Being pretty much a one-man shop (sometimes being/and or using contract Drupaler(s)) as I'm building my sites, coming up with the architecture, planning out the functionality it sometimes would be nice to be able to bounce my strategies/ideas off of other Drupal designers/themers/developers. Questions such as Is my plan the best way to go? Are there better modules I could be using? What will be the effect on performance/security with the methods/modules I've chosen? That sort of thing. Thank goodness for IRC, the folks there have been a lot of help and support.
I'd like to do is get a few people to sit down together who are interested in the same sort of thing to do a review of a site once its been completed. We can describe what the original goals of the site were, what we did to create the site and some rationale for decisions and then get some feedback. Although it would be after-the-fact this would help on future projects. (Before the fact would be good, but I believe that would take much more time and effort since things can change a lot.) I think that any one who participates in the review would benefit as much as the "reviewee". The group would take turns on giving feedback to whoever would like it. This would be very helpful for fellow "one-man-shops" to get another set of eyes on their project.
If anyone is interested in participating in something like this or has any ideas about it, or knows of a group that is already doing, let me know.
Comments
I vote DBUG
I'd enjoy seeing this at DBUG. If DBUG doesn't work for this for some reason, we might look at changing DBUG. For example, of DBUG is too big an audience, we could break into smaller groups. There's nothing really set in stone about how DBUG works.
I've heard that the Bay Area
I've heard that the Bay Area Drupal users group has several different kinds of meetups per month to address needs such as this. One of the meetups is simply held in a classroom where everyone comes to work on their own projects and get help or ask questions. Similar to a code sprint.
If a venue exists and there is interest Denver/Boulder users group could have two meetups: e.g. one for lightning talks, one for sprint-style.
On a related note, I would like to propose more structure in general to the meetups -- perhaps we could discuss the issue here or in a different node?
I would love a setting where
I would love a setting where people come together to work on their own projects. I'd be willing to head up a MeetUp group for that as well. There would be times when we'd call on each other for help, and times where we just along side one another and share chips & drinks and then say "see you next time." Could be 2 or 3 people, could be 10 or more. No matter. And it would be good to introduce some aspect of this at DBUG. However, I look at DBUG more as a special get together.
That being said, I too would like to have some kind of structure to the regular meetings. If I have some idea of what to expect, what the "topic" or discussion for even part of the meeting is going to be about then I know how to plan my schedule. I can prepare, have questions, know how I can contribute, and determine if it would be an efficient use of my time to attend. And, for me, it doesn't necessarily have to be directly related to Drupal dev or theming, but could also be about Drupal business, trends, etc. I have not been able to attend any of the sessions at DrupalCon or Camp that relate to freelancing, building a business, etc. I'm interested to hear how other people do things. Heck, I'd love to have a meeting where everyone brings a sample of the type of contract they use, how one handles scope & discovery, or we talk about our own payment policy, dealing with crazy clients, what do you do when you see a train wreck of a deadline up ahead, etc. We don't have to get into company secrets or private info, but some things we can share about. I've been doing this for a long time, but I'm always open to new ideas.
Working meetups and structured meetups
I'm sure Aten would be happy to host smaller working meetups at our office.
How should we go about adding more structure to the other meetups? Do we just need to post notices on g.d.o. earlier and encourage people to suggest topics in those posts? Or should we choose topics first and then try to find people to present and/or lead discussions? For example, should we announce now that the Sept. 26 meetup is going to be all about business and see if we can get people to agree to lead more specific topics before the actual meetup?
post notices on g.d.o.
I would suggest that we foster lightning talk (~10min) proposals on gdo. First come, first served. It could be show+tell/teach style. As the meetups currently exist word-of-mouth or IRC chatter on the day of the event that drives any predetermined topics. More foresight and openness will increase participation and variety. 1 week in advance seems like enough time.
We should also link from the meetup.com posting to the gdo node so that we make sure the entire audience is privy (and ultimately engaged in discussion on gdo).
Here are some other ideas (some currently exist):
This is good to hear. If you
This is good to hear. If you announce that the focus, or at least in part, of the meetup will be 'Drupal business' and start promoting early - like now, as you suggest - then perhaps you will get feedback as to what others are interested in and those questions and suggestions will shape the more broad topic. For instance, I know that there are some developers and small shops that keep quite busy. My question to them is, what pond do you fish in? How do you promote yourself? I keep busy, but I'd like to be on a more even keel. Is that even possible in the freelance world? I have been fortunate enough to develop business relationships wherein I can refer work to fellow Drupalers and vice versa. This is a great arrangement, and it wouldn't hurt to have more references.
I think that by having a variety of 'broad topics' you may attract a different audience at different times, and thus, in the long run, reach a bigger group. It might be good to cross-reference with other g.d.o groups with similar interests - for instance the Consulting & Business group for this one - just a suggestion.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
I'd be interested
I can see the benefit of doing the reviews and would love the opportunity to see how other people put sites together. I suspect such reviews might be a bit lengthy for a typical DBUG meeting I've been to.