Node.js Collaborator Spotlight Proposal

[kyliewd]

To better showcase some of the Node.js folks doing good work across our community, I'd like to propose a bi-monthly collaborator spotlight.

Here are some early thoughts on how to approach:

• Create a form for folks to nominate a Node.js collaborator who has done something important or meaningful. This form will always be open.
• On a cadence (monthly or bi-monthly), post about nominating collaborators for spotlight.
• Let's start bi-monthly for choosing a collaborator to highlight (so 6 for 2024).
• This person will be highlighted on the Node.js social channels.
• If it feels warranted, we can look into doing a blog post on openjsf.org.

Any other ideas are welcome for how we can highlight some of our amazing collaborators here! 💚

[RafaelGSS]

Create a form for folks to nominate a Node.js collaborator

I'm a bit confused. What does "Folks" in this sentence mean?

1. TSC members
2. All Node.js collaborators
3. Open to public

[kyliewd]

Create a form for folks to nominate a Node.js collaborator

I'm a bit confused. What does "Folks" in this sentence mean?

1. TSC members
2. All Node.js collaborators
3. Open to public

Open to public!

[RafaelGSS]

Wouldn't it create a situation where popularity will be more important than the contribution itself? I have a feeling that it might create "unfair" situations where the ones with more recognition by the community will always win. Just my 2 cents.

[kyliewd]

@RafaelGSS you mean like the same person getting it every time? We could make it so you can only be spotlighted once.

Do you think it would be better if the nomination was only by TSC? I’d just like to make sure we are keeping it open and fair!

[joyeecheung]

My 2 cents: personally I prefer not to be highlighted as a person. This is the reason why I avoid interview, podcast, or panels in general, with the exception of doing tech talks because I believe communicating/spreading ideas with slides/diagrams/voice is effective (even then I'd make sure the audience look at the slides, not me). But making my work personal and putting myself in the spotlight is something I like to avoid. That might be just me, but I also see that some of our collaborators choose to hide their real names and real identities online, and/or do not even use their voice in meetings to stay completely anonymous. I think making it too much about people is not great for those who want to keep their identity less obvious/highlighted online, even if they could put in a lot of work in the project and want to see that work highlighted. Making it more about the work, and, give credit to the people behind it if they want to, would be a good idea though.

[mcollina]

I think quite a few people feel major OSS project are "personified", so "Node.js" does XYZ. This initiative is meant to show that Node.js is built by developers, and everybody can contribute.

I think nominations should be:

• done by the individual (to avoid the issues @joyeecheung mentioned)
• showing/explaning one or more meaningful contributions (can be a bug or a new feature)

We should highlight XYZ done by Bob.

[joyeecheung]

We should highlight XYZ done by Bob.

Yes, I think that would be a great way to use the spotlight (it could be similar to v8.dev, which I subscribe to and think is useful to follow, though that one might come with a lot more technical detail). Even with the notable change mechanism, many of the important changes can still be missed by the community - there are many occasions that I run into:

• People don't know a feature that the community used to rely on from an npm package (in a more hacky way) is already implemented in core (in a less hacky way)
• People don't know a feature that solves a pain point of a lot of people is already implemented
• People don't know a bug blocking them is already fixed

...and this can still happen years after the changes shipped. I think having a better channel to put the progress in spotlight would be very useful, and along with it, the people behind it, and if they are up for it, we can share the story of this work/how they run into it/how they start contributing/what obstacle they overcome to make it more personal and send the message to the community that everyone can contribute. I also feel that if you put too much spolight on a certain person, to an outsider it can still make you feel that this can be done by them because they are who they are, and if you share nothing with them in common, it's not likely that you can follow their path. However "running into a bug/issue" or "wanting a feature" are very common to us all and using those as a starting point can make the stories more relatable to outsiders.

Also note that in many cases, a work is not done by just Bob, it can be Bob and Alice and et, al. - a group effort. This also helps giving credit to more people, and show the community how we collaborate. Highlighting "Here is Bob and they did XYZ" could give people an impression that Bob is a XYZ person and/or they are an owner of XYZ, while in reality we work in groups and we don't really have strict ownership in Node.js (in the sense that no XYZ is dictated by a specific Bob). Highlighting "Here is XYZ and it is contributed by Bob (and Alice, and et,al), and this is how it came to be" could mitigate this problem. This can also make the spotlight not limited to collaborators - many important changes are done by people who are not (yet) collaborators (in turn, this can also help other collaborators evaluate their collaborator nomination, something that can be somewhat difficult these days given the volume of noise in the issue tracker).

