Ten simple rules for helping newcomers contribute to open projects

By John, 2 November, 2019

I deeply appreciated this clear set of ten guidelines to help new contributors get started in any open project. Seems there's a lot of wisdom here for software teams in the workplace as well.

 

Rule 1: Be welcoming [...]

Rule 2: Help potential contributors evaluate if the project is a good fit [...]

Rule 3: Make governance explicit [...]

Rule 4: Keep knowledge up to date and findable [...]

Rule 5: Have and enforce a code of conduct [...]

Rule 6: Develop forms of legitimate peripheral participation [...]

Rule 7: Make it easy for newcomers to get started [...]

Rule 8: Use opportunities for in-person interaction—With care [...]

Rule 9: Acknowledge all contributions [...]

Rule 10: Follow up on both success and failure [...]