We need to reinvent contributor days 🔗 **Source:** [We need to reinvent contributor days](https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/) > [!note]+ Document Notes > ```markdown > > --- > tags: [wordpress, contributor-days, community] > author: Taco Verdonschot > source: progressplanner.com > reference: [https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/] > date created: > > --- > > # 🏷️ Title: We need to reinvent contributor days > <!-- deep-read:sections start --> ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### 🔗 References - Include links cited in or relevant to the article. ## 📝 Summary - Contributor days at WordCamps often lack structure and rely on whichever team leads are present, leading to ad hoc onboarding and little lasting impact. - Taco argues for a lightweight application-based model with pre-scoped projects and mixed-experience teams. - Key stakeholders: Make WordPress teams, WordCamp organizers, new and experienced contributors. - Risks: perceived gatekeeping, added organizer overhead, mis-scoped projects. - Bottom line: add intentional structure so contributor days reliably ship real outcomes while staying welcoming. ## 📖 Main Content - The author contrasts traditional contributor days—loosely organized tables, generic onboarding, unclear goals—with a more structured hackathon model seen at CloudFest US, where participants applied, were selected, and worked toward clearly defined FAIR-related goals in one day. - Current contributor days skew toward easy-to-onboard teams (Photos, Polyglots) while complex teams (Core, WP-CLI, Accessibility) struggle to use the room effectively because meaningful work requires prep and deeper expertise. - Proposed model: - Make WP teams commit to preparing one clear, time-bounded project in advance, with required/desired skills described. - WordCamp site publishes these project briefs and a simple application form. - Organizers assemble small, mixed-experience teams based on skills, interests, and learning goals. - On the day, everyone arrives knowing the project, purpose, and expected outcomes. - This is framed as inclusion-supporting, not gatekeeping: better matching improves onboarding capacity and ensures new contributors are embedded in teams ready to guide them. - The model is scalable: small events might have one or two projects and a simple form; large WordCamps can support multiple teams and a more formal matching flow. - Expected benefits: - Clear focus → tangible results in a single day. - Mixed teams → peer learning and smoother onboarding. - Light applications → better team composition without heavy bureaucracy. - The article concludes with a call to “prepare better” so contributor days become purposeful workshops that “really get things done,” while preserving WordPress’s open, welcoming ethos. ### 🗒️ Notes - Traditional contributor days: - Tables are often chosen based on which team leads are present, not on strategic needs. - Most tables prioritize onboarding, but many teams (Core, WP-CLI, Accessibility) require prior knowledge, context, or technical depth. - Participants often “sit together without a real plan,” limiting the impact of their time. - CloudFest US model: - Hackathon entry by application; organizers curate a team and set clear goals. - Participants know the purpose and expected outcomes before arrival. - Structure increased engagement and enabled real progress on FAIR in a single day. - Proposed shift for WordPress: - Introduce a “simple application” for contributor days to understand skills, interests, and learning goals. - Emphasis: this is not about gatekeeping, but about enabling preparation and effective team formation. - Aim: a “healthy mix of new and experienced contributors” on each project. - Make WP team responsibilities: - Prepare one clear project per participating team (Core, Docs, Polyglots, Accessibility, etc.). - Define scope that’s achievable in a day, with helpful/required skills described. - Publish project descriptions on the WordCamp site before the event. - Organizer responsibilities: - Use submitted applications to assemble balanced teams. - Ensure each prepared project has enough people to meaningfully progress. - Contributor experience: - New contributors join teams expecting them and able to guide them. - Enthusiasm and willingness to learn remain sufficient; prior deep expertise is not mandatory. - Clear goals and team composition support psychological safety and learning. - Scalability: - Small events: 1–2 projects, basic forms, lightweight matching. - Large events: multiple teams, more sophisticated matching, perhaps multiple project tracks. - Rationale: - Clear projects → focus and tangible outcomes beyond the day. - Mixed teams → better knowledge transfer and more sustainable contribution pathways. - Applications → higher signal on who’s attending and how to place them. - Values: - Respect the open nature of the community and the time/energy of contributors. - Combine welcoming spirit with “deeper work” by borrowing hackathon lessons without compromising inclusivity. - Closing message: - Contributor days “deserve fresh thought.” - By adding intention and preparation, WordPress can “really get things done” in these events. ## 📚 References - We need to reinvent contributor days — Taco Verdonschot — Progress Planner: