Drupal Association
Dries for President
I founded Drupal in 1999, and have been the project lead since Drupal was first released in 2001. I've been a long-time Open Source user and contributor, and have co-founded two companies in the Drupal ecosystem: Acquia, in 2007, and Mollom, in 2008. I also co-founded the Drupal Association in 2006.
It's been an honor to be a part of the Drupal project, and it remains so today. Through my work with Drupal, I've become better at programming, communicating, and managing. I've made many friends, and because of them, I continue to spend the majority of my time -- both business and leisure -- working on Drupal. Our common goal to create the best web platform in the world and our shared commitment to empowering people to connect online continues to motivate and inspire me.
For the first time, my position as President of the Drupal Association is up for election. With this post, I'd like to submit my candidacy to serve as President for another two-year term. While I'm in no way perfect, I believe I have always served the Drupal project well and I understand the duties of this demanding role. My experience with the operational, financial, legal and social issues facing the Drupal Association is extensive, and I want to continue to use that experience in service to the Association.
I believe Drupal is about two things: people and software. In 2006, I helped establish the Drupal Association's almost exclusive focus on people, rather than software. I believed then, and now, that the people themselves create the software. While this separation of powers does not exist in most other FOSS foundations, I think that the model has worked well, and I'd like to support that separation going forward.
Despite our extensive activities in 2008, the Drupal Association has been held back by the lack of more active contributors, and particularly, contributors in some key areas of our organization. One role of the President is to lend focus to particular areas where the project should focus, to draw attention to the areas of the project that might be somewhat dysfunctional, and to bring in leadership to address these problems. Given that, I want to outline a few of the areas where I want to push the Drupal Association and where I believe we should extend the current team.
I believe the Drupal Association has trouble managing big projects. The Drupal.org redesign and the growing DrupalCons are good examples of big projects. We always get them done, but it is often painful and stressful. Being volunteers, it is hard to do big projects, and we're only beginning to learn how to manage them. Delegation is a great mechanism for that, and we have yet to realize its potential.
If re-elected, I'd like to promote the organization of more face-to-face meetings. There is no better way to work together and make big things happen than by putting people together in a room. In the next couple of years, I would like the Board of Directors to get together more often, and I'd like the Drupal Association to help fund or organize more DrupalCons, more DrupalCamps, and more Drupal meet-ups as well as increase our presence at conference and trade shows. I think the Drupal Association needs two Directors for this: an Events Director responsible for the organization of DrupalCons, and a User Group Director responsible for supporting user groups and smaller events.
To date, the Drupal Association is responsible for making at least two global Drupal events happen each year; one Drupal conference in Europe and one Drupal conference in North America. I think we should outsource these to an event planning organization (except for the technical program and the sponsorship management) so they can continue to grow bigger and better. I believe we should direct our own efforts to bootstrapping a third DrupalCon -- one in Asia or South America. It will be a multi-year effort, but I think it is where we can add most value.
I also think that the Drupal Association should have a Director of Project Management, with a mandate to help delegate and manage some of the Drupal Association's technical projects (e.g., improving our CRM system, setting up a single-sign on system, implementing an advertising program).
Drupal has become a large project, which means that it is no longer possible for everyone to know everything. As a result, the need for good communication is increasingly important. To ensure that this vital communication exists, I think the Drupal Association needs a Communication Director responsible for informing the Drupal community about important events. The Communication Director should have responsibility over the Drupal.org front page and provide help with press releases and media.
In addition to these new roles, we should continue to have a Treasurer, a Secretary, a Fundraising Director, an Infrastructure Director and a Legal Affairs Director.
If we can't fill all these positions in 2009, that's OK. Or, if the final positions differ from the positions the ones I outlined, that is not necessarily a problem either. At the end of the day, we always have to match the capabilities of people to our goals -- not the other way around. As the current President, and with the little time that I might have left, I will proceed trying to recruit these people. I hope we can build such a team, and that I have the honor to be part of it for at least another 2 years. Thanks!
Drupal.org redesign code sprints: update 1
Last week, we met at DrupalCamp Köln in Germany to start planning the Drupal.org redesign work. The intent of the meeting was to get a better handle on the work ahead of us, and to make preliminary design decisions. Further, we're starting to establish how we'll work together, and ultimately, how we scale out the work in the future.
We all went home from Germany with additional work to do:
- Olav Schettler is researching OpenID servers and will share his findings in the drupal.org redesign group.
- Gábor Hojtsy took on the responsibility of dissecting Mark's design, mapping features onto modules, and helping to create a continuous integration environment to test the upgrade.
- Robert Douglass agreed to do research on our search requirements, and will develop a comparison and discussion plan.
- We formed a group of theme designers under the guidance of Mike O'Connor and Morten (King of Denmark) that will investigate our theme options and how to best translate Mark Boulton's designs to a working theme. If you want to help, contact them using their personal contact pages to join their temporary new group on groups.drupal.org. The drupal.org style guide is published at http://infrastructure.drupal.org/drupal.org-style-guide.
