[nedbat]

I'm not sure what you are labeling as pet projects of leadership? Is there something the PSF is doing that you consider a pet project rather than part of their core mission?

[mixmastamyk]

Yes, outreach before investing in packaging. It’s not that outreach is bad but that packaging was crumbling.

[nedbat]

I'm not sure how you got to "before" here. The PSF runs PyPI, organizes the Python Packaging Authority, supports sprints and standardization efforts, funds developers in residence and so on. Packaging is improving, partly because of those efforts. It's not an either/or.