Explain what this repository is all about

README.md

@@ -1,2 +1,19 @@
-# enhancements
-Repository for proposed and ongoing enhancements to Cantera
+# Cantera Enhancements
+
+This repository is a catalog of proposed and in-progress enhancements to Cantera. It serves as a resource for understanding what features are desired by the Cantera user community, and the projects that are being undertaken to improve Cantera's capabilities.
+
+## Feature requests
+* Enhancements to Cantera can be proposed by creating a new issue in this repository using the "Feature request" template.
+* The issue will serve as a place to discuss the proposed feature addition and its possible implementations.
+* The Cantera maintainers may edit the initial post in each feature request to reflect updates based on the discussion 
+* These feature request issues can also be used to help potential contributors find projects to work on.
+
+## Work in progress
+* If you are working on a new feature or other major update to Cantera, you are encouraged to create a new issue in this repository using the "Work in progress" template
+* This issue will serve as a way of notifying other developers and users that this work is being done so that efforts can be coordinated and duplicate work can be avoided
+* The issue can also be used to discuss the implementation at an early stage and make sure that it is being done in a way that will lead to acceptance of the eventual pull request
+
+## General
+* When an implementation of a new feature is ready, a pull request for the [Cantera/cantera](https://github.com/cantera/cantera) repository should be created so the addition of the feature can be finalized.
+* This process is intended to be used for relatively major features, e.g. adding a new thermodynamic model or other rewriting one of the language interfaces, that would require significant development time. Small feature additions like introducing a single function or adding a new example are more simply handled by creating an issue or pull request in the [Cantera/cantera](https://github.com/cantera/cantera) repository directly.
+* To indicate interest in a particular feature request or in-progress project, feel free to add a :+1: "reaction" to the initial post in the issue