php[tek] summit

[Larry Garfield]

Greetings, FIGers. (Or whatever the collective noun is.)

A few weeks ago there was some discussion on Twitter about the benefits
of meeting in person. We've had a number of informal get-togethers at
various conferences in the past year, but nothing official. I firmly
believe, as do most I talked to, that we would benefit greatly from more
face-time.

The benefits of real-time in-person discussion and communication, and
their vast superiority to email for most meaningful or contentious
topics, are well documented elsewhere so I will not go into depth and
simply state it as a given that in-person discussion (moderated if
necessary) is more productive than email by an order of magnitude at least.

Then the question becomes how/where/when to do so. That involves time
and money from potentially a lot of people.

Eli White of php[architect] has offered to help us out with logistics at
php[tek] this year were we to try and attach a summit of some sort to
the conference. Given its central location, historical significance
(founding of FIG!), and the cooperativeness of the organizers I believe
that is a fine time/place to have such a meeting.

Note: I am not talking about a one hour meeting in the bar after the
conference, which is what our meetings in the past year have been.
Rather, I am talking about one solid day, maybe 2, of structured
discussion about FIG itself, about PSRs on the table, about what sorts
of specs we want to have teams working on, etc. Maybe even a (gasp!)
visioning session. This would not be during the conference itself but
right before/after.

I'm sure some are now groaning at ideas of corporate-speak retreats, but
please bear with me. I am not suggesting some fluffy buzzword-filled
meeting. PHP-Internals used to have in-person meetings years ago, and
from what I understand they were very productive. I was a member of the
Board of Directors of the Drupal Association back in 2010 when we had
our first serious all-day retreat; it was an intense day, but was also
one of the most productive and important days we ever had. Even the
brief in-person informal meetings we've had in the past year have been
super productive compared to the weeks we spend on the list at times.

Then there's the question of travel costs. For some members, Tek is
already covering travel costs so it would just be an extra day in the
hotel. For me, I live in the area so at worst it's a lot of driving for
me. :-) Possibilities here include:

1) For larger projects, see if the project has a budget. Eg, I could
bug the Drupal Association to help out.

2) Some people's employers may be able to help cover some costs if you
ask nicely.

3) I would not be adverse to soliciting companies for sponsorship.
Zend, Facebook, the Drupal Association, OSM (Joomla), Acquia, Pantheon,
etc. will all benefit in the long term from a stronger PHP, which is
what we're trying to build. Will they see value in it? We don't know
until we ask. Maybe Eli can be convinced to help with logistical costs
(eg, room rental) if it's treated as part of the conference. (If not,
I'm fairly certain my employer would offer us a conference room or 2 if
needed although we're not as public-transit-friendly as I'd like.)

I would recommend we stick to voting representatives only to keep
discussion focused, although maybe we can open it up to selected
very-active non-voting participants. Proxies for various projects would
also be welcome, as our bylaws already permit. (Eg, MWOP could attend
for Zend Framework since he's a lot closer than Paddy.)

I can help with organizing and structuring the time, and if appropriate
getting outside help.

With that preamble... who's in? Would the weekend before (Sunday the
17th or Monday the 18th) or after (Saturday the 23rd) work better? (The
latter is Memorial Day weekend, for those who care.) And for those
disinterested, how can we get you interested?

--Larry Garfield

[Matteo Beccati]

Hi Larry,

On 28/02/2015 02:52, Larry Garfield wrote:
> With that preamble... who's in? Would the weekend before (Sunday the
> 17th or Monday the 18th) or after (Saturday the 23rd) work better? (The
> latter is Memorial Day weekend, for those who care.) And for those
> disinterested, how can we get you interested?

I can't make it to [tek], as I'm organizing the 12th edition of phpDay
in Italy the week before, but I think it's a very good idea!

In fact, I believe we could even host a similar meeting for fig-members
living on this side of the pond, if they can't attend php[tek].

Besides, the CFP closes today in case some of you didn't submit yet ;)


Cheers
--
Matteo Beccati

Development & Consulting - http://www.beccati.com/

[Larry Garfield]

I'll be at DrupalCon LA the weekend before. :-) I'm not against having
a second one in the fall in Europe if all goes well.

--Larry Garfield

[Alexander Makarov]

Great idea.

Sad that most probably I won't make it. Already getting a visa for another country so don't have enough time to get the one for US.

[Matthew Weier O'Phinney]

There are two big reasons why I do not attend [tek] anymore: it's
almost always the week of my birthday (and I decided a few years back
I prefer being home with friends and family for that occasion), and it
almost always is either the same week or the week after my kids get
out of school (they get out mid-week, and I usually take the rest of
the week off and into the weekend so we can do family things like
camping or traveling). This year is no different, and while I'd love
to make the FIG meetup happen, those are still conflicts for me for
the early date, and Memorial Day weekend is similarly inviolable for
me.

--
Matthew Weier O'Phinney
mweiero...@gmail.com
https://mwop.net/

[Dracony]

Damn guys I would so be there. But I doubt you'll be holding it in EU