diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a6d1fbcdaa..1079976b7a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,22 +1,18 @@
-[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/openSUSE/osem.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/openSUSE/osem)
-[![Build Status](https://github.com/openSUSE/osem/actions/workflows/spec.yml/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://github.com/openSUSE/osem/actions)
-[![Code Climate](https://codeclimate.com/github/openSUSE/osem.png)](https://codeclimate.com/github/openSUSE/osem)
-[![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/opensuse/osem/branch/master/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/opensuse/osem)
-[![Security Status](https://hakiri.io/github/openSUSE/osem/master.svg)](https://hakiri.io/github/openSUSE/osem/master)
-[![Dependencies](https://badges.depfu.com/badges/8fcd630367d20f5b48d393774c00c5fd/overview.svg)](https://depfu.com/repos/openSUSE/osem)
-<a href="https://heroku.com/deploy?template=https://github.com/openSUSE/osem/tree/v1.0">
-  <img src="https://www.herokucdn.com/deploy/button.svg" height="20px" alt="Deploy">
-</a>
-# Open Source Event Manager - [osem.io](https://osem.io)
-![OSEM Logo](doc/osem-logo.png)
+# About this branch
 
-An event management tool tailored to Free and Open Source Software conferences.
+Our goal is to run [upstream] OSEM without modifications to its codebase. We currently still make a few modifications in this transitional branch:
 
-## Installation
-Please refer to our [installation guide](INSTALL.md).
+- [ ] Fix access to the version history of organization-level roles [#2654](https://github.com/openSUSE/osem/pull/2654)
+- [ ] Restore now-passing tests [`856867e`](https://github.com/SeaGL/osem/commit/856867ec2eb2ad218887b4d743732fc8c2f6b42b)
+- [ ] Add surveys during CFP response [#3058](https://github.com/openSUSE/osem/pull/3058)
+- [ ] Add setting to disable email notifications of comments [#3059](https://github.com/openSUSE/osem/pull/3059)
+- [ ] Configure for deployment to Dokku [`aede4a9`](https://github.com/SeaGL/osem/commit/aede4a942735f06f83be4338ae12222e006b81d3)
+- [ ] Restore lost admin forms [#2975](https://github.com/openSUSE/osem/issues/2975) [`cd40063`](https://github.com/SeaGL/osem/commit/cd4006344df33772a8f931f4d9fca4efadedbbf8)
 
-## How to contribute to OSEM
-Please refer to our [contributing guide](CONTRIBUTING.md).
+These divergences from upstream should be seen as a to-do list, where completing an item means either solving its need in a general way upstream, or adjusting our procedures to accommodate upstream’s existing capabilities or limitations.
 
-## Contact
-GitHub issues are the primary way for communicating about specific proposed changes to this project. If you have other questions feel free to subscribe to the [opensuse-web@opensuse.org](http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-web/) mailinglist, all OSEM contributors are on that list! Additionally you can use #osem channel on [libera.chat IRC](https://libera.chat).
+## Guidelines
+
+Don’t develop on this branch. It follows upstream by regularly **rebasing** the above modifications. When a modification is no longer necessary, it will be dropped during the rebase. When there are no remaining modifications, this branch will be deleted.
+
+[upstream]: https://github.com/openSUSE/osem