Contribute to the Community

Have an idea to contribute to the community? Sign in and submit to us your article ideas by clicking the "Submit your Article" button below. Submissions will be reviewed by our editors, who will be in touch soon.

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Submission Guidelines

Article Length: 500 to 1,800 words

Topics: agile, ALM, analysis, artificial intelligence/machine learning, build engineering, change management, cloud, configuration management, continuous integration, design & code, development, development & design, DevOps, enterprise, environment management, kanban, lean, mobile, people & teams, performance, planning, project management, process improvement, QA, release management, requirements, SAFe, scrum, security, test automation, testing, test planning, tools, version control

Article Content:

  • Content should be original (Not published in other locations. A personal website is acceptable)
  • Remain vendor-neutral. Do not promote your company or any other commercial tools or services. Open-source or free resources are OK.
  • Stories should be lively and have your personality, but we don't want blog posts. The main difference is that you should tell the readers why YOU care about the topic, why THEY need to care about it, and why it matters to the industry.

Submit Your Article:

  • Submit the article, preferably in a Google Doc.  Microsoft Word is also acceptable. Ensure it is in an easy-to-read format: 12-point Arial or Times New Roman. Use only plain text, bold, and italic styles. You are encouraged to use diagrams if applicable, but please attach any images separately in .jpg or .png format.
  • A link to your StickyMinds account with a professional biography and headshot photo. Your author biography (no more than 80 words) should include your name and current job title. A biography can also list a book you've written or co-written, your areas of expertise or specialties, a brief professional history, and your LinkedIn page.
  • Plagiarism will not be tolerated. If you reference others, please assign credit. 

Editors Response Time: 

  • It can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to a month. Please be patient. The average response time is one to two weeks, but longer wait times are not unheard of.

Submit your Article


What Can I Do to Improve My Odds of Getting Published?

1. Establish credibility

  • Tout relevant credentials or expertise in the subject matter.
  • Show you’ve got a track record of writing for legitimate places.

2. Don’t send us a sales pitch

  • Submissions must be vendor agnostic. Our readers don’t respond well to unlabeled advertorials.
  • Showcasing your knowledge by writing practical, usable content is the best marketing for you and your company.

3. Tell a story

  • People want to read about people. Anecdotes and vignettes (used sparingly) are good.
  • Write about personal experience, e.g., how did your team tackle X? What worked? What didn’t? What were the lessons learned?

4. Use active voice

  • You can tell passive voice because the subject that is doing the verb-ing is left off scene, e.g., “The requirements will be gathered …”

5. Do your research

  • Back up your words with facts.
  • Use proper attribution.
  • Avoid self-promotion. Even experts need additional resources.

6. Take a stance

  • Don’t be afraid to be opinionated.
  • See #5.

7. Change the world (i.e., say something new)

  • Write about something that is new or different for some percentage of the population.
  • Browse our publications before submitting to see if we’ve covered your topic ad nauseam.

8. Know our publications

  • Familiarize yourself with the topics we cover.
  • Read several articles to get a feel for the tone we are looking for.
  • Keep it short. Anything more than 1,800 words is too long.

9. Write for readability

  • Write a concise story pitch that shows you can write well in few words.
  • Don’t make the reader work to understand you. Remember, you are writing for the web, not a dissertation review board.
  • Keep it conversational, but avoid colloquialisms and regional terms as we do attract an international audience.

10. Review before you submit

  • If English language rules and usage aren’t your strong suits, enlist a grammar guru to review your submission before you send it in.
  • Articles that require substantial rewriting by us will usually not be considered, even if the topic is spot on.

11. Contribute to the broader conversation

  • Get active in our communities to establish yourself as someone our readers want to hear more from.
  • Include a call to action at the end of your article.
  • Share your content via social media outlets.

When in doubt, Contact Us!