Have It Your Way: Maximizing Drive-Thru Contributions
summary
Argues that a rising count of one-off “drive‑thru” commits signals project health and shows the contribution process works, based on interviews and metrics; recommends concrete changes: add a QuickStart and zero‑assumption contributing doc, tag starter bugs, offer a 5‑day review SLA, provide a VM image/container for fast setup, run monthly office hours and new‑contributor events, track contributors and follow up to learn why they leave.
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chapters (23)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:38About me VM (Vicky) Brasseur
- 1:36Will Cover • 50K foot view of the subject
- 2:54Definitions...
- 4:36Categories of drive-thru contributions
- 5:41Why do they show up at all?
- 7:34Why do they leave? • Scratched their particular itch • No time • Stopped using the project • Difficult to contribute
- 9:19Disadvantages • It takes time
- 11:16If you have more drive-thru contributors it means... • More people are looking at the project
- 12:13Improved Process!
- 12:24Better communication routes!
- 13:34Happier project culture!
- 15:24Documentation!
- 17:20Documentation: Quick Start Guide
- 17:38Documentation: How-to Contribute
- 19:14Documentation: Communication routes • Whom to contact, for what, and how • Dedicated communication routes for new contributors
- 20:10Documentation: Code of Conduct
- 20:27Documentation: Who's Who • Project leaders, Core contributors, Subject Matter experts
- 21:47Documentation: Project roadmap • Release schedule
- 22:02Documentation: Jargon, acronyms, abbreviations • Jargon, acronyms, abbreviations
- 24:48Process improvements! • Tag starter bugs • Have a contributor SLA (service level agreement) • Container/VM image of the dev environment
- 25:38Culture! Value contributions & their contributors Culture of documentation
- 26:47Outreach!
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