I like everything I do to count for at least two. It’s something I recommend to everyone in my team. But what do I mean by counting for at least two? Here is an example.
A colleague is about to review a recent O’Reilly publication on developing projects in PHP. She could simply read the book and write a short review highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. That would be letting her effort count for one. How can it count for two?
I know that this colleague has a long term training goal of developing her skills as an open source software developer. That’s not terribly surprising coming from a member of the OSS Watch team. Is there a way to combine these projects?
For a start we could try installing the Eclipse IDE along with its PHP plugin. Version 1.0 of the the PHP plugin for Eclipse is due out in June 2007. It is currently at release number 0.7. Usually a 1.0 version number is used to indicate that the developers believe their project is ready for the real world. Of course most open source software is in use long before it hits the 1.0 release, but 1.0 is symbolic of something, and it is a curiously persuasive number for people that wear suits. Still, why not put both Eclipse and its emergent PHP plugin to the test? We might just learn something.
But what can we test?
Everyone in my team is encouraged to find an open source project that they can contribute some development time toward. How do you pick a project that is right for you, for your current skill level and one that meets your particular set of criteria for a stimulating project environment? That’s going to be a personal thing, but there is no time like the present to get out there and find that first (or second, or third) project.
Then all you need to do is pull it into Eclipse, begin exploring and, ideally, start contributing code.
Okay, those last couple of steps went rather quickly, but you get the idea.
Now we’ve got a project that will
- review a publication
- provide continuing professional development for a staff member
- probably generate a further review of both Eclipse and its PHP plugin, and (in the best of all possible worlds)
- provide a nice case study about a specific open source project and what it was like getting involved.
Oh, and if it all works out the project will have gained a committed contributor.
So now that one task – writing a review of an O’Reilly publication on PHP – has spurred a whole host of related efforts. That’s what I mean when I say that everything should count for at least two.
Now you are asking yourself, what else does this blog item count for besides a short homily on practical efficiency?