- Fago agreed to research friend and buddy lists. Drupal.org is as much (if not more) a social site than a content site and Mark's design promotes the social aspect even further.
- Gerhard Killesreiter and Damien Tournoud are working on getting a test and development server set up so we can do continuous testing.
- I agreed to continue my focus on coordination, communication, fundraising, financials, and more -- hence this blog post.
As the next step, about 10 of us are heading to Boston next week to begin work on the Drupal 5 to Drupal 6 upgrade of drupal.org. The list of people include: Gábor Hojtsy, Derek Wright (project module), Chad Phillips (project module), Dave Reid, Damien Tournoud, Neil Drumm, Susan MacPhee, Jeremy Andrews, Narayan Newton, David Strauss and myself.
So far, the fundraising is going well. In addition to the many individual contributors who have donated raw dollars in the Chip-in widget, various companies have stepped up to donate human resources. Kudos go to One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), AF83, Four Kitchens, DrupalTherapy, OpenBand, Looforyoo, NowPublic, Tag1 Consulting and Acquia.
However, if we want to make it to Paris to continue the work, we need more money and more attendees! If you're available to attend the sprint in Paris, and if you can help us upgrade modules or write new modules, please let me know. If you can support the sprints through a financial contribution via the ChipIn widget, we appreciate your support.
If you can't make it to either Boston or Paris, the best way to help is to review the overview at http://drupal.org/node/362117, the list of issues at http://drupal.org/project/issues-term/346, and help us tackle them one by one. These URLs reflect a live and accurate view of our progress so everyone can help -- bookmark these pages and start participating today! We hope that many people will help us remotely as we work on this list of issues. Thanks!
Drupal Association 2009 election
The Drupal Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the Drupal community with funding, infrastructure, events, promotion and distribution. The current Board of Directors was elected a year ago, so it's election time again!
On February 17 we will elect new Permanent Members (the General Assembly is comprised of all the Permanent Members) and our third Board of Directors (the Board of Directors is appointed by the General Assembly and is responsible for day-to-day operations). All the details can be found in the Drupal Association's Statutes and on the 2009 election website.
In its second year of operation, the pace of the Drupal Association's work has accelerated notably. We (i) extended the drupal.org infrastructure, (ii) raised funds, (iii) helped organize two international Drupal conferences, (iv) resolved many licensing questions, (v) funded several events, and (vi) made the Drupal.org redesign a top priority. Despite the progress made in 2008, we would like to ramp up our professionalism and increase our activity in 2009.
We are looking for people that want to become a Director on the Drupal Association's Board of Directors and who can provide leadership and experience to expand the reach of the Drupal Association and its activities. All current Board positions, except the Secretary, are up for election, including President, Treasurer, Legal Officer, Marketing and Communications, Infrastructure Manager, Fundraiser, and Events Coordinator. The Association is also looking for new members with skills in marketing, local user group coordination, drupal.org webmaster coordination, project management and more.
People interested in becoming a Permanent Members are also invited to apply. While Permanent Members don't have the full responsibilities of board members, we expect them to take on regular work for the Association. Work done by Permanent Members include a wide range of activities, from processing member applications to assisting with Association projects like the drupal.org upgrade project to managing drupal.org infrastructure.
The Drupal Association is solely run by unpaid volunteers and we expect that our board members will spend a considerable amount of time working on Association responsibilities and obligations. If you think you're a good candidate, and you have the time it takes, find an existing Permanent Member to support your candidacy and submit your application. Applications are due by February 10 and on February 17, we elect the new Permanent Members and the new Board of Directors.
If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask them in the comments, or to contact the Drupal Association.
As the current president of the Drupal Association, I'll post my personal reflections, vision and wishlist for the Drupal Association in a follow-up blog post within the next couple of days. I expect that other Permanent Members will do the same, so keep an eye on the Drupal Association Planet as well as the Drupal Planet.
Drupal.org redesign code sprints
As promised, we're organizing a series of sprints to help push the drupal.org redesign closer to completion. The drupal.org redesign is a massive project, and, when implemented, will be an important milestone for our community.
The Drupal.org website was originally launched in 2001 and last redesigned in 2005; over time we've simply outgrown it. The community has made it clear that new features were needed, and the Drupal Association has made the Drupal.org redesign one of its top priorities. By improving the navigation, the design and the organization of the site, we hope to further expand Drupal's reach and to provide us better tools to communicate and collaborate.
Most of you are likely familiar with the open redesign process that has occurred in the redesign group with the help from Mark Boulton, Leisa Reichelt and many other people in our community. Now it is time for us, the community, to take these designs and to implement them.
To that end, we're organizing a number of redesign-specific sprints over the next two months, each concentrating on a specific area of the process. Even though we won't be able to completely upgrade the entire site during these sprints, we will make valuable progress and form plans that will allow us to move forward to completion. Many Drupal contributors have already agreed to participate, and a number of companies and individuals have come forward to donate time, resources and money. I've included a Chip-in widget on this page, and I encourage you to contribute as well.
