining that a shorter word position is bully for staying agile successful a rapidly changing technological environment.

He said:

“Outside of Gutenberg, we haven’t had a roadmap that goes six months oregon a year, oregon a mates versions, due to the fact that the satellite changes successful ways you can’t predict.

But being responsive is, I think, truly is however organisms survive.

You know, Darwin, said it’s not the fittest of the taxon that survives. It’s the 1 that’s astir adaptable to change. I deliberation that’s existent for bundle arsenic well.”

Change Is Not Coming To WordPress

In a seeming astir look astir the value of WordPress being adaptable to change, Matt Mullenweg drew the enactment astatine being adaptable to alteration erstwhile it comes to governance.

Taco Verdonschot (LinkedIn profile) stood up to inquire the question.

“I’m Taco, co-owner of Progress Planner. I was wondering, you were talking astir adaptability earlier and endurance of the fittest. That means being unfastened to change. What we’ve seen successful the past mates of months is that radical who were talking astir alteration got banned from the project. How unfastened are you to discussing alteration successful the project?

Matt answered:

“Sure. I don’t privation to spell excessively acold into this but I volition accidental that talking astir alteration volition not get you banned. There’s different behaviors… but conscionable talking astir alteration is thing that we bash beauteous overmuch each day. And we’ve changed a batch implicit the years. We’ve changed a batch successful the past year. So yeah. But I don’t privation to talk to anyone personally, you know. So support it positive.”

Calls For Change In Governance

There person been galore precocious illustration calls for a alteration successful however WordPress is governed, astir notably by Joost de Valk, the creator of Yoast SEO bundle and presently a co-owner of the Progress Planner WordPress plugin.

Joost had written:

“A batch has happened implicit the past fewer months, that I deliberation each comes down to the above. I’ve often considered however the WordPress satellite “worked” unhealthy. I’ve spoken to galore somewhat extracurricular of our manufacture implicit the past months astir what was happening and respective people, autarkic of each other, described WordPress arsenic “a cult” to me. And I recognize why.

I deliberation it’s clip to fto spell of the cult and alteration task leadership. I’ve said it before: we request a “board”. We can’t hold with doing that for the years it volition instrumentality for Automattic and WP Engine to combat retired this lawsuit. As was already reported, Matt said precocious successful Post Status that “it’s hard to ideate wanting to proceed moving connected WordPress aft this”. A fewer days later, helium gave a wholly conflicting connection successful the State of the Word. Yet helium ne'er came backmost connected that archetypal connection oregon clarified that he’d changed his mind. He besides didn’t travel backmost to speech to the assemblage helium turned his backmost on.”

Joost de Valk was expected to talk astatine WordPress Asia 2025 but the co-owner of Progress Planner was determination and asked the hard question.

Mullenweg Challenged To Adapt To Change

His connection astir being adaptable to alteration acceptable up different awkward infinitesimal astatine the 6:55:47 infinitesimal people wherever Taco Verdonschot, co-owner of Progress Planner, stood up to the microphone and asked Mullenweg if helium truly was committed to being adaptable.

Taco Verdonschot is formerly of Yoast SEO and presently sponsored to enactment connected WordPress by Emilia Capital (owned by Joost de Valk and Marieke van de Rakt).

Taco asked:

“I’m Taco, co-owner of Progress Planner. I was wondering, you were talking astir adaptability earlier and endurance of the fittest. That means being unfastened to change. What we’ve seen successful the past mates of months is that radical who were talking astir alteration got banned from the project. How unfastened are you to discussing alteration successful the project?”

Mullenweg responded:

“Sure. I don’t privation to spell excessively acold into this but I volition accidental that talking astir alteration volition not get you banned. There’s different behaviors… but conscionable talking astir alteration is thing that we bash beauteous overmuch each day. And we’ve changed a batch implicit the years. We’ve changed a batch successful the past year. So yeah. But I don’t privation to talk to anyone personally, you know. So support it positive.”

Featured Image by Shutterstock/StarLine