https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/ - WordCamp Central: https://central.wordcamp.org/ - Make WordPress: https://make.wordpress.org/ - CloudFest: https://www.cloudfest.com/ - FAIR (WordPress open governance initiative reference context): https://github.com/WordPress/fair (if/when available) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - Paragraph A paraphrase. - Many contributor days gravitate to whichever Make WordPress teams have available leads and prioritize generic onboarding, which leaves complex teams under-served and wastes the potential of motivated contributors who lack clear projects. - Paragraph B paraphrase. - Taking cues from CloudFest US’s application-based hackathon, Taco proposes that contributor days adopt pre-scoped projects and curated, mixed-experience teams formed from simple applications, so that newcomers are better supported and the community achieves meaningful, lasting outcomes in a single day. ## 📰 Newsletter WordPress contributor days are long overdue for an upgrade. In a new piece, Taco Verdonschot argues that our current “show up and find a table” model leaves too much impact on the floor. Instead, he suggests hackathon-style structure: pre-scoped projects, simple applications, and balanced teams of new and experienced contributors. For DevRel, organizers, and Make teams, this is a call to turn contributor days into focused workshops that actually ship. Imagine Core, Accessibility, or Docs arriving at WordCamps with one-day projects ready to go—and contributors walking in already matched to work that fits their skills and learning goals. If you help run contributor events, this article is a compact playbook for: - Designing one-day, shippable projects. - Using light-weight forms to balance teams. - Making contributor days less about “where do I sit?” and more about “what did we ship?”. Worth a read before you plan your next WordCamp contributor day: https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/ ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Developer advocacy: - Pilot a structured contributor day at one WordCamp with clear projects and published outcomes. - Create a short “How to propose a contributor project” guide for Make teams. - Education: - Design onboarding modules specific to each project (e.g., Core basics, Accessibility testing primer). - Offer pre-event office hours to help applicants choose a project. - Developer experience: - Prepare ready-to-run repos, issue boards, and checklists for each project. - Create starter templates for contributor day tasks (code, docs, tests). - Developer marketing: - Promote structured contributor days as “build something real in a day” experiences. - Track and share impact metrics (PRs merged, issues closed, docs shipped). - Community management: - Recruit and brief table leads as “team coaches” with clear facilitation roles. - Run post-event surveys capturing contributor satisfaction and learning. - Internal/external/cross-project: - Align contributor day goals with broader product/community roadmaps. - Create feedback loops from contributor projects back into team planning. #### OSPO - Policy & Governance: - Define a lightweight governance pattern for community hackathon-style events. - Clarify decision rights for what can be merged or shipped on the day. - License Compliance: - Provide a pre-approved dependency list and license checks for hackathon repos. - Offer a short compliance briefing template for organizers. - Security Management: - Set a vuln intake and triage plan for security-related contributions. - Provide guidance on secrets handling and code signing if relevant. - Software Inventory: - Track repos and artifacts produced in contributor days in central inventory. - Maintain SBOM updates for any shipped components. - Developer Support: - Offer “consultation hours” to review proposed contributor projects for feasibility and risk. - Provide standard tooling images or devcontainers for events. - Community Engagement: - Sponsor or co-run structured contributor days with upstream projects. - Formalize MoUs where corporate teams support specific WordPress components. - Strategic Alignment: - Tie contributor day outputs into OSPO KPIs (e.g., upstream PRs, issues resolved). - Report contributor day impact in executive summaries and open source roadmaps. #### Community - Maintainers: - Host “roadmap clinics” ahead of events to identify one-day-friendly issues. - Provide governance templates for how decisions are made during the day. - Contributors: - Offer guided “first issue” rotations embedded into each project team. - Pair newcomers with experienced buddies for the full event. - Sponsors: - Fund facilitation, travel, and follow-up maintenance work for key projects. - Require simple impact reports for sponsored contributor days. - Ecosystem: - Run cross-project incident drills and capture learnings as shared playbooks. - Coordinate responsible disclosures and security sprints across related projects. #### WordPress - Core: - Identify issues that can be completed in a day (or day-sized slices of bigger work). - Publish contributor day project briefs in advance with clear acceptance criteria. - Core Performance: - Prepare profiling scenarios and metrics dashboards for on-the-day experiments. - Offer perf bounties for specific regressions or bottlenecks. - Core