InnerSourceCommons / InnerSourceCommons/InnerSourcePatterns

Pattern idea: Great first impressions

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:bulb: Early Idea
Dominant language
HTML
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Forks
206
Avg merge
1d 23h
Merged PRs (30d)
2

Description

In InnerSource much like in open source, the very first interaction between a contributor and the maintainer of a project sets the tone for the rest of the interaction.

That first impression can

  1. turn a first-time contributor into a raving fan of the project, leading to more future contributions
  2. or scare of that user, maybe even prevent a first-time contribution that otherwise would have been possible

The importance of the first impression goes both ways though!

e.g. a user that starts the conversation with "we should really fix this stupid bug" may create some negative vibes in the conversation that are frustrating for the maintainer to deal with.

While overall project appearance and documentation also contribute to the first impression, in this pattern idea I want to focus on the elements of human interaction that make a great and not-so-great first impression. We could say "be nice" but does that really cut it?

As an experiment I will move the conversation about this into a discussion, so let's explore there together if this could be a pattern:
https://github.com/InnerSourceCommons/InnerSourcePatterns/discussions/443

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the discussion linked at github.com/InnerSourceCommons/InnerSourcePatterns/discussions/443, where this conversation was moved. Read the issue and discussion together to determine whether the idea should become a documented pattern and what criteria would define a finished result; the issue names no files or tests.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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