Contributing to the Tech Radar

The Tech Radar depends on input from across Sanlam FinTech. Every engineer is encouraged to participate — whether you're proposing a new technology, sharing experience with an existing one, or advocating for a ring change.

How to Submit a Proposal

1. Fork the repository — Create a fork of the sft-tech-radar repository on GitHub.
2. Create a branch — Name it descriptively, e.g. propose/adopt-vite or propose/hold-legacy-orm.
3. Update the config — Add or modify the entry in config_sft.json. Set the appropriate quadrant, ring, and moved status.
4. Write a proposal document — Include a short write-up in the pull request description using the template below.
5. Open a pull request — Submit the PR and tag it with the ring-change-proposal label.

Proposal Template

Use the following structure in your pull request description:

## Ring Change Proposal

**Technology:** [Name]
**Quadrant:** [Languages and Frameworks / Tools / Platforms / Patterns and Practices]
**Current Ring:** [New / Adopt / Trial / Assess / Hold]
**Proposed Ring:** [Adopt / Trial / Assess / Hold]

### Summary
A 2-3 sentence overview of the technology and what it does.

### Rationale
Why should this technology move to the proposed ring? Include:
- Evidence from project usage within Sanlam FinTech (if any)
- Industry adoption and community health
- Comparison with alternatives already on the radar

### Impact
- Which teams or projects would be affected?
- Are there migration or training considerations?

### References
- Links to documentation, benchmarks, case studies, or internal write-ups

What Makes a Strong Proposal

• Hands-on experience — Proposals backed by real project work within our organisation carry the most weight.
• Clear rationale — Explain the "why" not just the "what". What problem does this solve, or what risk does this mitigate?
• Comparison with alternatives — Show that you've considered other options and explain why this technology is the better choice.
• Awareness of trade-offs — Acknowledging limitations builds credibility and helps the reviewers make an informed decision.

Other Ways to Contribute

• Comment on open proposals — Review pull requests and share your perspective, especially if you have experience with the technology in question.
• Attend the quarterly review — Join the Engineering Community meeting during review weeks to participate in discussions.
• Share experience reports — Even outside the formal proposal process, sharing what you've learned about a technology helps the community.

Questions?

Reach out to any of the Principal Engineers or post in the #tech-radar channel on Teams. We're happy to help you shape a proposal or discuss whether a technology is a good fit for the radar.