Every Wednesday at 7pm, Droplabs has an open stakeholders meeting with the Droplabs founders, keyholders and members of our community in and around Los Angeles, California. These meetings are a great opportunity to kick back after a day of coworking, get to know your fellow community members and request, offer and brainstorm new services and upcoming events to serve our members and larger community.
Topics we've covered in the past include our pricing structures, new membership benefits (such as Build a Module.com day passes and our Coworking Visa Program), which espresso to buy for the espresso machine, and what we want at our upcoming events, such as launch parties, Drupal job fairs, workshops, trainings, user group meetups and study groups.
Anyone is welcome to attend our "steak holder" meetings and no RSVP is needed. Vegetarians and vegans welcome.
Comments
steak
I might join you guys..
but only if there's steak...
..and A1 =)
Bring something to share and
Bring something to share and we'll throw it on the grill!
We jokingly call these "steak holder" meetings because in the past we've had these meetings by the outdoor grill and bonfire.
When our meetings are larger or more business-like, we have them inside where we have better seating, whiteboards, etc., but the "steak holder" name has stuck.
You bring the A1 and I'll
You bring the A1 and I'll bring the steak. ;)
Better yet, stop by Trader Joe's and get a pre-marinated steak that we can just throw on the grill.
One of the topics we'll be talking about is the Drupal Ladder and getting a chapter going here in Los Angeles.
http://learndrupal.org/
Founder
http://www.larks.la
Robot Coordinator
http://droplabs.net
Organizer, Dragonslayer
http://drupal.la &n
AI
A1 idea! Ladder!
Here are a few pages where
Here are a few pages where anyone who's interested can learn more about the Drupal Ladder:
http://drupalladder.org
http://drupal.org/project/drupalladder
http://groups.drupal.org/drupal-ladder
http://groups.drupal.org/node/224769
If anyone is unable to attend in person, please chime in here so that we'll know in advance to set up a video conferencing option.
Ya know, I was just about to
Ya know, I was just about to make a joke about "who's holding the steaks?" jaja, but it's been explained now.
On a more serious note, I really like the idea of hosting a Drupal Ladder event. We were discussing it in the car last night &, as it pertains to the Front End meetup, think it'd be great to combine a CSS-learning class (which I recall Lee mentioning she wanted to start) w/Drupal Ladder.
I won't be there tonite but will be there in spirit & having carne asada (steak) in an effort to show my solidarity. ;)
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
Drupal Ladder at Droplabs!
We've decided to plan a Drupal Ladder series at Droplabs! This series will take place on Mondays starting on the first Monday in December (December 3, 2012).
Who's interested? For now, feel free to post a comment here to show your interest, or sign up via the official announcement once it's been posted some time in November.
I'm down for this. Only bad
I'm down for this. Only bad thing is the 24th & 31st in December fall on Mondays.
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
Do you think we should wait
Do you think we should wait until January or just take December 24th & 31st off? I was thinking of the following dates:
Since none of us have hosted
Since none of us have hosted a Drupal Ladder learning event (hey don't we still need to contact @techgirlgeek first?!), I'm figuring that we'll be feeling out the process during those first couple events- i.e. having folks figure out where they are on the ladder, etc. So that schedule seems fine as long as we go in knowing that we might have stragglers coming in after the holidays. Btw, how does the Drupal Ladder handle folks that come in after the event starts? Is it like some sort of continuous integration or does it slow down the others, etc? These are the questions that I'd have for Karyn.
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
Great questions! At BADCamp
Great questions! At BADCamp during the Q&A in techgirlgeek and add1sun's Ladder session, I asked about these challenges (and breakthroughs, too) that different user groups have had and this appears to be a common challenge. There may not be one "best practice" approach yet but I'm sure we can find a way that works for us.
A common approach is to split the group into teams. This is mentioned at http://drupalladder.org/learn-sprints and this way everyone can climb the rung of their choice at any given time. It's more of a two-person team approach to climbing the ladder, and I have questions about scaling this (no pun intended!) with the necessary ratio of instructors to climbers.
Another challenge during an issue sprint is being stymied by a particularly difficult issue. We've had this happen at our code sprints (such as the COD for Drupal 7 and Drupal Patch Bingo events at Droplabs), and a good solution is to hand pick an issue in advance that's paired with the experience levels of the climbers.
With these two challenges in mind, I have a few thoughts about our first climb. Right now I'm thinking that each rung of the contribution ladder will be taught in succession over a number of weeks. We'll work around the instructor-climber ratio problem by combining these lessons with a mentored training approach and curriculum from Build a Module.com and others.
Finally, I envision this right now as a "Drupal School" where climbers enroll and agree to a reasonable expectation of attending each lesson (or if they can't make it, climb each rung on their own in order to advance together with the group). Although we have the means to have video conferencing for these events, I'd like to have this take place in person as much as possible. If people are unable to make it to the majority of ladder sessions due to distance or scheduling issues, they can start a ladder program or study group at a time or place more convenient for them, or wait until the next cycle.
That last part is actually one of several aspects I'd like to borrow from the recent Pro Drupal 7 Development study group cycles at Droplabs. Virtual meetups that have rotating topics and presentations are great (we do them all the time), but with a larger group that's committed to a following a particular course I don't see a lot of success with moving forward together unless the study group sessions are in person and there's an added social expectation of keeping up with the group (and being actively supported by ones peers along the way).
Can anyone see problems with these ideas and approaches? I'd like to get this started but also want to work out as many problems as possible in advance. To get some more eyes on this, I've cross-posted this to the Ladder group and all groups in Los Angeles County. Thanks in advance!