diff --git a/docs/contributing.md b/docs/contributing.md
index 5b712ae..9ecb6cb 100644
--- a/docs/contributing.md
+++ b/docs/contributing.md
@@ -86,6 +86,10 @@ Then, for sending patches to the mailing list, you may use this command:
 
     git send-email --to yocto@lists.yoctoproject.org <generated patch>
 
+When patches are sent through the mailing list, the maintainer will include
+them in a GitHub pull request that will take the patches through the CI
+workflows. This process happens periodically.
+
 ## GitHub issues
 
 In order to manage and track the layer issues more efficiently, the