Here's what I've been working on for my LocalGov Drupal contributions this week. Thanks to Big Blue Door for sponsoring the time to work on these.

Recently, Dries Buytaert announced the Drupal Starshot leadership team. Lullabot's Cristina Chumillas will be the UX lead. In this role, Cristina will "define the design and user experience vision" for the product.

At DrupalCon Portland 2024, members of the Drupal Community Working Group were pleased to announce the winner of the 2024 Aaron Winborn Award, Mike Anello (ultimike.)

About Mike Anello

Mike Anello winner of the Aaron Winborn Award 2024

Mike has been an integral part of the Drupal Community for nearly 20 years. His leadership is evident through his long-term involvement with the Community Working Group and its Conflict Resolution Team, as well as his role as the lead organizer of Florida Drupal Camp. As a co-founder and educator at DrupalEasy, he continues to mentor and inspire numerous community members, helping to lower barriers to entry. Mike consistently shares his expertise as a presenter and facilitator at many Drupal events. His contributions inspire many, both directly and indirectly, throughout our community.

Heartfelt Nominations

Each year many individuals are nominated for the award. But this year, one nomination seemed to sum the rest up with a simple, “You damned well know why Mike Anello deserves this award more than anyone else. Seriously.”  

Other nominations were less direct but full of grace and patience, much like Mike’s contribution to Drupal over the years. Here are a few others:

“Mike is a model community member who has had an exponential impact on the success of our community. I can't think of anyone more deserving of this award.”

“I believe hundreds of folks have been impacted positively by Mike over their career.”

“Without Mike Anello, I don't know if I would have been as enthralled with Drupal as I became. I still remember the first time I met Mike at DrupalCamp Atlanta in 2013. He inspired me to do more than work with Drupal; he inspired me to join the Drupal community. His work with DrupalEasy continues to build an education pipeline that brings in new community members and levels those who may already be involved so that they can grow their careers.”

The CWG has contacted all nominees to let them know of their nomination and shared some details about what their nominators wrote about them, thanking them for their continued work in the community. 

About the Aaron Winborn Award

The 2024 Aaron Winborn Award

The award is named after a long-time Drupal contributor who lost his battle with ALS in 2015. This award recognizes an individual who, like Aaron, demonstrates personal integrity, kindness, and an above-and-beyond commitment to the Drupal project and community.

Previous winners of the award are  Cathy Theys, Gabór Hojtsy, Nikki Stevens, Kevin Thull, Leslie Glynn, Baddý Breidert, AmyJune Hineline, Angie Byron, and Randy Fay. Current CWG Conflict Resolution Team members, along with previous winners, selected the winner based on nominations submitted by Drupal community members.

Nominations for next year's award will open in early 2025.

Although my blog has been quiet, a lot has happened with the Drupal Starshot project since its announcement a month ago. We provided an update in the first Drupal Starshot virtual meeting, which is available as a recording.

Today, I am excited to introduce the newly formed Drupal Starshot leadership team.

Meet the leadership team

Product Lead: Dries Buytaert

I will continue to lead the Drupal Starshot project, focusing on defining the product vision and strategy and building the leadership team. In the past few weeks, I have cleared other responsibilities to dedicate a significant amount of time to Drupal Starshot and Drupal Core.

Technical Lead: Tim Plunkett (Acquia)

Tim will oversee technical decisions and facilitate contributions from the community. His role includes building a team of Drupal Starshot Committers, coordinating with Drupal Core Committers, and ensuring that Drupal Starshot remains stable, secure, and easy to upgrade. With 7 years of engineering leadership experience, Tim will help drive technical excellence. Acquia is providing Tim the opportunity to work full-time on the Drupal Starshot project.

User Experience Lead: Cristina Chumillas (Lullabot)

Cristina will define the design and user experience vision for Drupal Starshot. She will engage with contributors to initiate research activities and share the latest UI/UX best practices, ensuring a user-centric approach. She has been leading UX-related Drupal Core initiatives for over 7 years. Lullabot, Cristina's employer, has generously offered her the opportunity to work on Drupal Starshot full-time.

Product Owner: Pamela Barone (Technocrat)

Pam will help ensure alignment and progress among contributors, including defining and prioritizing work. She brings strong communication and organizational skills, having led Drupal projects for more than 12 years.

Contribution Coordinator: Gábor Hojtsy (Acquia)

Gábor will focus on making it easier for individuals and organizations to contribute to Drupal Starshot. With extensive experience in Open Source contribution and community engagement, Gábor will help communicate progress, collaborate with the Drupal Association, and much more. Acquia will provide Gábor with the opportunity to work full-time on the Drupal Starshot project.

