Community Building And User-group Organizing: Mike Hall Interviews Mark Simpson | SCNA 2012
Meet Mark Simpson, the organizer of the Boston Codon Cocktail. He shares how he started the event as a social networking opportunity and evolved it into a coding and cocktail event. The event follows a ground rule of 'code and coffee,' and they have introduced a fun coding exercise called 'Exquisite Codes' to keep the event engaging. #coding #coffee #communitybuilding #usergrouporganizing #softwarecraftsmanship
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
The Guest
Mark Simpson
community building and user-group organizing
The Conversation
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
Hi, I'm Mike with UGtastic here again at SCNA. I'm sitting down with Mark Simpson, who's organizing the Codon Cocktail in Boston. The Boston Codon Cocktail, versus the Boston Tea. But, I've heard of Codon Coffee, and that's in the morning. I'm guessing that Codon Cocktails is not a morning thing. Yeah, probably drinking that early in the morning would not be good. That's a bad sign. Unless he's hair of the dog. So, as I was about to start, before you press the buttons, the history is that one or two years ago at SCNA, I heard about Codon Coffee, and thought that was a UGtastic idea, because I like coffee. But, in Boston, I felt no one else got up as early as I did. There wasn't coffee shops that sounded like they would be conducive to that sort of stuff. But, I then suddenly jumped to the conclusion of, we should go out for drinks. Because I wanted to have a social event. Just a little slight networking, some chatting. Which is strange, because I think of myself as an introvert. So, I, on the Boston Software Craftsmanship mailing list, I said, maybe during one of the meetings or something, I asked a couple of people if they wanted to go out for drinks, and it was originally just Zach, the organizer, and a guy that went to the meetings, Moss, Moss Cullum, and we went out for drinks. And then, the next month, I said, I actually mailed out, and let's go, and six people showed up, and it's been going for six months now. - Oh, really?
Mark Simpson
community building and user-group organizing
- I'm surprised every time. - And do you, I mean, is it something that you break out laptops, or do you-- - Oh, yeah. - So, my only ground rule is that there will be code and coffee. The code could be talking about code. - Okay. - 'Cause sometimes when you have some cocktails, you can't do much coding. - Yeah. - But we have actually broken out laptops. Unlike code and coffee, which is the idea of working on people's projects, I wouldn't trust anyone after a couple cocktails to do that. So, we've done some coding exercises. Zach came up with this idea based upon the surrealist party game called the Exquisite Corpse. We call it the Exquisite Codes. - Okay. - Where I write a test, and I hand you the laptop, and you have to make the test pass. - Oh. - You can't touch my test, but I can't help you at all. You can't do anything. - Right. - And it goes around, and we see what happens at the end. We see where it ends up. - Okay. - So, that can be fun after a few cocktails. - Yeah. - It's kind of crazy. The first time we did that, it ended up with a guy writing a test that, in our spec, to make it pass. It just said, "It should fail. Fail. " So, the next guy in line who didn't know much Ruby, you know, Ruby was learning it, he redefined failure. - Oh! - And he won. He basically just played it. - We're like, yeah, you just redefined failure to true, and so, you're awesome. - Yeah, so, yeah, you've won the night. - Yeah. But, some nights, it's, we're talking about code, like about testing, or mocking, you know, the same sort of things you hear out here. We're just chatting informally. Sometimes it boils down to a couple people are complaining about their jobs. - Right. - But, I think, as a guy who used to complain about my job a lot, you probably remember, I think it's useful to do that sometimes, as long as it doesn't get too negative. You complain about your job, people try to help you by saying, "Maybe there's light at the end of the tunnel," or, "Have you tried this? " Or, you know, there's different ways that you can help everybody. - Yeah, so sometimes, it can be a sympathetic ear, or just saying, "Yeah, yeah, I know, I've been there as well. "Maybe it'll get better," or, "Hey, you could quit. " - Yeah. - At some point, I think I heard that. So, I guess, yeah, that's code and cocktails. There has to be cocktails, there has to be code, at least in the discussion thereof. - Okay, great. So, I mean, it's very social. - Yeah, yeah, it's very social. Right now, we just happen to always go to the same bar because it's near where I live, and no one has suggested anywhere else. Works for me. - So, if it works, and that's one of the things that's key in running a user community, in my experience, is that it has to also work for the people that are organizing it. - Yeah. - So, as long as it works for them, and then other people are happy and having a good time, then everybody's having a great time, and that's how the community wins. - Yeah, when I first thought of this, I was thinking, like, "Oh, no, I have to be an organizer," and, "Oh, no, I have to do all this stuff. " So, I kept it very light. I said, "You can show up if you want to. "Don't show up if you don't want to. "I'll have a drink of my own, if you want to show up. "I don't care, I'll be at this bar at this time. "Come on by.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
" - Great, well, thank you very much for taking the time to sit down. - Thank you.
Critical Insights
durable
"Mark started the event as a social networking opportunity and evolved it into a coding and cocktail event."
durable
"The event follows a ground rule of 'code and coffee,' and they have introduced a fun coding exercise called 'Exquisite Codes' to keep the event engaging."
durable
"Mark emphasizes the importance of making the event work for the people organizing it, as well as for the participants."