About Me: 

I feel very privileged to be able to affect change directly in Drupal and the module ecosystem on a daily basis, and to be able to work with some of the most devoted and experienced Drupalists in the process. I am currently working for Acquia as Product Manager for Lightning, an enterprise authoring distribution of Drupal. I am also Program Manager for Acquia's D8 Module Acceleration Program (D8 MAP), which has allocated $500k of funding to projects led by community contributors to speed up the porting of critical modules to D8.

I love Drupal. That’s not to say I love every line of Drupal code or every user interface, but I love the philosophy that is Drupal:

  • Massive-scale collaboration within a community of people dedicated to quality, open communication, inclusion, and fun;
  • An open-source movement that values not only its developers, but also its site-builders and authors; and
  • An extensible, modular framework that can be used to build incredibly complex systems and integrated architectures.

Since I started my journey with Drupal in 2006 I have been continually impressed by the people who I have met in the community and their passion for Drupal. Some of my favourite conversations have been around 3am at DrupalCon, after mild liquid encouragement, with outspoken geniuses from an array of different continents.

I first started working with Drupal when a non-profit youth news organisation called Vibewire asked me to look at their website. They had a Drupal 4.7 installation weighed down by a ton of modules. It was breaking all the time, it wouldn’t scale with high traffic, and had lots of bugs in the custom code. I was appalled, but I kept reading and started on a long journey to understanding Drupal.

Eventually I started my own Drupal shop where we specialized in commerce and built large transactional sites with heavy infrastructure on Pressflow and eventually Drupal Commerce. From there I moved on to become Regional Director for Commerce Guys in the UK. After that I came to Acquia and was head of Solutions Architecture in Europe before moving to Boston for my current role.

Along the way I’ve been a speaker at Drupal events in Boston, Helsinki, London, Manchester, Melbourne, New York, and Rome. I helped organize DrupalCamp London 3 years in a row. I’ve run BOF sessions at DrupalCon and numerous Drupal trainings. I’ve advised Drupal startups and hired many Drupalists. Outside of Drupal I have written my own PHP applications in other frameworks and helped to build core internet infrastructure using open-source software at APNIC, a large non-profit that allocates IP addresses for the Asia-Pacific.

Statement of Candidacy Video: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whS6x1DxXFE
Board meeting attendence: 
2-4
Have you served on a board or committee?: 
Yes
If so, tell us about it.: 
I've worked with and for a number of non-profit organisations, including serving a term as a board member for the Systems Administrators Guild of Australia (Recently re-named ITPA https://www.itpa.org.au). I was on the organising committee for DrupalCamp London 3 years in a row. I’ve also served multiple terms as board member for an art history non-profit Artcast, and two terms as a Local Committee VP for AIESEC, a non-profit global student exchange organisation.
What perspective will you bring to the board when discussing strategic topics?: 
Strategic planning requires a long term view and broad perspective of the stakeholders. I have been working with Drupal for over 10 years. In that time I have been a business owner in my own company and for Commerce Guys in the UK, a developer of Drupal modules, a site builder, and a solutions architect, planning and creating some of the largest Drupal deployments in the world. I think this gives me direct insight into Drupal as a software project and as a community. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Strategy also requires vision. I have worked with some of the most innovative companies in the world on their digital strategy including Universal Music Group, BBC digital, Lush Cosmetics, IBM and American Express. This gives me a unique perspective on what Drupal will need to maintain its innovative edge in the years to come.
What existing board topics are you most passionate about? and why?: 
I am very interested in strengthening the Drupal Association's sustainability. Without a strong financial base, it will be hard to meet the needs of the rapidly evolving project and global community. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I am also very interested in understanding what the Drupal project needs to move forward. I think Drupal is facing a number of difficult technical decisions and while it is not the mandate of the DA to make these decisions, it is able to significantly streamline the process through its technical contribution to drupal.org, and its ability to bring together the various stakeholder constituencies to achieve consensus and developer commitment. Propelling innovation in the Drupal Project will magnify Drupal’s benefit to the world and protect the legacy of the many who have contributed.
What additional strategic topics would you like to introduce?: 
I think there are funding models for open source development that the Drupal community hasn’t yet fully explored. The DA may not need to manage these alternative funding efforts, but it could help bring the right people together and set community guidelines around their operation. Direct funding of development has a significant effect on the velocity of the project, as evidenced by the D8 Accelerate fund and Drupal 8 Module Acceleration Program.
What unique skills would you bring to the board?: 
1) Technical Product Management: As a product manager one of my key skills is translating technical functionality into business value. On a daily basis I work with multiple development teams on large software development projects. This has given me insight into the development process and how best to prioritise development toward business goals. This will be particularly relevant in guiding the priorities of the drupal.org development team. ----------------------- 2) Broad strategic perspective: Having been a Drupal developer, site-builder, and business owner allows me to understand the needs of each constituency and apply those needs to strategic decisions. I have lived in the US, Europe and Australia, and in each location I have worked with the regional Drupal communities: organizing events, working with agency partners, and building Drupal projects for clients. Colleagues have described me as having a broad, deep and *pragmatic* view of Drupal in the real world. I believe I can use this perspective to guide the association and ultimately the community on its path to surviving and thriving through the next phase of Drupal's evolution. --------------------------------------------------------- 3) Financial management: Having managed finances for a number of organisations -- for-profit and non-profit -- I have experience and insight into how the association can effectively grow revenue and streamline its core operational activities. ------------------------------------ 4) Community communication: As the open source product manager I have been called on to reach outside the Drupal community to bring together contributors from the wider PHP community, the javascript community and developers from other ecosystems. I enjoy connecting people and have developed a wide network of industry contacts over the years.
How have your past contributions to Drupal prepared you for board candidacy?: 
My program management of the Drupal 8 Module Acceleration Program has prepared me for community engagement and managing sponsored development. As an organising committee member of DrupalCamp London for three years, I coordinated sponsorships and managed a number of activities during the events. This has given me a behind-the-scenes understanding of not only what it takes to organize Drupal events but also what motivates and attracts attendees and sponsors. I was involved in Acquia’s Large Scale Drupal program, which coordinated joint open source development between many of the largest organisations running Drupal. This gave me an understanding of how to align the interests of some of Drupal’s largest organisational users and direct their resources toward innovation.
Why should we vote for you?: 
I have devoted my professional career to Drupal. My current role allows me to spend most of my time on the technical, community, and business aspects of Drupal. My company management has explicitly agreed to support the time commitment that this role requires. I have a huge vested interest in the success of Drupal over the next 5-10 years. While my current role tends to put me in contact with developers of large Drupal projects, I have friends all around the community. I am dedicated to supporting innovation in Drupal ensuring it is a tool that will keep benefiting the whole community. I think that by joining the board I can have a significant impact on its financial sustainability and the effectiveness of its technical programs. I would love the opportunity to serve on the Board of the Drupal Association, and would give my all to upholding the board commitments and furthering the success of the association.

Questions for the Candidate

rajesh34’s picture
rajesh34:
Comment: 

Would you please develop a session module, which will help to redirect the page after logging out and after clicking the back button of browser without using javascript.

 

Thanking You

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