Starshot Council (Advisory Board)

To support the leadership team, we are establishing the Starshot Council, an advisory board that will include:

1. Three end-users (site builders)
2. Three Certified Drupal Partners
3. Two Drupal Core Committers (one framework manager and one release manager)
4. Three Drupal Association board members, one from each of the following Board Working Groups: Innovation, Marketing, and Fundraising
5. Two staff members from the Drupal Association

The council will meet monthly to ensure the leadership team remains aligned with the broader community and strategic goals. The Drupal Association is leading the effort to gather candidates, and the members of the Starshot Council will be announced in the coming weeks.

More opportunities to get involved

There are many opportunities for others to get involved as committers, designers, developers, content creators, and more.

We have specific tasks that need to be completed, such as finishing Project Browser, Recipes and Automatic Updates. To help people get involved with this work, we have set up several interactive Zoom calls. We'll update you on our progress and give you practical advice on where and how you can contribute.

Beyond the tasks we know need to be completed, there are still many details to define. Our next step is to identify these. My first priority was to establish the leadership team. With that in place, we can focus on product definition and clarifying the unknowns. We'll brief you on our initial ideas and next steps in our next Starshot session this Friday.

Conclusion

The Drupal Starshot project is off to an exciting start with this exceptional leadership team. I am grateful to these talented individuals for stepping up to drive this important project. Their combined expertise and dedication will drive excitement and improvements for the Drupal platform, ultimately benefiting our entire community. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to make strides in this ambitious initiative.

Golf EMS is an industry-leading online registration platform, designed specifically for the unique needs of golf facilities. The platform streamlines the process of managing golf events, offering a centralised solution for handling online registrations, payments, and event management efficiently.

Before Joshi Consultancy Services came onboard, Golf EMS was encountering several challenges that impeded its growth. Their existing system was insubstantial and underperforming, not being able to support the increasing demands of their expanding user base.

Joshi Consultancy Services revamped Golf EMS's online registration platform. They replaced the outdated system with a robust, highly scalable Drupal solution. This new system significantly improved the platform's performance, allowing it to handle higher traffic and provide an enhanced user experience. As a result, Golf EMS gained the capacity to support even the most complex golf event registrations.

Moreover, by leveraging Drupal's flexibility and scalability, Joshi Consultancy Services was able to introduce new features that further streamlined Golf EMS's operations. This included advanced reporting tools, custom event registration forms, and secure payment gateways.

Joshi's mastery in Drupal was crucial in transforming Golf EMS's platform into a powerful, efficient registration tool for golf facilities. By optimising their system, Golf EMS was able to achieve their goals, boosting their market share and solidifying their position as a leader in the golf industry.

Under the guidance of Joshi Consultancy Services, Golf EMS significantly improved their operational efficiency and client satisfaction, achieving their objectives, and paving the way for their continual success in the competitive golf industry.

The Golf EMS project was a meticulous undertaking that called for a significant system overhaul. The goal for the project was to transform their existing platform into an advanced, robust system that could efficiently handle the demands of their user base and support their growth trajectory.

Goals:
The main objectives for Golf EMS included:

1. A scalable platform to support a growing user base.
2. Enhanced productivity through streamlined operations.
3. A secure platform for online registrations and payments.
4. Improved functionality with features tailored for golf event management.

Requirements:
The key requirements for the project were:

1. Development of a scalable Drupal solution.
2. Integration of APIs for third-party services.
3. Implementation of customizable features for advanced reporting and detailed customer insights.
4. A secure payment gateway.
5. Compliance with industry regulations and standards.

Outcome:
The partnership with Joshi Consultancy Services yielded remarkable results. With a revamped platform, Golf EMS experienced considerable improvements in their operations. The new Drupal solution provided the scalability they needed to handle their growing needs without compromising on performance.

The integration of APIs and the addition of customised features such as advanced reporting tools, custom event registration forms, and secure payment gateways significantly enhanced the platform's functionality.

By successfully meeting the requirements and achieving their goals, Golf EMS has cemented their position as an industry leader, offering a sophisticated online golf event management system that is trusted and relied upon by golf facilities everywhere.

When it came to developing the Golf EMS platform, Drupal was the chosen content management system due to several reasons reflecting its robustness, flexibility, and scalability.

Firstly, Drupal is highly customisable, allowing for the creation and management of content types, views, user roles, and more. This was essential for a dynamic platform like Golf EMS which needed numerous custom functionalities tailored to the specific requirements of golf event management.

