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This guide explains how the Apache Incubator develops shared understanding over time, and why judgment, context, and experience play a central role in Incubator decision-making.
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Who This Guide Is For
This guide is intended for:
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It is particularly relevant for people new to Incubator roles who are looking for clarity on how guidance, precedent, and judgment interact.
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Purpose
This guide describes how the Incubator:
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It focuses on Incubator review work (proposals, reports, releases, graduation) and the mentoring and oversight discussions that surround it. It complements, but does not replace, ASF policy and legal guidance. Where this guide describes practice or experience, it must not be read as modifying or overriding formal ASF or Incubator policy.
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1. Applying Rules with Judgment
The Incubator does not operate as a checklist-driven or purely rules-based system. While policies establish boundaries, most Incubator decisions require interpretation based on context:
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The goal is consistency of reasoning, not identical outcomes. Reviewers are encouraged to explain concerns in terms of observable behaviour and policy boundaries so that the reasoning can be challenged, refined, or disagreed with in public.
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2. How Issues Surface
Most learning in the Incubator begins with practical review work, including:
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Learning depends on transparency. Decisions, concerns, and reasoning are expected to be discussed on public mailing lists, with summaries provided when side channels are used so that the experience can be shared and revisited.
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3. From Individual Cases to Shared Understanding
When an issue first arises, it is usually handled as a case-specific discussion.
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Only when patterns persist does the Incubator typically invest in formalising guidance for broader use.
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4. Why Repetition Is Not Always a Failure
The reappearance of familiar issues does not necessarily mean that guidance has failed.
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However, repetition also persists because similar surface-level issues can arise in different contexts and require different responses. Guidance reduces effort and confusion, but judgment is still required to interpret and apply it appropriately.
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5. When Guidance Becomes Policy
Most Incubator learning remains guidance rather than policy.
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Even then, policies usually define boundaries, while practice guides explain how to operate within them.
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6. The Role of Field Guides
Field Guides capture patterns that have appeared often enough to be useful to others.
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They are not a policy substitute, and they are not intended to be used as a checklist for approval.
How to Use This Guidance
Incubator guidance is most effective when used to inform discussion rather than to conclude it.
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If a situation seems to call for a strict yes-or-no answer, it is often worth revisiting the underlying question.
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7. A Note on Precedent
Prior cases help explain reasoning, but they are not binding. Outcomes are reached through current consensus, not by applying precedent mechanically or treating it as authoritative.
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8. How Concerns Escalate
Concerns often begin with mentor feedback and are addressed through public discussion.
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The goal of escalation is almost always correction and learning, not punishment. Projects are encouraged to request clarification, propose mitigations, and cite evidence in public discussions. Disagreement is expected to be handled through transparent reasoning and consensus.
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9. The Feedback Loop
Learning in the Incubator is continuous.
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This feedback loop depends on open discussion, willingness to revisit assumptions, and acceptance that guidance will evolve over time.
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10. What This Means for Participants
For mentors and IPMC members, this means:
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- engaging with feedback in good faith,
- recognising that similar issues may be treated differently in different contexts,
- and understanding that guidance supports learning and shared expectations.
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11. Conclusion
The Incubator learns in public by discussing real cases, forming shared expectations, and documenting patterns when doing so helps others. Documentation provides shortcuts, but judgment and context remain essential to sustaining healthy Apache communities.