This is, however, kind of counterintuitive for most people. Principle-of-least-surprise suggests you could do something about this; split the dashboard, say, into projects you participate in (indicated by having committed) and projects you've been invited to. You don't need the separate approval step there, so the workflow's the same, but it'd feel much more obvious.

Also; with the "professionals" thing - I totally get what you mean, and it's abundantly clear you guys are doing things for the right reasons, but the tone kind of jarred with me a little bit there. Nothing drastic, but I'm a person first, a professional second...