[consulting] Drupal Professions Shop Conference Call

[Gregory Heller]

Gerhard,

I can understand why you might think that my sudden burst of involvement
is "a bit strange".  I am not a coder, at all, I am a fierce advocate
and evangelist for Drupal and CiviCRM, I am a project manager with my
firm, and do client relations.  At CivicActions, we do CiviCRM and
Drupal.  I am working to contribute in ways that I can.  The community
talks alot about getting people like me to contribute, and having my
motivation or sincerity questioned isn't the best encouragement. 

CivicActions is actively working to increase our participation (writ
large) in the Drupal Community.  That includes code, documentation,
community organizing, event organizing. 

Right now, coming off of Vancouver, there was a sense that organizing
the Drupal professional community was something that could help the
community at large.  We are biting off low hanging fruit.  Conference
Calls, Drupal Professionals Directory, etc....

There are issues that effect Drupal shops.  I am trying to get shops
together because the shops I have spoken to have all expressed interest
in working more collaboratively to address the problems/challenges that
we face.  One of those big problems is training and developing new
talent, not just so there can be more lone cowboys out there, but so
that Drupal shops can take on bigger projects, and scale.

We are trying to have a focused conference call to address the issues
that shops are facing.

I am sure that sole contractors have a set of issues that they face,
maybe some of them overlap with those facing shops, others don't.  I
don't know because I have spent my time talking to other shops and not
sole contractors.  Maybe someone should set up a monthly conference call
for sole contractors to talk.  This is sort of happening as more Drupal
"user" or "developer" groups form and meet, like the one in NY that we
helped organize last week and the Bay Area group.

I'll be sending out the call in information for the conference call
later today, it looks like there is enough interest for the stated date
and time.  Who ever wants to join the call can, there will be an agenda
formed from the suggestions that have been made.

I look forward to talking with folks next week.

-Gregory

Gerhard Killesreiter wrote:
> Jason Flatt wrote:
>
>> On Thursday 23 February 2006 08:30 am, Gregory Heller wrote:
>>  
>>
>>> Jason,
>>>
>>> It doesn't sound like you are the target participant for this call. 
>>> The
>>> target participant is a representative from a current Drupal Shop
>>> (consulting firms specializing in drupal deployment, drupal
>>> development,
>>> etc).  The idea is for shops that are doing lots of Drupal work to talk
>>> about the work they are doing so that folks know what is going on in
>>> the
>>> industry, any major client funded module development, and the
>>> challenges
>>> that we are facing (like not having enough developer resources, etc).
>>>
>>> This call is not intended for individuals who are dabbling in drupal.
>>>
>>> -Gregory
>>>   
>>
>> I am not dabbling in Drupal.
>
> I've in fact seen more contribution to the Drupal project at large
> from Jason than from you, Gregory.
>
> Does anybody else find it a bit strange that all of a sudden people
> who haven't been active in the Drupal community want to be the
> cheerleaders of Drupal enterprises and define who is allowed to join
> their ranks?
>
>> Also, I'm not really ever planning on being part of a shop.  It's not
>> the kind of person I am.  I will probably always be a lone cowboy,
>> though I'm not above working with others to achieve a common goal. 
>> But, who knows what the future holds for us.
>>  
>>
>
> I've found it quite helpful to team up with other Drupal freelancers
> to achieve common goals (like a contract which wouldn't go to a single
> consultant).
>
> Anyway, I am not interested in that call. I am not a talk-talk type
> and my timezone is too far off.
>
> Cheers,
>    Gerhard
> _______________________________________________
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> consulting at drupal.org
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>

-- 
----
Gregory Heller
http://www.CivicActions.com
http://www.GregoryHeller.com
AIM/SKYPE: GregoryHeller

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