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Contributing Content to the FinOps Foundation

The FinOps Community wants your contributions to the Foundation’s Asset Library.

Why do we collect community content?

FinOps is an operating model and cultural practice that reflects the practices of FinOps practitioners everywhere. Every FinOps practice is unique because every organization’s cloud use is unique. The FinOps stories and real-world experiences you provide allow us to build, illustrate, validate, and refine the FinOps Framework.

Community contributions can range from general to very specific, targeting one practice or covering many. We encourage everyone in the community to contribute to the Asset Library to help educate other practitioners with lessons learned. By looking at FinOps from many perspectives, the Technical Advisory Council (TAC) can validate and refine FinOps core concepts and provide a rich, varied set of best practices.

Who can contribute?

We want to hear from a wide range of voices in our FinOps community. We are always looking for user stories from any type of FinOps Practitioner (see definition) or Allied Persona, including:

  • FinOps Practitioners or Consultants doing work on a FinOps team
  • Finance or Accounting professionals managing cloud spend
  • Engineering roles including developers, platform teams, architecture teams and engineering leadership
  • Procurement, sourcing, and acquisition professionals
  • Leadership leading digital transformations
  • Members of teams performing Intersecting Disciplines to FinOps such as ITAM, ITFM, Security, Sustainability, or ITSM groups helping to manage cloud use

How do I send my contribution?

Make Suggestion Button

At the top of each of the Framework pages on the FinOps.org website, you will see a button that says “Make Suggestion.”  If your contribution is straightforward, you can enter it right there on that form. Please include your contact information so our staff can reach out if they have any questions.

Email Hello@FinOps.org

You may compose any of the contributions described on this page into an email or document, and forward it to hello@FinOps.org. Put “Content Contribution” in the Subject line, and include all the other information requested below.

What can I contribute?

WG and SIG Participation

The best way to contribute is to get involved in a FinOps Foundation Working Group or Special Interest Group. These groups meet regularly in a structured way to deliver content collaboratively.

Framework Suggestion

The FinOps Framework is built by the community, for the community, and as such, it is periodically updated to reflect the community’s maturing definition of FinOps. We welcome your suggestions that streamline and simplify components of the Framework.

Framework updates may be simple changes (such as rephrasing) to more comprehensive proposals (such as adding a new section or changing a Capability). Framework updates will typically be considered when they materially improve the completeness, accuracy, or clarity of the description.

Format: The ideal length is a few lines to a few paragraphs in written format.

FinOps Framework content strives to be cloud, vendor, and organization neutral in almost all cases unless specific references are required to illustrate concepts. Please try to follow this guideline in your contribution.

Individual Content Submission

You may also contribute individually by creating a piece of content that draws from your experience. Contributions should help anyone consuming the content to better understand how an aspect of FinOps can be performed.

Contributions should be aligned with the FinOps Foundation Framework and not be contradictory or confusing by using other concepts. Content submissions can include references to Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), products, or tools used, but cannot pitch, recommend or sell any product or service. If the resource was essential to solving your problem, you should name it, but avoid making testimonials. Individual submissions must be approved by the TAC before they will be published in the Asset Library.

Content submissions must meet the following criteria:

1. Playbooks

Playbooks are prescriptive examples of how you or your organization performs one or more FinOps activities or Capabilities. These contributions should be a ‘How To’ guide, detailing how you implement the Capability, assess performance, engage your organization, and produce results. The goal of a playbook is to guide someone through the process of “doing” a FinOps task.

How does someone do [a specific FinOps activity or task]?

Format: Use the Playbook Template and include supporting images, figures, graphs, and charts.
– Webpage or Document (preferred): 2+ written pages
– Video: Slideshow that walks through all the elements from the Playbook Template

Examples

 

2. Stories

Stories are anecdotal accounts of the experiences of FinOps practitioners. These contributions should center around a FinOps lesson learned or a problem solved, and can cover a single event, a single practice over time, or may cover a few capabilities together. These stories represent real-world experiences of our community members.

What experiences have other practitioners had working in FinOps?

Format: Use the Story Template and present a problem, solution, and benefit.
– Video (preferred): Anything from a simple animated slideshow with voiceover, to a video interview. Ideally 3-6 minutes long
– Podcast: Come on FinOpsPod, the FinOps Podcast, to tell your story
– Webpage or Document: Written story, ideally 4-6 paragraphs

Examples

 

3. Papers

Papers are detailed write-ups about a Framework capability or concept. Papers typically go into some aspect of a FinOps element that is not readily apparent or may only apply in certain circumstances, or which may only be experienced by practitioners of a certain type/size/maturity. These long-form, academic reports or whitepapers offer nuanced interpretations or understandings of an aspect of FinOps.

How should I think about [a FinOps concept, capability and/or process]?

Format: Use the FinOps Paper Template and include supporting images, figures, graphs, and charts.
– Webpage or Document: 2+ written pages

Examples

 

4. Utilities

Utilities are resources that other community members can use in their day-to-day FinOps practices. They help other practitioners with FinOps challenges.

Has anyone created something that I can use to do [a specific FinOps activity or task]?

Formats:
– web-based tool
– scripted programs
– code snippets (gists, text)
– code snippets (text)
– spreadsheets (including macro/formulas)
– pseudo- code
– binary files

Example: Azure CPU Coverage with Commitment Based Discounts

Additional Requirements:

  • must be open source
  • must not be gated (no paywall or signup for access)
  • must be publicly accessible by the community
  • must not be commercial offerings for sale
  • support provided by author/developer
  • may include requests for donations (for hosting, maintenance, etc.)

What should I avoid in my contribution?

  • No marketing or sales pitches. Do not submit sales, marketing, promotional, or lead-generating content. (See Code of Conduct).
  • Do not link to marketing campaign pages or paywalls that restrict access to your contributions (strive for unrestricted access to education and information).
  • Don’t use or expose any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in your stories that might identify any person inappropriately.
  • Do not include any account numbers, ID keys, API secrets, passwords or other private information.
  • Don’t include any Enterprise Agreement or Discount or Pricing references or information.
  • Don’t use any information, names, branding, or other assets that aren’t approved by your legal, PR, and/or marketing teams.
  • Always be sure that you appropriately attribute any content you use from other sources.

How will you use my contribution?

We will add content to the Asset Library if it helps address or improve the following:

  • FinOps Framework Capabilities addressed
  • FinOps challenges addressed
  • State of FinOps data utilized
  • Depth of cloud service/product/billing knowledge added
  • By level (100: adoption, 200: advanced practice, 300: at-scale use cases)
  • Adding definition and detail to our FinOps Maturity levels
  • Addressing nuances and challenges of particular industries or verticals
  • Scale (size, spend, both)

All content contributions will be reviewed by TAC. We may not be able to use your submission for a variety of reasons. If your content is selected, we will attribute it to you (unless you prefer to remain anonymous).

We can’t wait to see your informative contribution!