Per conversation with @nuritzi and @cbacharakis, opening an issue for the concept of a contribution recognition system that accommodates organizations and non-code contributions. <!-- The first section "Release notes" is required if you want to have your release post blog MR auto generated. Currently in BETA, details on the **release post item generator** can be found in the handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/blog/release-posts/#release-post-item-generator and this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfn9ebgTwKg. The next four sections: "Problem to solve", "Intended users", "User experience goal", and "Proposal", are strongly recommended in your first draft, while the rest of the sections can be filled out during the problem validation or breakdown phase. However, keep in mind that providing complete and relevant information early helps our product team validate the problem and start working on a solution. --> ### Release notes <!-- What is the problem and solution you're proposing? This content sets the overall vision for the feature and serves as the release notes that will populate in various places, including the [release post blog](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/categories/releases/) and [Gitlab project releases](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/releases). " --> ### Problem to solve <!-- What problem do we solve? Try to define the who/what/why of the opportunity as a user story. For example, "As a (who), I want (what), so I can (why/value)." --> - As a contributor to a project, especially an open-source project, I want to be able to indicate whether I'm contributing as a volunteer, on behalf of my employer, on behalf of a client, or some combination of all three. This helps me justify getting contribution time from my employer and encourage my clients to contribute back. - As a non-code contributor, I want some way to be recognized for my contribution to an issue and/or merge request. This helps me build my resumé as an open-source contributor. - As a project maintainer, I want to be able to understand the contribution ecosystem around my project - whether contributions come primarily from individuals or organizations - and potentially use that data to incentivize project contribution. - As an organization (whether an end-user of an open source project, or a development agency implementing it), I would like to be recognized for enabling contribution to Open Source, to make a corporate case for open source participation. ### Intended users <!-- Who will use this feature? If known, include any of the following: types of users (e.g. Developer), personas, or specific company roles (e.g. Release Manager). It's okay to write "Unknown" and fill this field in later. Personas are described at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/ * [Cameron (Compliance Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#cameron-compliance-manager) * [Parker (Product Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#parker-product-manager) * [Delaney (Development Team Lead)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#delaney-development-team-lead) * [Presley (Product Designer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#presley-product-designer) * [Sasha (Software Developer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sasha-software-developer) * [Devon (DevOps Engineer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#devon-devops-engineer) * [Sidney (Systems Administrator)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sidney-systems-administrator) * [Sam (Security Analyst)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sam-security-analyst) * [Rachel (Release Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#rachel-release-manager) * [Alex (Security Operations Engineer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#alex-security-operations-engineer) * [Simone (Software Engineer in Test)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#simone-software-engineer-in-test) * [Allison (Application Ops)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#allison-application-ops) * [Priyanka (Platform Engineer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#priyanka-platform-engineer) * [Dana (Data Analyst)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#dana-data-analyst) * [Eddie (Content Editor)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#eddie-content-editor) --> The personas using this feature all fall under the umbrella of 'contributors to GitLab issues or Merge Requests' These might include: * [Sasha (Software Developer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sasha-software-developer) * [Presley (Product Designer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#presley-product-designer) * [Parker (Product Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#parker-product-manager) * [Delaney (Development Team Lead)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#delaney-development-team-lead) * [Rachel (Release Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#rachel-release-manager) * [Eddie (Content Editor)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#eddie-content-editor) * among others ### User experience goal <!-- What is the single user experience workflow this problem addresses? For example, "The user should be able to use the UI/API/.gitlab-ci.yml with GitLab to <perform a specific task>" https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/ux-research-training/user-story-mapping/ --> - The user should be able to configure their 'contribution attribution' on their user profile and/or directly on the issues and merge requests. - The maintainer should be able to select which participating contributors are credited. ### Proposal <!-- How are we going to solve the problem? Try to include the user journey! https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/journeys/#user-journey --> An attribution needs to contain something like the following options: Attribute this contribution: - As a volunteer - On behalf of [an employer organization] - On behalf of [one or more clients] Default attribution: - A user will be able to 'set-and-forget' a default attribution on their user profile. Per-issue attribution: - A user will be able to override their default attribution for a specific issue/merge request. Viewers: - Issue/MR viewers will be able to see an unobtrusive display of any participating user's attribution. Maintainers: - Maintainers will be able to easily mark which participants should be 'credited' for the issue. ### Further details <!