- Köln Hackathon, January 17 -18 -- While in Germany to attend DrupalCamp Köln, Gerhard, Robert, and I are going to sit down and prepare for the upgrade, hash out the modules to be used, plan the details of the new search feature, and make some other important design decisions. Anyone at DrupalCamp Köln is welcome to join us as we make these preliminary plans.
- Boston, Cambrigde, January 26 - 30 -- The Boston sprint is dedicated to upgrading drupal.org's Drupal 5 platform to Drupal 6, in preparation for the redesign. During this week-long sprint at the OLPC offices, we plan to get a working upgrade path for the existing drupal.org databases, port the project infrastructure to Drupal 6, and implement Views, among other issues. The redesign infrastructure team group contains many posts detailing the current status of the upgrade process. Gábor Hojtsy, Derek Wright, Chad Phillips, Damien Tournoud, Neil Drumm, Dave Reid, Kevin Hankens, Susan MacPhee and myself have all committed to attend, and many others are available contingent on funding.
- Paris, February 9 - 13 -- At the Paris sprint, we'll start implementing Mark Boulton's redesign on D6. Though it will take longer than this week to do, we plan to be well on our way by week's end. Gábor Hojtsy, Gerhard Killesreiter, Damien Tournoud, Neil Drumm, Joeri Poesen, Robert Douglass and myself have committed to attend, and many others are considering it. I also called up Mark Boulton, and he is tentatively scheduled to attend the code sprint in Paris.
- Washington DC, March 4 - 7 -- While at DrupalCon DC 2009, we plan to continue to work on the upgrade. When, where and what will be worked on is still to be defined.
Though our meet-up in Köln will be essentially free, the week-long sprints in Boston and Paris are not. We need to raise around $15,000 USD to fund the sprints. The money will be used to cover flight, food and hotel costs for the sprinters. All sprinters are generously donating their time to make this happen. Any excess money will be used to add more people, or will be donated to the Drupal Association.
While the Drupal Association may be able to provide some funds, we'll only reach our goal through your generous contribution. A number of organizations, including Acquia, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), AF83, Four Kitchens, DrupalTherapy, OpenBand and Looforyoo have already come forward with donations of money and resources to help make these sprints be successful.
We'll make sure to highlight companies and individuals that make a significant donation. But more than anything else, we need people that are willing to step up and help. If you're available to attend these sprints, and if you have the time and dedication to work on the drupal.org redesign before, during and after the code sprints, join the redesign infrastructure team, let me know in the comments and we'll figure out how and when you can best participate. We certainly welcome more people, especially those who can pay (most of) their own way.
Please consider making a donation using the ChipIn widget or help us raise funds by spreading the word. Drupal.org is our home on the web, and it needs your help. Thanks!
Fields in Drupal core code sprint
Good news! During the week of December 15, we're organizing a 5-day Fields in Drupal core code sprint at Acquia! The goal is to get CCK functionality into Drupal 7.
So far, Karen, Yves and Barry have signed up -- Karen and Yves are the main CCK maintainers, and Barry has done a lot of work on CCK as well.
To help us fund the sprint, please consider making a donation using the ChipIn widget on this page. We need money for airline tickets, hotel rooms, food and transportation. It would also be great to fly in a few additional people with extensive core and CCK experience.
I've tentatively worked out a budget of $7,000 USD, which covers flight, food and hotel costs for at least four people (Karen, Yves, and two additional people). Since Acquia is covering my travel expenses and allowing Barry to participate all week long, that gives us six people working on CCK-fields-in-core for an entire week. Any excess money will be used to add more people, or donated to the Drupal Association.
To guarantee that Yves and Karen can attend, Acquia is funding Yves' and Karen's hotel and airplane tickets if enough money can't be raised through donations. Acquia is also providing working space in our Andover office.
We'll try to allow people to participate in the sprint remotely, and provide a daily update on our progress. If you're interested and available to participate, join the Fields in Core group, enable e-mail notifications, and block time in your calendar between December 15 and December 19. We'll use the Fields in Core group to plan and to let you know how you can contribute and participate.
This sprint could be an important moment in Drupal's history, so we're counting on your help. Please consider making a donation using the ChipIn widget or help us raise funds by spreading the word. Hopefully, fields in core can be this year's Christmas present. Thanks!
Hagen's Drupal 6 book in the mail
Hagen Graf has written his second German Drupal book: Drupal 6: Websites entwickeln und verwalten mit dem Open Source-CMS published by Addison-Wesley. The book also comes with a German Drupal 6 training video. And for every copy sold, 1 EUR is donated to the Drupal Association Thanks Hagen!
@Hagen, next time take a picture of your book on my website? ;-)
The book talks about Mollom!
Lullabot Understanding Drupal DVD
I finally had some time to take out my copy of Lullabot's Understanding Drupal DVD for a quick photo shoot. This DVD provides a broad overview of Drupal, and covers all the terminology and fundamental concepts of a Drupal site. It is great for people that are new to Drupal. For people that have Drupal experience, it might be too introductory, but those should certainly wait for the next DVD in their series.
Lullabot also promised to make a donation to the Drupal Association for every copy sold. Thanks 'bots!
