How to Excel: A Guide to Individual Contribution

Your 10-point Individual Contribution grade is designed to recognize and reward your personal effort, proactivity, and teamwork. It's based on observable evidence in GitHub and feedback from your peers. Here are some practical tips to make sure your hard work is visible and valued.

Task Management & Completion 📋

This is about proving you did the work. The key is making your contributions visible and consistent.

• If it's not on GitHub, it didn't happen. Even if your task is research, design, or writing, document it. Create an issue, do the work, and then post your findings or the document as a comment in the issue before closing it.
• Break down large tasks. Don't let a single, massive issue stay "In Progress" for two weeks. Work with your team to break down large features into smaller, manageable tasks that can be completed in a day or two. This shows consistent progress.
• Link your code to your work. When you commit code that addresses a specific task, reference the issue number in your commit message (e.g., git commit -m "feat: Add user login form. Closes #12"). This automatically links your contribution to the plan.

Communication & Proactivity 💬

This is about demonstrating you're an engaged and forward-thinking team member, not just a task-taker.

• "Think out loud" on GitHub. Instead of working silently, post updates or questions in your assigned issues. A comment like, "I'm starting on this now, my initial approach will be to..." or "I'm stuck on this error, has anyone seen this before?" shows active engagement.
• Comment on others' work. Your role isn't just to complete your own tasks. Read the issues assigned to your teammates. Ask clarifying questions. Offer a helpful suggestion. A simple comment shows you're thinking about the project as a whole.
• Create new issues. Don't just wait for work to be assigned. If you find a bug, think of a small improvement, or identify a missing piece of documentation, create a new, well-written issue for it. This is the clearest sign of a proactive contributor.

Team Citizenship & Reliability 🤝

This portion of your grade is based on confidential peer evaluations. Your teammates will be asked about your reliability, preparation, and support for the team.

• Be consistently reliable. Do what you say you'll do. If you're running late on a task, communicate it to your team early. Show up to team meetings on time and prepared.
• Focus on constructive feedback. When discussing a teammate's work, focus on the work, not the person. Frame your feedback positively: "This is a great start. What if we also added a check for X to make it more robust?"
• Share the "un-glamorous" work. Every project has necessary but less exciting tasks like writing documentation, testing, or cleaning up code. Volunteer to take on your share of this work. Your teammates will notice and appreciate it.