[mhdawson]

I think it's important to recognize people for the work they do in the project as I believe it is one of the ways that we can grow and retain our collaborator base. I think it helps by:

1. Ensuring people know that the project appreciates their work
2. Encouraging people to repeat/grow their contributions
3. Helping people demonstrate to their managers the value of the contributions they are making, which in terms helps their manager support their employer investing in the project (unfortunately this is something that matters)
4. Highlighting the new features in Node.js and showing that they are being added by individuals like those mentioned. This should encourage other people to get involved and make similar contributions.
5. Highlighting those leading efforts/initiatives and they are being done by individual like those mentioned. This should encourage other people to get involved and make similar contributions

[mhdawson]

In terms of the original proposal, I think I'd add that nominations are approved by the TSC.

[mhdawson]

I'd also add that a spotlight would not always need to be an individual, it would be for example a team that is doing a great job and we would mentioned the members of that team.

[kyliewd]

I'll add too that we wouldn't spotlight someone without their approval.

[RafaelGSS]

I'm definitely +1 to spotlight the group effort, I concur with all the above affirmations. I'm just raising the concern that open-to-public voting to define who to spotlight might lead to unfair results. Perhaps, restricting it to nodejs collaborators could avoid that.

Overall, I love this initiative.

[kyliewd]

Thanks everyone! Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Let me put this together in a more formal plan + get the form ready.

We'll aim to launch this in the new year 🚀 💚

[kyliewd]

Hi all - here is a peek at the form I created for the spotlight nominations. I'd love to hear if you have any other question ideas or thoughts: https://forms.gle/piDkMfKfumUy6H4m6

[mhdawson]

@kyliewd I tried to access the form but I did not have enough permissions.

[mcollina]

same

[kyliewd]

apologies - please try now: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvXjLq_YaC2BrhefEhi-xQpmpF02x3B7r9oEvI6LfjxHfs3w/viewform?usp=sharing

@mcollina @mhdawson

[mhdawson]

I still get

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[kyliewd]

chatted with ben and there were permission issues but they have now been removed: https://forms.gle/dXBXZn8yu83HLJ57A

[mhdawson]

That form looks good to me. I don't think we need more than that.

[mcollina]

sgtm

[mhdawson]

@kyliewd what's the next step on this?

[kyliewd]

@mhdawson waiting for submissions! if there is a slack channel you'd like me to promote in, let me know. or, it would be good to discuss this in the next TSC meeting. Let me know.

[mhdawson]

@kyliewd thanks, added to the TSC agenda so I can raise awareness there and then we can see what else se might do.

[mcollina]

@mhdawson can anybody be nominated, right? Is there a process we should follow?

[mhdawson]

@mcollina nominations can be made through https://forms.gle/dXBXZn8yu83HLJ57A, and then I think the TSC should weigh in on confirming the nomination and which order they should be processed in. It is something that I think would be good to document. I'll take a first cut at that.

[mhdawson]

@mcollina @kyliewd PR to document here. I tried it address any discussion/concerns etc from this issue into what's documented - nodejs/node#52598

[BridgeAR]

I like the idea and the form is LGTM.

What we might want to do in addition is to highlight all new contributors a bit stronger.

[mhdawson]

@BridgeAR I think that is a good idea but a bit different than this specific proposal. Could you open a new issue with what you are suggesting? In this case its going to be once every two months and possibly only through social versus a blog post so don't think we can squeeze in promotion of new collaborators

[kyliewd]

@mhdawson we are getting some entries! what do you think about me leaving it open for the next month, and then I will send over the nominees to the TSC and y'all can vote on who we should spotlight for the month. thoughts?

[mhdawson]

I think that sounds like a good idea. I would be good to select from a good batch of nominees versus just the first one.

[kyliewd]

great! i'll follow up on this in a few weeks.