Preparing for the Contribution Period

The contribution period is intense and Outreachy has a set of recommended practices for reducing burn-out during this period. It is highly encouraged for each mentor to apply these practices where they can.

Here are some recommendations to follow to prepare:

• Limit communication channels

  • It can be overwhelming if applicants can reach out over many channels and so we should restrict this to one public channel (Gitter or Discourse) and one private channel (email or something similar). Please ensure your project descriptions on Outreachy are consistent with whichever comms channels you have agreed upon.

• Don’t distribute installation instructions except with microtasks that actually require a local deployment.

  • Outreachy applicants will perceive this as a pre-requisite and will attempt to install a local deployment even if it is unrelated to the project and/or task

  • Most applicants will also be working on a Windows machine, which JupyterHub is not very compatible with, so this will generate a lot of requests for help when they hit issues during install and will be demotivating for them

• Think about the “information route” for the applicants

  • From the project description page on Outreachy, how are the applicants going to find the relevant microtasks to complete and any other information they may need?

  • This could look like a specific Discourse thread or GitHub issue that compiles all the info into a single place, or may involve being more rigorous regarding updating the project pages on Outreachy

• Request help from the wider JupyterHub community

  • Most of the intensity regarding the contribution period stems from mentors being very out-numbered compared to applicants. But we can even this out by asking community members to assist with answering questions as well. You can find a call to action template in the repo.