Praise participants

Author: rrrutledge

praise-participants.md

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+## Title
+Praise Participants
+
+## Patlet
+After an inner source contribution it's important to thank the contributor for their time and effort.
+This pattern gives guidance for a way to do so that not only effectively acknowledges the contribution but also endgenders further engagement from the contributor and others.
+
+## Problem
+How can we properly express our gratitude to a contributor for their inner source contribution to a project?
+It can be easy to forget to do so or not know the words or medium to use for adequate effect and sincerity.
+A pattern in this area makes it easy to do and ensures that the message comes across clearly and sincerely.
+
+## Context
+* You are the trusted committer or maintainer on an inner source project.
+* You value the community of contributors and want to maintain and grow it.
+
+## Forces
+You are busy, which makes it easy to forget some of the soft touches like praise and thanks.
+You may not be someone that is comfortable in social situations or good with words.
+
+## Solutions
+It feels good to anyone to be recognized by others.
+In a professional setting, increased recognition is also an avenue to increased influence and growth.
+Any time someone gives to your inner source project, recognize them with a sincere "thank you".
+
+For non-trivial contributions (all code contributions and also significant time contributions), say thank you via the following mechanisms:
+
+1. Call out the person by name in any chat location (e.g. _Slack_) where you organize your project activity.  Let everyone know what they did and thank them publicly.  Example:
+
+> Everyone @here give a high-five to @andrew.clegg for updating the _rcs-viewer_ to the latest version of the _hebo-client_ (https://github.com/rcs/rcs-viewer/pull/81).
+Thanks for helping keep this library up-to-date, Andy!
+
+1. Send an email to them and their manager (cc'd) privately thanking them for the contribution.
+For code contributions often-times you can just forward the merge notification mail.  Example:
+
+> Hi, Andy, I want to thank you again for making this update.
+It may have been a small amount of time, but it's attention like this from each person that make the RCS project work for all of us.
+Thanks for solving your own problem in a way that also makes the _rcs-viewer_ better for everyone.
+
+## Resulting Context
+Feedback like this leaves the contributor with a fantastic feeling and ready to come back for more.
+Combining **both** forms of thanks gives them recognition in front of their peers (breadth) and in front of their direct manager (depth).
+Additionally, there's also a subtle encouragement for those peers in chat to consider contributing themselves and for that manager to look for appropriate circumstances to encourage their other direct reports to do the same.
+
+One caveat - keep it real.
+Make sure that your words stem from the sincere thanks that you feel inside for what they've done.
+Keep the level and verbosity of praise appropriate to their level of involvement.
+Overdoing it may feel insincere and mechanical and defeat your purpose in reaching out.
+
+## Known instances
+
+* Nike (multiple projects)
+
+## Author(s)
+
+* Russ Rutledge
+
+## Acknowledgements
+
+* [Todd Underwood](https://github.com/tunderwood) for encouraging to "keep it real".