Update: Thank you so much for all the nice emails and interest we have received. If you are looking for technical support, please read through the support forum and if you don’t find your answer create a new thread.

We have just open sourced two plugins and would love a review / thoughts for future directions, improvement and any wisdom on promoting an open source wordpress plugin.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/the-events-calendar/

The Events Calendar plugin enables you to rapidly create and manage events using the post editor. Features include optional Eventbrite integration, Google Maps integration as well as default templates such as a calendar grid and event list for streamlined one click installation.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/eventbrite-for-the-events-calendar/

Register attendees and gather money for your events. Eventbrite is FREE for no-charge events and takes a small commission for each ticket sold. This is the easiest and best way to manage your events and now it plugs directly into Wordpress!!!

Eventbrite for The Events Calendar adds Eventbrite integration to The Events Calendar. This plugin depends on The Events Calendar and has no standalone functionality. Both plugins need to be activated in order for Eventbrite functionality to work.

Warning: helpfulness can be inspiring and contagious.  I’ve been hit with the bug since our star designer and PM, Reid Peifer, launched his beautiful new project, REMAKERS.

REMAKERS is a center dedicated to bringing new media to non-profit organizations.  As Reid puts it in his mission:

REMAKERS strives to be a resource, sounding board, and source of inspiration to groups and individuals working to make the world a better place.

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The Opportunity

We’re looking for a talented Wordpress developer with extensive plugin experience to join our crew on a handful of upcoming projects. This is a freelance position – we’re game for people located anywhere in North America.

Are you clued into the latest wordpress happenings and developments? Have a hankering to extend Wordpress in new directions? We’re currently working on high-profile Wordpress implementations that range between conventional to seriously bleeding edge. We will want to see plugin code examples – public plugins are ideal. We want people that are able to develop code that can withstand high profile sites and intense loads. You should be comfortable working as part of a team – your code will have to integrate into an existing architecture. If the tightly optimized code get’s you excited – you’re probably a good fit.

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gek slap [gi-k sl-app]
noun / verb

1. A socially correcting blow delivered through the demonstration of superior technical knowledge. Denotes playful to serious disrespect for the person being geek slapped as they are just not worthy.

Examples: Shane complained that firefox kept putting œ in his words, which he claimed must be a bug as that character doesn’t even exist. Reid IM’ed him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Œ, then told him to change his spell-check dictionary back to English from French and to consider himself geek slapped.

Often I find that when pressures mount my first reaction is to defend myself.  Take, for example, a recent conversation between me and Reid.

Reid: Peter, when you have a moment, I could really use some dev support to spec out a small plugin for one of our clients.  It’ll only take an hour tops and would really help me a bunch.

Peter: I’ll get you some dev support as soon as our dev projects calm down in a couple of months.  We’re working as hard as we can and you’re not the only one who has need you know?  I mean I’ve barely slept in like 5 months and have started to BUY laundry and dishes instead of cleaning them because of these deadlines that we have to meet and oh my god you’re totally STRESSING ME OUT WITH YOUR INCESSANT DEMANDS!  CAN’T YOU SEE THAT WE’RE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN? AHHHHHHHHH!

Reid: Um…  I’m sensing that this is not the best time to ask you about this.  When can we talk about this again?

Peter: I’m sorry Reid, I don’t mean to be wigging out so much.  I’m really not that stressed.  But I don’t know when I’ll be able to help more.  I appear to be double booked for every appointment i have over the next 6 weeks and I just can’t think about this right now.  I know it might not seem like it but I’m working really hard and you should know that I’m working hard, can’t you see that I’m working hard?  What more do you need from me?  AHHHHHHHHH!

Obviously this slightly dramatized interaction could be improved.  There are any number of ways to better address Reid’s request, but one stands out to me in particular: an open call for help (possibly paired with some anti-psychotics).
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Sometimes I really debate writing about some of our more successful techniques. What if someone actually takes our advice and does something with it? Make our competitors smarter? Then I remember that there really is enough work for all of us (I absolutly believe that) and I unclench my ass.

The fact is that starting a conversation with a stranger is uncomfortable for most people. For the developers I know, it is often more so. After all, they did not choose a people oriented career. The problem we often face when recruiting: How do you make small talk with developers in a public space, get them to come out of their shell and talk to you? Our solution: Hang a sign around your neck.
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Two weeks ago, Peter & I finally stepped out on a long overdue corporate retreat. We have been running in survival mode since my daughter Serenity was born in March. A busy company, little sleep and a smaller (but much wiser) management team caused us to focus upon our clients, but severely limited our time to put thought into the business itself.

Despite all the possibility for disaster, projects went relatively smoothly. We learned a few good lessons and as a result, our terms and conditions grew.  Time to update the old contract.
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Today our good friend Iris from NextSpace asked us about our corporate culture mantra. Shane and I delighted in recounting it:

Happy, Helpful, Curious and Accountable.

As we recited our beloved chant, it dawned on me that it deserves a long overdue blog post.

What, you ask, is this 12 syllable slogan? It’s our cultural measuring stick. These are the words that we iterate whenever we meet someone new or review someone we’ve been working with. It applies both to our colleagues and to our clients.  In fact, we apply this gauge to everyone in our lives from presidential candidates to car mechanics. I asked Shane, who recently became a father, how he envisions his daughter as an adult. He thought about it for a while and after a couple days of deliberation replied,

I would be delighted to see Serenity grow to be happy, helpful, curious, and accountable.

(I am thrilled to report after the first 6 months, Serenity has a great head start on the “happy” part of the equation and is currently working on “curious”.) Continue Reading »

Today our good friend Peter Koht, the Santa Cruz City Economic Development Coordinator, presented our work at GOV 2.0 Expo.  We’re proud to announce that we won one of five Showcase awards for the Santa Cruz City Budget Website.

What started as a volunteer weekend Wordpress project to help the City of Santa Cruz address the budget deficit has transformed into an adventure. Partnering with UserVoice and Rob Knight Shane, Peter, and Brandon Jones produced an integrated portal for community participation. Mayor Cynthia Mathews worked with Koht and a number of collaborators to produce content for the site and to articulate the state of the budget.

The resulting site instigated conversation amongst both the online and offline Santa Cruz community setting the tone for collaboration.

Our friend Jonathan Fields was just interviewed on Fox Business regarding his recently published his book, ‘Career Renegade‘. We are super excited to find that in his interview he mentioned our iPhone Surf App (at 5:15).

On a related note, Jonathan also interviewed Shane on his podcast, Career Renegades Profiles.

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