AI: - Define small, well-scoped experiments (evaluation sets, prompt libraries, safety checks). - Document responsible AI guardrails for hackathon-style work. - **Core Program Team:** - Coordinate which teams run projects at which events. - Collect retrospectives and update a shared “contributor day playbook.” - Mobile: - Curate a set of small UX or bugfix tasks suited for newcomers. - Provide offline-friendly environments and instructions for event venues. - Playground: - Use Playground to run browser-based labs for code and docs projects. - Create reproducible bug templates for teams to triage. - Community: - Update WordCamp organizer handbooks with structured contributor day guidance. - Provide ready-to-use meetup kits for “mini contributor days.” - Training: - Build lesson plans aligned with typical contributor day projects. - Pilot project-based learning paths that start at events and continue online. - Marketing: - Highlight success stories from structured contributor days in official channels. - Create narrative arcs around “from first contribution to maintainer.” - Support: - Identify support/documentation gaps to be tackled in contributor days. - Provide escalation pathways for complex support topics that arise. - Design: - Prepare UX reviews or design audits as one-day projects. - Supply design tokens and patterns participants can safely reuse. - Documentation: - Curate doc gaps into discrete, one-day-friendly tasks. - Promote examples-first patterns and coding standards in doc projects. - Photos: - Run local photo collection and curation sprints with clear guidelines. - Maintain taxonomy hygiene tasks for contributor days. - TV: - Prepare caption quality and indexing tasks suitable for short sprints. - Document submission guides to streamline video contributions. - Polyglots: - Run translation sprints with clear locale and glossary targets. - Align glossary updates with other teams’ new features/docs. - Accessibility: - Define targeted WCAG review sprints for selected components or flows. - Provide audit checklists and tooling guides. - Meta: - Improve .org contributor tooling and reliability as recurring projects. - Track contributor day outcomes in .org dashboards. - CLI: - Curate command coverage and plugin scaffold improvements for one-day work. - Document UX and help output improvements. - Hosting: - Coordinate cross-host testing and default configuration checklists. - Use telemetry (where allowed) to identify reliability hotspots. - Tide: - Tackle scoring transparency improvements and false-positive reviews. - Outreach to plugin authors based on Tide findings as a project. - Openverse: - Plan ingestion pipeline improvements or moderation rule updates. - Create education content around open licensing for contributors. - Themes: - Focus on review throughput, linting rules, and mentoring new reviewers. - Define small test matrix improvements for popular themes. - Plugins: - Run security review sprints and provenance checks for targeted plugins. - Improve guidelines and automation for the review queue. #### The WPOCC - Programs: - Design fellowship tracks supporting maintainers who lead structured contributor projects. - Offer microgrants for event labs that pilot this model. - Projects: - Host governance clinics helping teams formalize contributor day processes. - Coordinate documentation sprints capturing best practices from events. - Funding experiments: - Pilot matched grants tied to measurable contributor day outcomes. - Publish transparent ledgers of funded projects and their impact. ### FAIR - Technical independence: - Ensure contributor-day projects can run locally/offline with clear provenance checks. - Facilitate signature and integrity verification for released artifacts. - Policies and covenants: - Draft funding transparency norms for sponsored contributor work. - Encourage sunset clauses and anti-capture commitments for governance experiments. - Productized governance artifacts: - Turn successful contributor day patterns into reusable charters and scorecards. - Provide operator agreements for cross-org collaboration in events. ## 🧪 Hypotheses - Structured contributor days with pre-scoped projects yield more tangible outputs than unstructured, table-based models. - Requiring simple applications increases inclusion for new contributors by enabling better matching and onboarding. - Mixed-experience teams (new + experienced) improve both learning outcomes and project completion rates. - Small, well-scoped one-day projects increase contributor retention after the event. - Publishing contributor day goals early increases participant preparedness and satisfaction. ### 📊 Methodology - Study designs: - Comparative case study of traditional vs structured contributor days across multiple WordCamps. - Pre/post surveys measuring contributor satisfaction, perceived learning, and likelihood to return. - Data sources: - Event metrics: PRs opened/merged, issues resolved, docs created/updated, follow-up activity. - Application and attendance records (skills, interests, past contribution history). - Analyses: - Quantitative: compare output metrics per participant-hour between models. - Qualitative: thematic analysis of open-ended feedback on inclusivity, clarity, and learning. - Longitudinal: track retention rates of participants across subsequent