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| 1 | +## Title |
| 2 | +Praise Participants |
| 3 | + |
| 4 | +## Patlet |
| 5 | +After an inner source contribution, it's important to thank the contributor for their time and effort. |
| 6 | +This pattern gives guidance that not only effectively acknowledges the contribution but also endgenders further engagement from the contributor and others. |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +## Problem |
| 9 | +How can we properly express our gratitude to a contributor for their inner source contribution to a project? |
| 10 | +It can be easy to forget to do so or not know the words or medium to use for adequate effect and sincerity. |
| 11 | +Praise and thanks are easy, affordable ways to keep contributors and their managers motivated and excited to continue. |
| 12 | +A pattern in this area makes it easy to do and ensures that the message comes across clearly and sincerely. |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +## Context |
| 15 | +* You are the trusted committer or maintainer on an inner source project. |
| 16 | +* You value the community of contributors and want to maintain and grow it. |
| 17 | + |
| 18 | +## Forces |
| 19 | +* You are busy, which makes it easy to forget some of the soft touches like praise and thanks. |
| 20 | +* You may not be someone that is comfortable in social situations or good with words. |
| 21 | +* Peer recognition is very important to job satisfaction and career development. |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +## Solutions |
| 24 | +It feels good to anyone to be recognized by others. |
| 25 | +In a professional setting, increased recognition is also an avenue to increased influence and growth. |
| 26 | +Any time someone gives to your inner source project, recognize them with a sincere and qualified "thank you". |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +For non-trivial contributions (all code contributions and also significant time contributions), say thank you via the following mechanisms: |
| 29 | + |
| 30 | +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: |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | +> 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). |
| 33 | +Thanks for helping keep this library up-to-date, Andy! |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +2. Send an email to them and their manager (cc'd) privately thanking them for the contribution. |
| 36 | +For code contributions often-times you can just forward the merge notification mail. Example: |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +> Hi, Andy, I want to thank you again for making this update. |
| 39 | +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. |
| 40 | +Thanks for solving your own problem in a way that also makes the _rcs-viewer_ better for everyone. |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +## Resulting Context |
| 43 | +Feedback like this leaves the contributor with a fantastic feeling and ready to come back for more. |
| 44 | +Combining **both** forms of thanks gives them recognition in front of their peers (breadth) and in front of their direct manager (depth). |
| 45 | +There's 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. |
| 46 | +Additionally, awareness of the inner source project spreads to the manager, who may have previously not known of the team's use and involvement with it. |
| 47 | + |
| 48 | +One caveat - keep it real. |
| 49 | +Make sure that your words stem from the sincere thanks that you feel inside for what they've done. |
| 50 | +Keep the level and verbosity of praise appropriate to their level of involvement. |
| 51 | +Overdoing it may feel insincere and mechanical and defeat your purpose in reaching out. |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | +## Known instances |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +* Nike (multiple projects) |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +## Author(s) |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | +* Russ Rutledge |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | +## Acknowledgements |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | +* [Todd Lisonbee](https://github.com/tlisonbee) for encouraging to "keep it real". |
| 64 | +* [Isabel Drost-Fromm](https://github.com/MaineC) for [this extra explanation](https://youtu.be/h3MPewsk5PU?t=357) of a "qualified" thank you. |
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