-- Include use cases, benefits, goals, or any other details that will help us understand the problem better. --> Here are some examples from the Drupal project, which has been running a Contribution Recognition System based on these ideas since 2016: The attribution form on an issue comment:  The maintainer table for marking 'credited contributors':  ### Requirements - This feature would need to associate the attribution information to users, of course - This feature would also need some concept of 'organizations' that the attribution is being made to, whether that means there is some kind of 'organization' entity in GitLab, or just field data on the attribution that can then be parsed out somehow. - This feature should function either like some of the other existing comment-ui functions, or perhaps like the sidebar functions on issues - for example: The 'Time tracking' feature can be logged with a /spend command - and a webhook can be triggered when this value is changed - allowing that time tracking data to be synced with external systems. - Similarly - this attribution feature (which preferably would have a UI rather than a / command) would need to have that same ability to trigger webhooks so the data could be synced with external systems for analysis/recognition/etc. ### Permissions and Security <!-- What permissions are required to perform the described actions? Are they consistent with the existing permissions as documented for users, groups, and projects as appropriate? Is the proposed behavior consistent between the UI, API, and other access methods (e.g. email replies)? Consider adding checkboxes and expectations of users with certain levels of membership https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html * [ ] Add expected impact to members with no access (0) * [ ] Add expected impact to Guest (10) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Reporter (20) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Developer (30) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Maintainer (40) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Owner (50) members --> * [ ] Reporter (20) members - need the ability to update their attribution, either on their profile or on a per issue/merge request basis. * [ ] Developer (30) members - need the ability to update their attribution, either on their profile or on a per issue/merge request basis. * [ ] Maintainer (40) members - need the ability to designate which participants in an issue/merge request were valuable contributors. ### Documentation <!-- See the Feature Change Documentation Workflow https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/workflow.html#for-a-product-change * Add all known Documentation Requirements in this section. See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/workflow.html * If this feature requires changing permissions, update the permissions document. See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html --> ### Availability & Testing <!-- This section needs to be retained and filled in during the workflow planning breakdown phase of this feature proposal, if not earlier. What risks does this change pose to our availability? How might it affect the quality of the product? What additional test coverage or changes to tests will be needed? Will it require cross-browser testing? Please list the test areas (unit, integration and end-to-end) that needs to be added or updated to ensure that this feature will work as intended. Please use the list below as guidance. * Unit test changes * Integration test changes * End-to-end test change See the test engineering planning process and reach out to your counterpart Software Engineer in Test for assistance: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/quality/test-engineering/#test-planning --> ### Available Tier <!-- This section should be used for setting the appropriate tier that this feature will belong to. Pricing can be found here: https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/ * Free * Premium/Silver * Ultimate/Gold --> This should likely be available in the Free tier, as it is most valuable for public open source projects. ### What does success look like, and how can we measure that? <!-- Define both the success metrics and acceptance criteria. Note that success metrics indicate the desired business outcomes, while acceptance criteria indicate when the solution is working correctly. If there is no way to measure success, link to an issue that will implement a way to measure this. Create tracking issue using the the Snowplow event tracking template. See https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/.gitlab/issue_templates/Snowplow%20event%20tracking.md --> Success would mean: - Significant adoption by contributors, especially to open source projects using GitLab - The ability to query and report on this contribution data, to understand the contribution ecosystem around a particular project (is it primarily driven by organizational or individual contributions, etc) ### Links / references <!-- Label reminders - you should have one of each of the following labels. Use the following resources to find the appropriate labels: - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/labels - https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/features/ --> - Recent blog post describing the system and the thinking behind it: https://www.drupal.org/association/blog/contribution-recognition-and-the-drupal-project - Drupal's credit attribution model: https://www.drupal.org/drupalorg/contribution-credit - Real Drupal issue example: https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/issues/2953111 - The data we gather: https://dri.es/who-sponsors-drupal-development-2020 - LinuxFoundation Group studying contribution: https://chaoss.community/ - UVM group studying contribution: https://vermontcomplexsystems.org/ - The [CHAOSScast Episode 39: Leaderboards and Metrics at Drupal.org with Matthew Tift and Tim Lehnen](https://podcast.chaoss.community/39) describes this feature and what can be done with the data it provides. #### GitLab Commit References - Public link to slides from our presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eRM7JiSiC6XObzEq9QO6Z96HG5flXrvgKdO33Pw-E5c/edit?usp=sharing - GitLab Commit Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/embed/nC3BgmZXPK8