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- Pentaho Product Management (PM) initiates and sponsors the "incubation thing" of a feature or product that is on the Pentaho road map.
- A third party company has a product that fits into the Pentaho suite and wants to contribute it to Pentaho.
- A community member as an idea for a feature, discusses it in the "incubation thing" forum (to be created) and generated enough interest and support to request an "incubation thing" be created.
- The CTO office wants to productize sponsor a prototype or proof of concept.
The idea can start with anyone and be cultivated by whatever means makes sense. The the "incubation thing" forum is just one tool the community can use to initiate discussions, gauge interest and find sponsorship. An "incubation thing" sponsor is responsible for moderating discussions, reporting status and moving the "incubation thing" forward. Anyone from the community, Pentaho employees, customers or partners, can sponsor an "incubation thing" as long as they agree to be committed. In order to assure that there is enough interest, sponsor will need to get support from two other people. The three of them will become the working group. There can be more people in the working group but three is the minimum.
After a sponsor has been identified, the task has been defined and there is commitment from at least 2 other people, the sponsor can submit a proposal to initiate an "incubation thing".
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