[SPUG-Workers] The future of SPUG

[Colin Meyer]

Folks,

I've been doing a bit of thinking and talking about SPUG lately. I
think that it used to be an excellent resource, and could easily become
one again.

Background: I feel that we are entering a time of technological
ambiguity for internet software companies. A year or two ago, and anyone
recommending technology for internet software could do no wrong by
advocating Java or .Net. There was just no question about it, the answer
was obvious.

But these days companies looking to hire seem up in the air about their
technological platform. You hear companies saying that they are "looking
at" LAMP, SOA, ROR, etc. I find the fact that Ruby on Rails is gaining
such popularity to be a definite clue that companies are not just
accepting de-facto standards, but are willing to look at fringe or niche
technologies.

So, this is where SPUG comes in, and why it is so important to revive
our group now. As we are all aware, Perl is good technology. I don't
really have to say that it is better than e.g. ROR, but simply that it
is *good* technology.

And Perl attracts a certain type of engineer. When these engineers are
allowed to thrive with their good technology, they do excellent work.

SPUG plays the role of advocacy. Folks from different companies around
town can get together and see how each other are using Perl. We get
confirmation time and again that Perl is being used to solve important
problems. It is a place for people to see that Perl is being used by
companies to make money. It is a place for employees to hook up with
employers. It is a place for people to improve their knowledge and hone
their skills.

What do we need to get SPUG on top again? That is easy. SPUG was awesome
under the excellent leadership of its founder, Tim Maher. Tim publicly
divulged his secrets a few times. It basically comes down to:
 - Regularly scheduled meetings. The question "is there a meeting this
   month?" should never come up on the email list
 - Meetings that are well organized and executed -- Tim had a simple
   format of roughly: Perl news, introduce new members, who's hiring,
   who's looking, introduce speaker, make sure that there's a mid
   meeting bathroom break, let people know where to get together after
   the meeting for a drink.

Ever since Tim stepped down (THANKS again for the YEARS of excellent
leadership, Tim), we have been floundering. There have been a number of
people who have stepped up, and then stepped back down again, myself
among them. Thanks to: Andy, Jerry, Trey, numerous other people who's
names won't come to the top of my head right now, for arranging for
speakers, running the mailing lists, and other such work. Sadly for us,
that has not been enough.

I have found someone who is willing to organize SPUG, and who I believe
is plenty capable. His only hesitation is he is not a terribly technical
person. He is a recruiter. You may have guessed who he is by now. I don't
think that our leader needs to be a technical ubergeek. What we really
need is organization.

So, I guess that my purpose of writing this note is to get some feedback.
One thing is that I don't want to come in and tromp on anyone else's 
ideas. But I do want to get SPUG going, to restore the value it once
had.

What do you think?

Thanks,
-Colin.