releases. ### ❓ Questions - How can we design application forms that improve matching without discouraging first-time contributors? - Which teams (Core, Docs, Polyglots, Accessibility, etc.) benefit most from this structured model? - What is the optimal project scope for a one-day contributor event across different team types? - How do we communicate selection decisions transparently to avoid perceptions of gatekeeping? - What support do WordCamp organizers need to consistently run structured contributor days? ### 🔮 Future Research - Explore digital-only or hybrid contributor days using the same structured model. - Investigate the long-term career and contributor trajectory of participants in structured vs unstructured events. - Study cultural and regional differences in how application-based events are perceived in the WordPress community. - Develop tooling (matching dashboards, project templates) to automate parts of the process. ### 💡 Implications - Practice: - WordCamp organizers can shift from generic contributor days to targeted, outcome-focused workshops. - Make teams can treat contributor days as part of their roadmap execution, not a separate activity. - Policy: - Handbooks may need updates to include patterns for application-based contributor events. - Security: - More structured days enable safe handling of sensitive areas like security, privacy, or infrastructure. - Education: - Contributor days can double as intensive, project-based learning experiences. - Funding models: - Sponsors and foundations can tie funding to measurable, time-bounded contributor outcomes. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment - Reading level estimate: - Approx. 9th–10th grade (Flesch-Kincaid–style), accessible for most community organizers and contributors. #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: - Clear conceptual contrasts (traditional vs structured model) that could be diagrammed. - Improve: - Add simple flow diagrams for the application and matching process. - Provide before/after visuals of contributor-day agendas and project boards. #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: - None explicitly (text article). - Improve: - Offer a 3–5 minute audio summary or podcast-style discussion. - Provide speaker notes for organizers to present the model at meetups. #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: - Strong narrative, clear definitions (projects, applications, mixed teams), concrete examples. - Improve: - Add a brief glossary for roles (table lead, project owner, organizer). - Use a short story from one contributor’s perspective. #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: - Implied actions (prepare project, match teams, run the day). - Improve: - Include checklists and step-by-step “runbook” for a structured contributor day. - Suggest small experiments organizers can run at their next event. #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: - Causal reasoning (structure → focus → outcomes; applications → better matching → inclusion). - Improve: - Add simple tables comparing old vs new models (inputs, outputs, constraints). - Provide explicit KPIs and success metrics. #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: - Emphasis on teams, collaboration, and community values. - Improve: - Offer discussion prompts or workshop formats to co-design projects with local communities. #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: - Article suitable for solo reflection and planning. - Improve: - Add reflection questions for organizers and contributors to self-assess their events. #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: - Limited direct environmental analogies. - Improve: - Introduce ecosystem metaphors (e.g., “healthy contributor ecosystems”) and lifecycle thinking for events. ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: - Likely standard headings and paragraphs (as a modern blog article). - Improve: - Ensure proper heading hierarchy and descriptive link text throughout. - Add lang attributes and descriptive alt text for any images. #### Keyboard navigation - Present: - Standard WordPress theme likely supports basic keyboard navigation. - Improve: - Verify visible focus states and provide skip links. - Avoid keyboard traps in interactive components. #### Contrast and readability - Present: - Typical blog contrast is usually adequate but should be checked. - Improve: - Confirm at least 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text. - Ensure sufficient line-height and spacing for readability. #### Text resizing and reflow - Present: - Responsive layout likely, but unverified. - Improve: - Test at 200% zoom for clipping or horizontal scrolling issues. - Honor prefers-reduced-motion for animations, if any. #### Media and captions - Present: - Article is primarily text. - Improve: - If videos or audio summaries are added, ensure captions and transcripts, no autoplay. #### Forms and interactions - Present: - Article itself likely minimal; future contributor-day forms not shown. - Improve: - When implementing forms, use clear labels, error messages, and adequate hit targets. #### Standards reference - Map improvements explicitly to WCAG 2.2 AA, especially: - 1.4.x (contrast), 1.4.10 (reflow), 2.1.x (keyboard), 3.3.x (input assistance). ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: - WordCamp Pisa and CloudFest examples; implicitly global WordPress community. - Improve: - Include contributor day stories from multiple regions and language communities. #### Inclusive language - Present: - Generally neutral, welcoming tone; avoids blame. - Improve: - Add explicit reassurance for first-time contributors and non-technical roles. #### Neurodiversity support - Present: - Clear, chunked arguments and predictable structure. - Improve: - More subheadings, bullet lists, and explicit checklists. - Combine icons and text for navigation if extending into guides. #### Representation - Present: - No explicit imagery or personal profiles described. - Improve: - Feature diverse contributors and organizers in examples and images. #### Psychological safety - Present: - Emphasis on welcoming spirit, valuing both new and experienced contributors. - Improve: - Encourage explicit codes of conduct and facilitation norms for contributor days. ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Inductive reasoning: - Uses experience from CloudFest US to propose a more structured model for WordPress contributor days. - Connects structure (applications, clear goals) to observed engagement and output. - Causal reasoning: - Argues that pre-scoped projects and team matching will likely lead to more tangible outcomes and better onboarding. #### Fallacies - None obvious or severe. - Some generalization from limited examples (e.g., CloudFest US) but presented as a proposal, not a universal law; could be strengthened with more data. #### Tone of voice - Constructive and reflective: - Acknowledges current shortcomings without blaming individuals. - Optimistic about the community’s ability to improve and experiment. ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - Deny: - No denial or minimization of issues; the piece openly acknowledges current problems with contributor days. - Attack: - No attacks on people or groups; criticism is aimed at structures and norms. - Reverse victim/offender: - No attempt to cast established organizers or teams as victims; the tone is collaborative and solution-focused. ## 🎯 Conclusion - Bottom line: - WordPress contributor days can produce far more impact if they shift from loosely organized tables to structured, application-supported, project-based workshops with mixed-experience teams. - Practical next steps: - Pilot this model at one or two WordCamps. - Ask Make teams to propose day-sized projects and publish them early. - Use simple applications to build balanced teams, then measure and share the outcomes. ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix (append after 🎯 Conclusion) ### 📚 Literature Split Pad - Purpose: Stage Konik CEE units that become per-source Literature notes. - Split level: **H3**. - Include verbatim quotes under 25 words and a [view highlight] link. ### [H1] Structured contributor days increase impact > [!quote] [We need to reinvent contributor days](https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/) by [[Taco Verdonschot]] via [[progressplanner.com]]. Published 2025-11-25. Accessed . > “Together, these elements can turn contributor days into productive workshops where people build something that lasts beyond the event.” Two lines: context and use. Cite data if relevant. [view highlight](https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/#H1) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_[MISSING] ### [H2] Applications can enhance inclusion > [!quote] [We need to reinvent contributor days](https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/) > “This is not about gatekeeping. Quite the contrary. It is about helping teams prepare and making sure they have the right skillsets in the room…” Two lines: context and use. [view highlight](https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/#H2) #xref ID:rw_[MISSING] --- ### 🔖 Atomic Split Pad (Zettel Candidates) - Purpose: Promote reusable claims into Atomic notes. - Split level: **H4**. - Each item: one idea, present tense, specific, testable. #### [Z1] Structured contributor days improve outcomes - When contributor days use pre-scoped projects and curated teams, event outputs increase. - Pointer to article and any follow-up metrics. - Links: [[Contributor-Days]] [[Event-Design]] #### [Z2] Mixed-experience teams support onboarding - When new contributors are paired with experienced ones, onboarding is smoother and more effective. - Pointer to anecdotal evidence from the article and subsequent events. - Links: [[Onboarding]] [[Mentorship]] --- ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue (Extract by Selection) - Purpose: Capture quick actions or sparks for Fleeting notes. - Extraction: **Select one line** → “Refactor: Extract selection to new note (content only).” - Keep each line short and self-contained. - [F1] Draft a WordCamp contributor-day project brief template — context/https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/ #fleeting #inbox - [F2] Pilot a structured contributor day at the next local WordCamp — context/https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/ #fleeting #inbox - [F3] Define KPIs and surveys for measuring contributor day impact — context/https://progressplanner.com/we-need-to-reinvent-contributor-days/ #fleeting #inbox --- <!-- deep-read:sections end -->