Two years ago, if you had asked me to build a conversational chatbot that leveraged AI, I would have been discussing hundreds of thousands of dollars to build and run it. Today, I built a prototype in one hour that cost me six cents of a SaaS service. It is astonishing to know how far this space has come in such a short timeframe. While it's rare I blog at this point, I want to share more about this experience. The approach I started with a simple Google search on conversational AI chatbots. This led me to Python, as all of the examples I found seemed to leverage it. Most examples leveraged

It has been a while since I wrote a blog post and it's an acknowledgement that I dialed back some of my normal Drupal community involvement. Between several years of maintaining and rebuilding SimplyTest.me on top of my personal and professional obligations, it was good to take a break. I have since been promoted at Acquia and invested a lot there. I’ve also enjoyed time with my family, and recently got a puppy. I feel it is now time to look ahead. State of the Project I was in the first in-person Drupal Camp in Florida a few months ago. I presented a talk evaluating the landscape of Drupal

When I took over as the project lead for SimplyTest.me, the previous lead shared three primary things with me: The system had a non-trivial amount of technical debt and was rising more with time Significant changes were coming with Drupal 8, Composer, Drush, and more His interest was elsewhere As part of my proposal, I promised to do what I could to revitalize this. While this effort has taken years, we have hit another major milestone in our journey: We launched a completely new version of SimplyTest.me. We rebuilt the system from the ground up in an effort to revitalize the project. It’s

On the 20th anniversary of 9-11, it’s hard to ignore how fleeting life is. What we accomplish during our time is up to us. What do you want your legacy to be? Are you fulfilling it? Do you maintain awareness toward your goals and what impact you want to have? While I’m most proud of my family and the legacy I will leave through my kids, we are also afforded opportunities to leave a legacy professionally. Building great products is an incredible opportunity to help and serve others. The trust and confidence customers place in our hands is not a responsibility we should take lightly. We need to

Changes to teams, organization, structure, or process should be thoughtful and done with patience. Change can take time to materialize. Teams often don’t like change. Making changes too frequently often doesn’t allow a team to get past the storming, norming and performing phases and therefore doesn’t allow for the expected investment to be realized. And, changes are disruptive. Changes should only be executed when it’s necessary. They shouldn’t be knee jerk or reactionary. It needs to be well thought out and planned. Slow and methodical. Plus, we are all human. Change can be hard, even for

Companies are dynamic. Needs can arise on a moments notice. But these needs can present opportunities for employees to deliver when called upon. Where there is chaos, there is opportunity. Some people shy away from this. “That’s not my job” or “why are we asked to do this” are common things I hear. What is your perspective? Is it that you can’t or shouldn’t be asked to do new things when a need is there? Or, are you prepared to be the one to help when called upon. I tell my teams that our value is based on how we show up when it’s most needed. This is, in fact, our teams identity. People call

Organizations that are able to focus on priorities get things done. While this sounds simple, it requires the discipline to not change priorities rapidly. Priorities can’t just be the flavor of the day - even if the organization learns of more priorities. Trust is lost with teams if priorities change too rapidly, as team members question why a top priority suddenly isn’t a priority. Plus, delivery is contagious. Teams given the time and opportunity to focus often succeed and continue to succeed, as this becomes the ethos. Combined with effective prioritization, magic happens. While I advocate