Mentor Quick Reference - Common Red Flags

Use this sheet to spot issues early. Each point links to examples in the Best Practices for Mentors.

👥 Community & Communication

• Low diversity → Only one company contributing → risk of vendor control.
• Off-list discussions → Decisions not made publicly.
• Transparency gaps → Little/no activity on dev@ list, unanswered user questions.
• Private list overuse → Issues hidden from the community.
• Non-English lists → Limits broader participation.
• Conflict on list → Mentor may need to guide or escalate.
• Excessive GitHub noise → Buries real discussion.
• Video meetings → Fine for convenience, but decisions must be logged on the list.
• Reports missing or meaningless → Podling not engaging with IPMC.

🏛️ Leadership & Governance

• Brand not protected → PPMC not correcting misuse of podling name/ASF marks.
• Missing IPMC release votes → Releases not validated.
• Poor recognition → Contributors not acknowledged.
• Mentor disengagement → Lack of timely responses.
• Conflicts of interest → Mentors/PPMC members wearing multiple hats.
• Pushing for early graduation → May hide unresolved issues.
• Graduation difficulties → Podling struggles with process → mentor can guide.
• No release votes → PPMC bypassing ASF process.
• Single company dominance → Risks project independence.
• Benevolent dictator → ASF projects must be meritocratic.
• No public roadmap → Hard for outsiders to get involved.

🛠️ Technical / Development

• Trouble making first release → Blocker for incubation progress.
• Hard to build → Keeps new contributors out.
• Too many RCs → Signals unclear process.
• Author tags in code → Attribution must be in commits, not code.
• Releases not in ASF dist → Non-compliance.
• Poor documentation → Barriers to users and contributors.
• Unclear ICLA/SGA/CCLA → Risk of IP gaps.
• ICLAs missing → Blocker for committers.
• Code not transferred → Must be resolved.
• LICENSE/NOTICE confusion → Frequent graduation blocker.
• Infra struggles → Podling not adopting ASF norms.

🙋 Contributor & Community Engagement

• Unclear committer process → New contributors left out.
• Non-code work unrecognized → Alienates contributors.
• Hard to attract contributors → Bus-factor risk.
• Only one company contributing → Not sustainable.
• Weak onboarding → New contributors struggle.
• Retention issues / burnout → Signal of unhealthy culture.
• Burnout among existing contributors → Overload threatens continuity.
• No committer elections → Stalled growth.
• No PPMC elections → Governance blocked.
• Voting on too many things → Burnout / over-formalization.

🌐 Website & External Communication

• External website exists → Confusion, not ASF-hosted.
• Website points to GitHub → Sends community away from ASF channels.
• No website → Project invisible to users.

👉 Mentor tip: None of these red flags automatically means “failure.” But if you see them, raise the issue early, either with the podling, other mentors, or the IPMC.