How we made WordPress contribution part of our agency culture
A look back at our lightning talk at WordCamp Europe 2026 in Kraków — and the story behind it.
It was 2013. We founded required, a small WordPress agency in Switzerland, and that same year we travelled to Leiden for the very first WordCamp Europe. That weekend sparked something in us: we didn’t just want to build on WordPress — we wanted to give something back.
It sounds simple. For a long time, it was. And then, suddenly, it wasn’t.
From inspiration to habit
In 2014, the idea of “Five for the Future” was introduced. Companies should invest 5% of their capacity into the WordPress project. We immediately adopted that idea internally. For example, we even helped organize the first WordCamp Switzerland, which showed us the community from an entirely different angle — not as attendees, but as part of the infrastructure.
In the years that followed, we intentionally hired from within the WordPress community: developers who already knew WordPress core tickets, who understood how Trac works, who had organized WordCamps. Back then, contribution almost happened by itself.
Until 2020.
The quiet fading away
Because of the pandemic, physical WordCamps stopped, events moved online, and we started hiring outside the community. Neither was a problem on its own, but together that led to our natural contribution rhythm slowly declining. Client work takes over and fills any free space if you don’t actively protect it. We felt that firsthand.
In 2024 came the realization: contribution doesn’t happen automatically. We have to protect it on purpose.
Internal Contributor Days: a simple idea with big impact
The solution was less complex than we expected. Once a month, we block half a day for contributing. No client work. Just the team, together, working on WordPress.
We check in advance what tasks are available: Gutenberg testing, core tickets, documentation, UX feedback, and translations. Often, our topics come directly from project work — bugs that frustrate our clients in the backend, things we notice when using the Block Editor. First we check for existing tickets on core.trac.wordpress.org and then work from there.
Sometimes we will split up, designers in one group, and developers in the other. At other times, we all tackle a single issue together. The goal to show up and make small but concrete contributions as a team.
Achieving results, getting props
Before our very first internal Contributor Day, one new team member had never made any contribution to WordPress.org. So we started with something simple: uploading a photo to the WordPress Photo Directory. And just like that, the first badge appeared on their profile.
If you’ve experienced a moment like this, you know the feeling that follows.
The platform stops being something that happens to you.
It becomes something you take part in.
Another concrete example from last year: a client needed an accordion block for an FAQ section. We already had our own plugin, but WordPress 6.9 was set to introduce the native Accordion Block. So we told them, Let’s wait for the release and try that! They did and came back with specific feedback. We picked it up in our next internal Contributor Day and immediately found additional UX improvements:
- A new outline style for Accordion Blocks
- Focus and selection outlines in nested accordions
- Bugfix: pressing Enter in empty paragraphs now exits the accordion correctly
- Improved keyboard navigation between the heading and the panel
With the release of WordPress 6.9, we also improved the upload button, cleaned up outdated CSS, and closed (or helped resolve) several issues.
For the first time in a release, everyone on the team received “props”—official credits in the release notes. That might sound like a small thing. It isn’t.
Why it’s worth it
From our regular Contributor Days, we learned four things:
- Consistency beats spontaneity:
Sporadic contributions are good, but a monthly rhythm has a different impact—on the team, on quality, and on influence. - Real projects uncover bugs that isolated testing won’t:
Our clients use WordPress in ways that aren’t fully reproducible in test environments. - Props motivate:
When the team sees their work mentioned in the official release post, it sticks. It shows the work matters. - Working together makes open-source tangible:
Imagining contribution as a team sport, rather than an individual task. changes how the team thinks about its relationship with WordPress.
Conclusion: Protect the time, and the rest will follow
The greatest obstacle to contribution in an agency isn’t lack of knowledge or lack of interest. It’s a priority. Client work will always win — if you let it.
If you run an agency and wonder how to start, start small. Half a morning per month. Upload a photo. Complete a translation. Test a ticket. That’s enough to begin.
The community has supported us for 13 years. This time is well invested.
