You set up a great community, but life happens, it’s time to go.

First, thanks for what you did. Setting up things that work, especially with humans, is hard, demanding and often thankless. You could have done nothing, but you did. You might learn, hours or years after you left, how people liked what you did. Pat yourself on the back, you deserve it.

Now, how would you set the transition up? Well, like a normal project.

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What makes you want to quit?

Is it non negotiable, like moving away? Will you regret it, like a bruised ego thing?

Is it “just” that you burned out? Perhaps you can just step down:

• I will only keep being a leader if someone helps me with [XXX]
• I will not be the leader, but I would help anyone who takes over by doing [YYY]

Many people don’t want to be a leader, but are willing to help. What can you ask the community, that would keep you helping them?

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What does it take to take over?

• What were you doing in that “job”?
• What would the next person need to know or do?
• How many hours did you spend weekly? Should we expect rushes?
• Do most project require hard work or just letting momentum going?
• What help would you provide to someone who could takeover but is not sure yet?

Have you contacted the leaders in each kind of task there is, each “sub-project”? Explain this, ask and answer the questions together, and see if they’re willing.

— — —

Now you’re a little bit more ready for the next steps:

• let it go without regret: it was too hard to keep going and you tried your best
• actually, things aren’t so bad, you are simply reshaping the organisation and your role