Begin the process of SWIP - SkyWalking Improvement Proposal. (#11668)

docs/en/changes/changes.md

@@ -21,5 +21,6 @@
 * Update the release notification mail a little.
 * Polish docs structure. Move customization docs separately from the introduction docs. 
 * Add webhook/gRPC hooks settings example for `backend-alarm.md`.
+* Begin the process of `SWIP - SkyWalking Improvement Proposal`.
 
 All issues and pull requests are [here](https://github.com/apache/skywalking/milestone/202?closed=1)

docs/en/swip/readme.md

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# SWIP - SkyWalking Improvement Proposal
+
+SWIP - SkyWalking Improvement Proposal, is an official document to propose a new feature and/or feature improvement,
+which
+are relative to end users and developers.
+
+SkyWalking has been very stable since v9.x. We are getting over the rapid changing stage. The core concepts, protocols for
+reporting telemetry and query, 3rd party integration, and the streaming process kernel are very stable. From now(2024) on,
+SkyWalking community would focus more on improvement and controllable improvement. All major changes should be evaluated
+more seriously, and try as good as possible to avoid incompatible breaking changes.
+
+## What is considered a major change?
+
+The catalogs of a major change are listed as follows
+
+- New Feature. A feature doesn't exist for the latest version.
+- Any change of the network Interfaces, especially
+  for [Query Protocol](https://github.com/apache/skywalking-query-protocol),
+  [Data Collect Protocols](https://github.com/apache/skywalking-data-collect-protocol),
+  Dynamic Configuration APIs, Exporting APIs, AI pipeline APIs.
+- Any change of storage structure.
+
+**Q: Is Agent side feature or change considered a SWIP?**
+
+A: Right now, SWIP targets on OAP and UI side changes. All agent side changes are pending on the reviews from the
+committers of those agents.
+
+## SWIP Template
+
+The purpose of this template should not be considered a hard requirement. The major purpose of SWIP is helping the PMC
+and community member to understand the proposal better.
+
+* Title: SWIP-1234 xxxx
+
+- Motivation - the description of new feature or improvement.
+- Architecture Graph - describing the relationship between your new proposal part and existing components.
+- Imported Dependencies libs and their licenses.
+- Compatibility - Whether breaking configuration, storage structure, protocols.
+- General usage docs - This doesn't have to be final version, but help the reviews to understand how to use this new
+  feature.
+
+## SWIP Process
+
+Here is the process for starting a SWIP.
+
+1. Start a discussion at [GitHub Discussion Page](https://github.com/apache/skywalking/discussions) with
+   title `[DISCUSS] xxxx`.
+2. Fill in the sections as described above in `SWIP Template`.
+3. At least one SkyWalking committer commented on the discussion to show interests to adopt it.
+4. This committer could update this page to grant a **SWIP ID**, and update the title to `[SWIP-ID NO.] [DISCUSS] xxxx`.
+5. All further discussion could happen on the discussion page.
+6. Once the consensus is made by enough committer supporters, and/or through a mail list vote, this SWIP should be
+   added [here](./) as `SWIP-ID NO.md` and listed in the below as `Known SWIPs`. 
+
+## Known SWIPs
+
+Next SWIP Number: 2

docs/menu.yml

@@ -370,6 +370,8 @@ catalog:
                 path: "/en/guides/how-to-bump-up-zipkin"
           - name: "I18n"
             path: "/en/guides/i18n"
+  - name: "SWIP"
+    path: "/en/swip/readme"
   - name: "Changelog"
     catalog:
       - name: "Current Version"