All Skill Levels, PHP5, Zend Developer Zone, Zend Technologies

Zend Framework Leadership Change

Cal Evans (Editor-in-Chief) | 1 comment | May 18th, 2006

It’s already been a busy weeks this week in the framework. You know something is up when I take a break from surfing to post; but the musical chairs going on with the framework team needs explaining. So everybody get out your programs and follow along. I’ll go a bit slower for those of you in the Valley. I know noon is still early for you.

There were two posts to the Zend Framework general mailing this week of monumental importance. The first marks the departure of Mike Naberezny and the second, the addition of Jayson Minard to the framework leadership team. Mike’s post can be found on his blog and also in the framework mailing list archives. The post from Jayson gives a summary of his background and also a initial view into his thoughts on the framework and the near-term tasks at hand. The post is provided below. Now all I need to do is come up with a nickname for him and we’re all set! (Sir Jayson doesnt seem to fit, but then neither does “my liege”.) I’m sure something will settle in.

Hello everyone,

I wanted to quickly introduce myself as the new lead for the Zend Framework for Zend. I will be stepping into Mike’s role in working within the framework development team, and coordinating the effort as a whole. Therefore, let me tell you a bit about myself and my thoughts on this project.

I have been in software development for what seems like forever, yet I can never get enough of working with code. I have held most engineering and technical management titles from engineer through architect through CIO and CTO. I have worked in consulting and commercial software working on development languages and tools such as Force (go back a ways), PowerBuilder, Delphi, Java and JBuilder. And also working with applications on both the desktop and out on the web. I have been in Open Source with a startup I cofounded called OpenAvenue where we were the home for CVS and for projects from commercial companies going out to Open Source for the first time. My full history can be seen on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/33/a25). If you scan it and see a lot of Java, you should also know that I do full-on PHP, and even .NET/Mono (C# and Boo). Just as I work evenly across MySQL, PostgreSQL, Firebird, SQL Server and Oracle. I am all about taking advantage of everything we possibly can to accomplish our goals, and that is something I bring as a main strength to this project.

I have been around the project for some time working as the Editor in Chief for the Zend Developer Zone (devzone.zend.com) which has been based on the framework since well before the first public preview. I also worked a bit on exploring a future step for the framework in bringing a component model to PHP as a task supporting Andi in conveying his vision for PHP given at his most recent keynotes (phpBlox at http://devzone.zend.com/article/216). And now I am working directly with you all on the framework itself.

The Zend Framework is a chance to have an IT accepted framework for PHP (with clean IP) as well as providing a much clearer and simpler path “to success” for PHP developers of any and all types. We can bring all of the best practices buried in our heads into a solid framework that the PHP community can leverage in productive ways. We succeed when those using the framework succeed. (uh oh, I’m starting to sound like an infomercial).

So what are our plans for the framework?

First, get the proposal process predictable and moving. We want those that wish to be involved, to get involved. We want that excitement you have for your ideas translated into great code for the framework. We will be making slight changes to this process and making it more responsive and inclusive. As has been suggested before, we will quickly make an “ideas” repository to hold all non-incubator and non-core ideas. Something that might not be right or ready for “now” might be perfect for a short time down the road and should have a place to continue progressing within the public and community eye. As we set a date for 0.1.4, we’ll also set aside time immediately following to catch up all proposals, get them to their new homes, and add them to a roadmap for future releases.

Since I mentioned setting a date for 0.1.4, I should talk a bit about releases. We are going to move to a more consistent release model where we hit regular intervals and try to predict ahead of time when those will be. 0.1.4 date will be set in the next few days along with the proposal catch-up window. As we move through those time frames we will set 0.2.0 and a few releases beyond. We will even need to start talking about a 1.0 and what will make a great 1.0 for later this year. I would rather set goals than have people guessing as to what we have in mind.

In order to land each release, and especially a 1.0. We need to get clearer about the intent of each area of the framework. What is the purpose, the scope, and the exclusions for each. Some of the original pre-proposal-process components are lacking this clarity and we will catch this up in the proposal catch-up window as well. The framework as a whole should make sense, and so should each component and their relationships to each other.

To make the trip towards a 1.0 smooth, we need to make sure we have all of the infrastructure to make all of our jobs easier. We are reviewing the comments from the mailing list and provided directly by others to see what needs to be quickly put in place to keep us from anything that will slow us down. Searching the mailing list is one area, increasing the use of Trac another, helping us keep up with patches another, seeing what we are missing yet another. Keep the comments coming and we’ll see what works best at each phase of growing this project.

Lastly we will start using the voice of Zend Developer Zone a bit more to carry some of the communications for the framework. We can use the resources of that team to give us more infrastructure for carrying announcements, the proposal system, framework blogging, and anything else appropriate for that system.

So that’s it for now. Feel free to contact me or anyone of the full-time-on-the-framework Zend team (Alexander Veremyev, Darby Felton, Gavin Vess) for any reason. If you have something moving, or that you want to get moving, help get me up to speed quickly so I can help.

– Jayson