Contributing to the communityAn introduction to Drupal stardom

Sunday 22 September 13

O! Hai there!

• Matthias “Netsensei” Vandermaesen

• Full time Drupal ninja @xiobelgium

• @netsensei

• http://www.colada.be

Sunday 22 September 13

“Community?”

Sunday 22 September 13

• What is this “Community”?

• How do I join?

• Why should I join?

• What’s next?

Big questions

Sunday 22 September 13

Keywords

• Community contributing

• “ The Drop is always moving”

• “Come for the software, stay for the community”

• Dries B.

• ...

Sunday 22 September 13

This is the community

Sunday 22 September 13

It’s about sharing

• Code

• Knowledge

• Common goals & values

• Friendship

Sunday 22 September 13

Drupal project

• The Drupal project

• Open source

• Community driven

• Dries (Our Beloved Leader)

Sunday 22 September 13

Where are they?

• http://drupal.org AKA d.o

• IRC: Freenode: #drupal, #drupal-contribute

• Meetings, conferences, user groups,...

• Social media

Sunday 22 September 13

How do I join?

Sunday 22 September 13

Contributions!

Sunday 22 September 13

Code(obviously)

Sunday 22 September 13

Hold your horses!Collaborative participation is key

Sunday 22 September 13

Sunday 22 September 13

Patches

• Most code is contributed in this way!

• Bug fixes

• Improvements

• Some are small, some are massive

Sunday 22 September 13

The d.o issue queue!And your personal d.o profile

Sunday 22 September 13

Dreditor

• Drupal Editor

• Chrome extension

• Inline code review of patches

• Souper easy!!

Sunday 22 September 13

Simplytest.me

• http://simplytest.me

• Provides sandbox environments

• Test modules & patches

• Simple, fast, free!

Sunday 22 September 13

Creating patches

• Git

• Tutorial

• http://jacine.net/post/8419331209/patches

Sunday 22 September 13

Co-maintain

• Projects looking for co-maintainers

• https://drupal.org/taxonomy/term/9990

• Get in touch via their issue queue

• Gauge the level of expected engagement

• Maintain a subsystem, a branch,...

• Take over the entire module

Sunday 22 September 13

A new project

• Start a d.o sandbox

• https://drupal.org/node/1011196

• Apply for promotion to a full project

• https://drupal.org/node/1015224

Sunday 22 September 13

A new project

• Pro’s

• Get your name known

• See people use your code

• Learn valuable lessons about coding, managing, collaboration, communication,...

Sunday 22 September 13

A new project

• Con’s

• Responsibility

• Engagement can be demanding

• “have to” keep up with the Drop

Sunday 22 September 13

Drupal Ladder

• http://drupalladder.org/

Sunday 22 September 13

Knowledge

Sunday 22 September 13

Learning / Sharing

Sunday 22 September 13

Learning

• Self study

• Via mentors

• Dedicated training

• Events

Sunday 22 September 13

Learning!

• Pick a concrete problem

• Something that nags you

• Don’t look very far!

• Pick a topic which intrigues you

• Shouldn’t get boring too quickly

Sunday 22 September 13

Learning!

• Documentation

• No-brainers:

• d.o documentation

• http://planet.drupal.org

• #freenode IRC

• YouTube, Vimeo,...

Sunday 22 September 13

Learning!

• Look for a mentor

• d.o profile!

• Hook up with other Drupal users

• Local hackerspace, DUG, school, workplace,...

Sunday 22 September 13

Blogging

• Keep it simple at first!

• Register a blog

• wordpress.com, drupalgardens.com,...

• Make sure you have an RSS feed!

• Focus on writing great content ...

Sunday 22 September 13

Blogging

• ... but write about... what?

• Solutions for daily annoyances

• Something awesome you did

• Keep a list with topics & ideas!

• Evernote, Wunderlist,... or a moleskine

• Topic should intrigue you first!

Sunday 22 September 13

Screencasts

• Videos of how you do X or Y

• Verbose / Terse

• Short (10 - 15 min)

• YouTube = place 2 publish

Sunday 22 September 13

Screencasts

• Notable examples

• http://mustardseedmedia.com/podcast

• http://codekarate.com

• http://nodeone.se/sv/learn-drupal

Sunday 22 September 13

Speaking

Sunday 22 September 13

(Psst! I really want to be in my happy place right now)

Sunday 22 September 13

Speaking

• Propose a session

• DUG, DrupalCamp, DrupalCon

• Preparation

• Pick a topic you’re in to

• Start preparing in time

• Practice!

Sunday 22 September 13

Don’t be scared!You’ll do better then you think

Sunday 22 September 13

Uh-oh!Impediments

Sunday 22 September 13

Excuses

• Family life

• Other activities

• “I already do enough Drupal at work”

• “Work for me ends at 5PM”

• “I just don’t care”

• ...

Sunday 22 September 13

TimeEffort

Sunday 22 September 13

Find ways

• Be realistic about available time

• Don’t be under/over ambitious

• Prioritize

• You can contribute in <30 minutes

• During daily commute

• Instead of watching TV

Sunday 22 September 13

You are not ...It’s not a competition

Sunday 22 September 13

So, why should I contribute?

Sunday 22 September 13

Level up your code

• Gain new knowledge

• Experiment with new technology

• Get feedback from others

• Improve your own code

Sunday 22 September 13

Improve soft skills

• Lurk in the community

• Actively engage in discussions

• Try to see the bigger picture

• Don’t be an ***hole

• Become an authoritative voice

Sunday 22 September 13

Know thy selve

• Learn to deal with people

• Be focussed

• Be committed

• Be realistic

• Pay it forward

• Impress yourself

Sunday 22 September 13

Keep up with the DropPsst! Drupal 8 is coming!!

Sunday 22 September 13

Why should my company contribute?

Sunday 22 September 13

Level up your team

• Challenge your team members

• Look for problems/applications on the workfloor

• Establish a positive feedback loop

• Knowledge is The Prize

• Learning = evolution

• Developer happiness

Sunday 22 September 13

Level up your workflow

• Be critical about yourself

• Can it be done better, next time?

• Increases productivity

• Avoid re-inventing the wheel

• Apply soft skills when engaging with clients

Sunday 22 September 13

“Do no evil”

• Collaborate beyond your company

• Share knowledge

• Share code

• Be open about what you do

• Your offices should not be isolated islands

Sunday 22 September 13

Then again...

• It’s great advertising/marketing!

• Your team knows their toolbelt

• Your team is engaged & proactive

• Shows genuine concern

• You’re open about how you work

• Displays craftmanship

Sunday 22 September 13

How?

• Create creative space

• Get interesting clients/projects

• Don’t go for the easy ones

• Engage/Empower your team

• Ask their commitment, don’t take it

• Give them responsibility

Sunday 22 September 13

How?

• Show you care about community

• Validate your employees’ ideas

• Provide regular feedback

• Don’t stand on the side-line

• Create enough “creative headroom”

Sunday 22 September 13

How?

• Assign an internal “community manager”

• Set up regular community meetings

• Open up your offices for events

• Organize training sessions

Sunday 22 September 13

How?

• What about “Google time”?

• Doesn’t work...

• ... unless there’s are concrete ideas

• ... unless there are clear goals

• ... part of company culture

Sunday 22 September 13

Drupal Give

• https://drupal.org/drupalgive

Sunday 22 September 13

Thanks! Questions?

Sunday 22 September 13