# A Contribution Pipeline Needs a Defined Next Step After Training ## Claim A contribution pipeline loses prepared participants when training ends without a defined next step. <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ## Scope & conditions - Holds when a program has created skill and early participation but leaves graduates to rediscover where contribution is needed. - The next step must be real, appropriately scoped work with a visible route to it; generic encouragement does not supply a path. - This does not establish which routing design produces the highest retention rate. The WordPress Credits proposal makes that a future pilot question. ## Evidence The WordPress Credits proposal reports that graduates leave without a defined next step after onboarding, mentorship, and contribution work. Its proposed response is discipline-specific routing and tagged, appropriately scoped tasks; the planned developer-track pilot sets a 25% retention target rather than claiming the approach has already worked. ## Links - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Belonging Requires Choice Connection and Progress]] — because applies-in; a clear next step makes progress concrete after the initial course ends. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Stewardship Invests in Contributor Capacity Not Just Cash]] — because extends; training creates capacity only when a program carries participants into ongoing contribution. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Casual Contributors Are Users Not Community Members]] — because applies-in; a defined route can turn a one-time participant toward accountable community membership. - [[Open Source Governance MOC]] — because applies-in; contributor continuity is governance infrastructure, not only an education-program outcome. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Coordination Work Bottoms Out on State That Was Never Written Down]] — because evidence-for: Krupa Nanda's Test Lead to Release Coordinator path is a real mobility route that exists in practice and is written down nowhere as a track. - [[3. Resources/MOCs/DevRel MOC]] — because the gap it names is a DevRel design failure: training that ends without a defined next step converts interest into attrition, which is the funnel this MOC exists to keep intact. ## Tests / falsifiers - Compare six- and twelve-month contribution retention for graduates offered a defined, scoped route with comparable graduates offered only general follow-up. - Record whether task discovery, mentorship capacity, role fit, or paid-work access is the actual retention constraint before attributing departures to the handoff alone. ## Maintenance - Last tended: 2026-08-14 - Next review: 2026-11-12 ## Source - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Full Document Contents/Articles/WordPress Credits Team Proposes Graduate Retention Program, Launches Public Dashboard]] — reports the current handoff gap, 314 graduates across 39 institutions, and the proposed three-phase retention model.