diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.rst b/CONTRIBUTING.rst
index 7281a718f..4597068c2 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.rst
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.rst
@@ -27,5 +27,12 @@ Things that will make your branch more likely to be pulled:
 * Reference relevant issue numbers in the tracker
 * API backward compatibility
 
+If you add a new configuration option, please try to do all of these things:
+
+* Make its name unambiguous in the context of multiple runners (e.g.
+  ``ec2_task_instance_type`` instead of ``instance_type``)
+* Add command line switches that allow full control over the option
+* Document the option and its switches in the appropriate file under ``docs``
+
 .. Copied from docs/guides/contributing.rst, which is the canonical text. This
    version exists only for Github.
diff --git a/docs/guides/contributing.rst b/docs/guides/contributing.rst
index 774d1a0d7..fe09f14c2 100644
--- a/docs/guides/contributing.rst
+++ b/docs/guides/contributing.rst
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ Things that will make your branch more likely to be pulled:
 * Reference relevant issue numbers in the tracker
 * API backward compatibility
 
+If you add a new configuration option, please try to do all of these things:
+
+* Make its name unambiguous in the context of multiple runners (e.g.
+  ``ec2_task_instance_type`` instead of ``instance_type``)
+* Add command line switches that allow full control over the option
+* Document the option and its switches in the appropriate file under ``docs``
+
 A quick tour through the code
 -----------------------------