Secondly, Drupal’s extensive API support was a significant factor. APIs facilitate the smooth integration of third-party systems essential for expanding the platform's capabilities. With it, Joshi Consultancy Services seamlessly integrated payment gateways, reporting tools and other services into Golf EMS's platform.

Furthermore, Drupal's scalability was a crucial consideration. As Golf EMS aimed to cater to a growing user base, they needed a system that would handle increased traffic and data without affecting the website's performance. Drupal's inherent ability to scale made it the perfect fit.

Lastly, the security provided by Drupal is industry-leading. Given the sensitive data involved with online registrations and payments, Drupal's strong focus on security was pivotal to ensure that user data remained secure and well-protected.

In summary, the choice to use Drupal was driven by its customizability, robust API support, scalability, and security. These features, coupled with Bhavin Joshi's deep expertise in Drupal, ensured that Golf EMS was built on a solid foundation that could support its aims and future growth.

This blog has been re-posted and edited with permission from Dries Buytaert's blog.

Although my blog has been quiet, a lot has happened with the Drupal Starshot project since its announcement a month ago. We provided an update in the first Drupal Starshot virtual meeting, which is available as a recording.

Today, I am excited to introduce the newly formed Drupal Starshot leadership team.

Meet the leadership team

Product Lead: Dries Buytaert

I will continue to lead the Drupal Starshot project, focusing on defining the product vision and strategy and building the leadership team. In the past few weeks, I have cleared other responsibilities to dedicate a significant amount of time to Drupal Starshot and Drupal Core.

Technical Lead: Tim Plunkett (Acquia)

Tim will oversee technical decisions and facilitate contributions from the community. His role includes building a team of Drupal Starshot Committers, coordinating with Drupal Core Committers, and ensuring that Drupal Starshot remains stable, secure, and easy to upgrade. With 7 years of engineering leadership experience, Tim will help drive technical excellence. Acquia is providing Tim the opportunity to work full-time on the Drupal Starshot project.

User Experience Lead: Cristina Chumillas (Lullabot)

Cristina will define the design and user experience vision for Drupal Starshot. She will engage with contributors to initiate research activities and share the latest UI/UX best practices, ensuring a user-centric approach. She has been leading UX-related Drupal Core initiatives for over 7 years. Lullabot, Cristina's employer, has generously offered her the opportunity to work on Drupal Starshot full-time.

Product Owner: Pamela Barone (Technocrat)

Pam will help ensure alignment and progress among contributors, including defining and prioritizing work. She brings strong communication and organizational skills, having led Drupal projects for more than 12 years.

Contribution Coordinator: Gábor Hojtsy (Acquia)

Gábor will focus on making it easier for individuals and organizations to contribute to Drupal Starshot. With extensive experience in Open Source contribution and community engagement, Gábor will help communicate progress, collaborate with the Drupal Association, and much more. Acquia will provide Gábor with the opportunity to work full-time on the Drupal Starshot project.

Starshot Council (Advisory Board)

To support the leadership team, we are establishing the Starshot Council, an advisory board that will include:

1. Three end-users (site builders)
2. Three Certified Drupal Partners
3. Two Drupal Core Committers (one framework manager and one release manager)
4. Three Drupal Association board members, one from each of the following Board Working Groups: Innovation, Marketing, and Fundraising
5. Two staff members from the Drupal Association

The council will meet monthly to ensure the leadership team remains aligned with the broader community and strategic goals. The Drupal Association is leading the effort to gather candidates, and the members of the Starshot Council will be announced in the coming weeks.

More opportunities to get involved

There are many opportunities for others to get involved as committers, designers, developers, content creators, and more.

We have specific tasks that need to be completed, such as finishing Project Browser, Recipes and Automatic Updates. To help people get involved with this work, we have set up several interactive Zoom calls. We'll update you on our progress and give you practical advice on where and how you can contribute.

Beyond the tasks we know need to be completed, there are still many details to define. Our next step is to identify these. My first priority was to establish the leadership team. With that in place, we can focus on product definition and clarifying the unknowns. We'll brief you on our initial ideas and next steps in our next Starshot session this Friday.

Conclusion

The Drupal Starshot project is off to an exciting start with this exceptional leadership team. I am grateful to these talented individuals for stepping up to drive this important project. Their combined expertise and dedication will drive excitement and improvements for the Drupal platform, ultimately benefiting our entire community. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to make strides in this ambitious initiative.