Advisory document on non-code roles

[carolynvs]

Since we want to advocate for acknowledge non-code roles in the project, we should have a guide that discusses the value of the roles, types, and how to ensure they are on equal footing with other roles.

[qedrakmar]

/assign

[qedrakmar]

Apparently, /assign doesn't work for me. Can someone assign this to me?

[geekygirldawn]

Apparently, /assign doesn't work for me. Can someone assign this to me?

Done! Thank you ❤️

[riaankleinhans]

I think this is covered in https://contribute.cncf.io/contributors/getting-started/#non-code-contributors

[qedrakmar]

The existing block is minimal. Shoring that up with significantly more content and detail is the purpose of this particular issue.

[aliok]

Some notes:

• This is more about the non-code duties that can exist in a technical project.
• https://github.com/cncf/tag-contributor-strategy/issues/327 is more about projects/groups that are non-code by nature

[divya-mohan0209]

As a CNCF contributor who has primarily worked in the non-code space, I'd like to chip in.

[aliok]

Thanks @divya-mohan0209, your input would be great.

[aliok]

In Knative community, we're setting up an initiative to work with designers. The outcome would be:

• Learning how to enable the designers
• Finding out what designers can contribute to open source projects.

While this will take a while, we would be happy to share our findings with the wider CNCF community.

cc @Cali0707 and @Leo6Leo

[divya-mohan0209]

Although, I'm not heavily involved with the SIG Contribex team in Kubernetes, they have folks who contribute in ways other than code. Contributing to docs is also considered to fall under the scope of non-code, in general. However, since there is a fair amount of frontend framework knowledge required for the actual maintenance of docs, I'll only list the named roles that require a preliminary knowledge of GitHub and Markdown.

• New Contributor Ambassador - basically people who have been in the SIG and can show new contributors the ropes. We currently have only one, but are looking to staff more folks
• PR Wrangler/shadow - people who are tasked on a weekly basis to review/approve incoming PRs to k/website from a qualitative perspective. The shadow is someone who will be serving as an apprentice and learning on-the-job from the PR Wrangler for the week.
• Issue Wrangler - this is a relatively new role that is being formalized as we speak and was brought into existence so that SIG Docs could deal with the huge volume of incoming issues. Very similar in role to the PR wrangler, the issue wrangler will focus only on triaging issues and ensuring they have the correct labels.
• Localization/translation efforts: Self-explanatory, but we maintain multiple translations of our documentation. It has a subproject of its own staffed by contributors, maintainers, and reviewers that know the language natively.

[divya-mohan0209]

SIG Release within Kubernetes also has a Release Team subproject that deals with actual co-ordination bw various stakeholders during a release and is another fantastic avenue for non-code contributions.

[divya-mohan0209]

Tl;Dr: The roles I mentioned above could be broadly categorised into the below buckets:

• Program & Project Management
• Improving Contributor Experience
• Translators

[riaankleinhans]

I have added this Issue to the Contributor Growth Meeting agenda for discussion. @divya-mohan0209 @qedrakmar you have both shown interest in this topic. Please join us.

[qedrakmar]

For those watching this issue: A Doodle Poll is currently open, for meetings starting in the next couple weeks to discuss this as a project. https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/eVQwo2Xd

[qedrakmar]

For everyone watching this, the poll has concluded, and meetings will be held on Tuesdays at 8am Pacific Time. Please tune in to the #tag-contributor-strategy channel on CNCF slack and/or the #sig-contribex channel on K8s slack for further details. We're hoping to start discussions next week, if possible.

[riaankleinhans]

Creating a non-code label here: https://github.com/cncf/tag-contributor-strategy/pull/553