Add "take" workflow for self-assigning tickets, add "how to find issues" to contributor guide

.github/workflows/take.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+name: Assign the issue via a `take` comment
+on:
+  issue_comment:
+    types: created
+
+permissions:
+  issues: write
+
+jobs:
+  issue_assign:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    if: (!github.event.issue.pull_request) && github.event.comment.body == 'take'
+    concurrency:
+      group: ${{ github.actor }}-issue-assign
+    steps:
+      - run: |
+          CODE=$(curl -H "Authorization: token ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" -LI https://api.github.com/repos/${{ github.repository }}/issues/${{ github.event.issue.number }}/assignees/${{ github.event.comment.user.login }} -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' -s)
+          if [ "$CODE" -eq "204" ]
+          then
+            echo "Assigning issue ${{ github.event.issue.number }} to ${{ github.event.comment.user.login }}"
+            curl -H "Authorization: token ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" -d '{"assignees": ["${{ github.event.comment.user.login }}"]}' https://api.github.com/repos/${{ github.repository }}/issues/${{ github.event.issue.number }}/assignees
+          else
+            echo "Cannot assign issue ${{ github.event.issue.number }} to ${{ github.event.comment.user.login }}"
+          fi

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -25,7 +25,41 @@ We welcome and encourage contributions of all kinds, such as:
 2. Documentation improvements
 3. Code (PR or PR Review)
 
-In addition to submitting new PRs, we have a healthy tradition of community members helping review each other's PRs. Doing so is a great way to help the community as well as get more familiar with Rust and the relevant codebases.
+In addition to submitting new PRs, we have a healthy tradition of community
+members helping review each other's PRs. Doing so is a great way to help the
+community as well as get more familiar with Rust and the relevant codebases.
+
+## Finding and Creating Issues to Work On
+
+You can find a curated [good-first-issue] list to help you get started.
+
+Arrow-rs is an open contribution project, and thus there is no particular
+project imposed deadline for completing any issue or any restriction on who can
+work on an issue, nor how many people can work on an issue at the same time.
+
+Contributors drive the project forward based on their own priorities and
+interests and thus you are free to work on any issue that interests you.
+
+If someone is already working on an issue that you want or need but hasn't
+been able to finish it yet, you should feel free to work on it as well. In
+general it is both polite and will help avoid unnecessary duplication of work if
+you leave a note on an issue when you start working on it.
+
+If you want to work on an issue which is not already assigned to someone else
+and there are no comment indicating that someone is already working on that
+issue then you can assign the issue to yourself by submitting a single word
+comment `take`. This will assign the issue to yourself. However, if you are
+unable to make progress you should unassign the issue by using the `unassign me`
+link at the top of the issue page (and ask for help if are stuck) so that
+someone else can get involved in the work.
+
+If you plan to work on a new feature that doesn't have an existing ticket, it is
+a good idea to open a ticket to discuss the feature. Advanced discussion often
+helps avoid wasted effort by determining early if the feature is a good fit for
+Arrow-rs before too much time is invested. It also often helps to discuss your
+ideas with the community to get feedback on implementation.
+
+[good-first-issue]: https://github.com/apache/arrow-rs/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22
 
 ## Developer's guide to Arrow Rust