Lab Name

Contributors Site

Short Description

This lab will eventually become a contributor’s site for LF Decentralzed Trust.

Scope of Lab

This lab is intended to create a contributor’s website for LF Decentralized Trust using Material for MkDocs. This work will be the output of the Contributor Ladder Task Force that has been kicked off during the 2025 TAC term.

Purpose

This task force is focused on developing best practices and reusable guidance to help LF Decentralized Trust (LF/DT) projects onboard, grow, and recognize contributors. Our scope includes:

  • Defining contributor ladders to support progression from first-time contributors to maintainers and project leaders.
  • Establishing guidance for ADOPTERS.md files as tools for trust, visibility, and identifying future contributors from end-user organizations.

Together, these practices aim to improve contributor engagement, transparency, and ecosystem maturity across LF/DT projects.

Goals

  1. Define contributor ladders appropriate for LF/DT project types (code, specification, tooling, etc.).
  2. Recommend onboarding, mentorship, and recognition strategies to grow contributor engagement.
  3. Establish best practices for ADOPTERS.md files, including:
    • Clear definitions (e.g., direct vs. transitive adopters)
    • Suggested formats and structure
    • Strategic use in community building, elections, and reporting
  4. Highlight how adopter visibility can help surface future contributors from end-user organizations.
  5. Provide reusable templates and examples for both contribution ladders and adopters.md files.
  6. Recommend ways to integrate these practices into LF/DT project governance and reporting.

Deliverables

  • Contributor Ladder Guidance
    • Definitions and examples of role progression
    • Templates for different project types and stages
  • Adopters.md Best Practices
    • Guidance on format and structure
    • Clarification of adopter categories (direct, transitive)
    • Sample language for encouraging contributions from adopters
  • Contributor Growth Toolkit
    • Onboarding and mentorship checklist
    • Template content for GOVERNANCE.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, and ADOPTERS.md
  • Reporting Recommendations
    • Suggestions for incorporating contributor and adopter metrics into TAC reviews

Initial Committers

Enter the Github IDs for the set of initial committers.

  • https://github.com/
  • https://github.com/
  • …
  • https://github.com/dmueller2001
  • https://github.com/tkuhrt
  • https://github.com/arsulegai
  • https://github.com/cjhowland
  • https://github.com/petermetz
  • https://github.com/ryjones
  • https://github.com/jwagantall

Sponsor

  • Diane Mueller - https://github.com/dmueller2001 (Task Force Lead and TAC member)

Pre-existing repository

None