As discussed in the December 2022 Python Docs Community meeting, it seems like it would be a good idea to have a straightforward checklist concisely listing what needs to happen when a new PEP is added, when a PEP is approved/rejected, and when it is marked Final. This way, it is clear to both PEP authors and editors exactly the steps needed, both so they get applied consistently and they avoid having to dig through PEP 1, 12, the template, the devguide, the readme/contributing guide, and/or old PRs to figure out exactly what they need to do.

First, we should make sure we're clear on what we want in the checklist, and then we should decide how best to make them easily accessible (and ideally, checkable) to authors (and PEP editors). Therefore, for starters, I propose the following content (based on the relevant sections in PEP 1, PEP 12 and elsewhere):

Proposed content

Adding a new PEP

Accepting/rejecting a PEP:

Marking a PEP Final

Where to put the checklist

Ideally, it is most visible and easy to find for all involved if its right in the relevant PR body template as opposed to having to manually dig through PEP 1, PEP 12, the Readme, the Contributing Guide or the devguide, and allows the author, reviewers and PEP editors to actually check things off as they are completed/confirmed, allowing everyone keep track of what's done and what's needed.

The one obstacle is while GitHub supports multiple templates, but but there's no actual "chooser" UI yet for it like for issues—the template name has to be manually input via a query parameter in the new PR URL.

We could add put each checklist into a separate sub-template and then expose links to each with the appropriate query param set, which would avoid belaboring the main template with them. However, we run into the issue that both new authors and old hands alike are unlikely to find these links if we bury them in one of the existing places, as newer/occasional contributors may not know where (or remember to) look where to find them, and more experienced ones are unlikely to know something has changed, and either way just create the PR via the normal, expected way. We could also put a big reminder in the default PEP template, but it still could be easily missed, whether by a new contributor not knowing what to do, or a veteran one not bothering to look. Either way, it defeats a lot of the benefit of the checklist if it isn't easy to use by default and is used consistently.

Instead, what I'd suggest is having each checklist as subsections in the default PR template, and tell the user to just delete the checklists that aren't relevant (or all of them, with a Ctrl-A Del), as its a lot less work to delete sections (or all of it) then go find the right checklist and then copy and paste it in. Then, in case they do miss it, they'll see it when they submit so they'll know for the future, and either they or we can easily delete the not-relevant ones from their PR. I'm not sure what else would be that effective since it'll be too easy to miss otherwise, considering how many experienced devs don't use the actual PEP template (as opposed to copying an old outdated PEP, or just winging it), read the PR template admonition about prefixing their PR titles with the PEP number, etc. If and when GitHub added a PR chooser, we could switch to using that once implemented.