Introduction

Mentors are vital to the success of podlings in the Apache Incubator. They guide communities in adopting the Apache Way, ensuring that projects graduate as healthy, self-governing Apache projects. This Quick Start Guide summarises your responsibilities and provides links to key resources.

1. Mentor Responsibilities

  • Provide Guidance: Help the podling community understand and follow the Apache Way: consensus decision-making, community over code, and meritocracy.
  • Ensure Compliance: Verify that podlings follow ASF policies on releases, licensing, branding, and community conduct.
  • Act as a Bridge: Connect podlings with ASF resources (legal, infrastructure, press, etc.) and the Incubator PMC (IPMC).
  • Be Active: Sign off on podling reports, participate on mailing lists, and engage in discussions.
  • Evaluate Readiness: Assess when a podling is ready to graduate or when it should retire.

2. Onboarding as a Mentor

  1. Subscribe: Join the podling’s dev@  and private@ lists.
  2. Introduce Yourself: Send a welcome email to the community, explaining your role.
  3. Review Status: Familiarise yourself with the podling’s proposal, mentors, and goals.
  4. Set Expectations: Encourage the PPMC to take initiative, mentors guide, not lead.

3. Day-to-Day Mentoring

  • Monitor Mailing Lists: Ensure discussions happen on-list and decisions are documented.
  • Encourage Contribution: Recognise new contributors and help them become committers/PPMC members.
  • Guide Releases: Walk podlings through ASF’s release process, from voting to distribution.
  • Promote ASF Culture: Reinforce consensus building, respect, and transparency.
  • Intervene When Needed: Step in if discussions stall, decisions bypass ASF policy, or community health declines.

4. Reporting and IPMC Duties

  • Monthly Reports: Podlings are required to file reports with the IPMC. Mentors review and sign off.
  • Escalation: Raise issues on general@incubator if a podling is struggling.
  • Participation: Be active in IPMC discussions and votes (e.g., releases, graduations).
  • Graduation: Help draft the graduation resolution and guide the transition to a Top-Level Project (TLP).

5. Best Practices

✅ Be responsive and available.
✅ Encourage self-governance.
✅ Assume good faith, but enforce ASF rules where necessary.
✅ Share feedback constructively.
✅ Step back as the podling matures.

6. Common Pitfalls to Avoid

❌ Acting as the podling’s leader or gatekeeper.
❌ Doing the work for the podling instead of guiding.
❌ Ignoring reports or failing to sign off.
❌ Allowing vendor dominance or closed decision-making.
❌ Overlooking license or release compliance issues.

7. Resources

8. Training Materials

In addition to the resources above, the Incubator provides some draft interactive training materials for Mentors and IPMC members. These resources help reinforce best practices and prepare you for mentoring podlings effectively:

  • IPMC Mentor Quiz - Knowledge check on mentor responsibilities and ASF processes.

  • IPMC Mentor Scenarios - Practical mentoring challenges and decision-making exercises.

  • IPMC Incubator Quiz - Knowledge check on Incubator policies, reporting, and processes.

  • IPMC Scenarios - Case studies on incubation challenges, including graduation readiness, community health, and governance.

We welcome feedback on this material, especially suggestions for improvements or corrections.

Privacy Notice

These quizzes are hosted on a third-party platform (Canvas). The ASF does not have a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with this provider. Please take the usual precautions regarding privacy and personal data. To the best of our knowledge, the platform is GDPR compliant and collects only minimal personal information (name, email address, and possibly IP address). No additional personal data is tracked or retained.

9. Final Note

Your role is to help build sustainable, diverse, and self-governing Apache communities. Successful mentorship is often measured not by what you do directly, but by how little the podling depends on you by the end.

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