Increasing the Maturity of Our Java User Groups
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The document describes different levels of maturity for Java user groups (JUGs) and provides suggestions for advancing a JUG to higher levels. It discusses strategies for JUGs at each level, from level 1 focused on survival to level 5 where JUGs can influence the Java platform. Key recommendations include organizing periodic meetings, securing sponsors, hosting tutorials/hackathons, and participating in programs like Adopt-a-JSR to contribute to Java specifications. The ultimate goal is to grow the JUG to a level where it can organize its own technical conferences with international speakers.
![Hack the Tower (London hackday)
http://www.hackthetower.co.uk/
Is a hack day for any and all developers to come and collaborate on
projects or discover new technologies together and enhance their
skills.
Rough agenda:
10.00 Doors open
10.30 Share project ideas or technology you want to try
10.45 Team up and get going
13.00 Lunch time
13.30 Keep on hacking... until you have had enough or want to go to
the pub!
16.00 [Optional] Show off projects](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ugmaturitylevels-160919050740/85/Increasing-the-Maturity-of-Our-Java-User-Groups-41-320.jpg)
Increasing the Maturity of Our Java User Groups
- 3. About Us ● Andrii Rodionov ○ JUG UA Leader ○ JavaDay Ukraine conferences organizer ■ Kyiv - 6 years ■ Lviv, Kharkiv - 2 years ○ Java instructor at EPAM Systems ○ Community manager at Sun Microsystems (in the past)
- 4. About Us ● Víctor Orozco ○ Founder and JUG Leader of Guatemala Java Users Group (the biggest user group in Central America) ○ Java Day Guatemala Conference, and Duke's Adventure Tour ○ CTO of Nabenik S.A. ○ Assistant professor in Universidad Rafael Landivar
- 5. Talk structure and goals ● Map five levels of Capability Maturity Model to different phases of JUG lifecycle ● Key characteristics of each level ● How you can advance your JUG from one level to another ● Practices to increase the number of group members and make JUG meetings periodic ● How to organize conferences and take part in the Adopt-a-JSR program ● Unfortunately, no Java code :(
- 6. Maturity levels - What does it mean? “The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is a development model created after study of data collected from organizations that contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense, who funded the research. The term "maturity" relates to the degree of formality and optimization of processes, from ad hoc practices, to formally defined steps, to managed result metrics, to active optimization of the processes. The model's aim is to improve existing software-development processes, but it can also be applied to other processes.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Maturity_Model
- 9. Level 1 – Survival ● Where to hold a meeting? ○ University, (Software development) company open space, coworking space, ... ● How to find participants? ○ Friends, Social groups, ... ● Free or paid model? ● Where to find speakers? ○ Often JUG leader is the main speaker
- 10. Level 1 – Survival ● Unfortunately, a lot of JUGs die on this level ☹
- 11. Lessons learned ● 2005-2009: Advocate and later board member of my college Linux Users Group (pretty dead) ● 2009-2011: "Well known buddy" of a wide-country Free Software Association (mostly dead) ● 2009-2009: Participant in the first Java User Group in .gt (yup dead too) We(I) created user groups for the leaders, not for the members. A group is good only if it's good for the (potential and actual) members
- 12. Lesson 1: Don't be a hero ● 5 members: Every member is also a leader ● 10 members: Every member wanna be a leader ● 50 members: Every member hates the leader since it thinks he/she would be a better leader ● Start horizontal ASAP
- 13. Lesson 2: Mighty Morphin core members ● Identify your JUG style (not everyone is comfortable with an isolated leader, most people is probably comfortable with a core team) ● Identify your leaders (hint: people that likes technology over recognition) ● Eventually the leadership will rotate, this is GOOD, just do it ● Embrace the team, promote new members in "administrative tasks”
- 14. Lesson 3: Res publica non dominetur ● Good JUGs are created by and for the people ● People = developers, local universities, other user groups, sponsors (in that order) ● Embrace the environment, people is using Java 5 and Java 8 in the real world ● Ask for interests in each meeting, every early adopter is a potential speaker
- 15. Lesson 4: Create value for everyone, not for you ● (Most) Human beings are selfish ● Eventually you'll notice biases in activities, that's perfect ● As you grow ask for sponsorship, people love freebies ● Valuable = Jobs, technical discussions, face to face meetings, study groups, tech talks, hands on labs, conferences, networking ● Non valuable = SPAM, self promotion, isolated members promotion, flamewars ● Non valuable things are the poison of user groups
- 16. Lesson 5: Traditions ● Maturity = When you have enough active people to start projects ● Meetings at regular basis on regular days (It's easy to remember) ● Identify what works for you - e.g. guatemalans hate Google+, love Facebook, hate Meetup, love mailing lists, hate forums, love twitter- ● Explain traditions to newcomers ● Not everything is code
- 17. Lesson 6: Have fun ● Recognition isn't the only objective, but SHARE IT since day 0 ● Conferences, JSR, talks, are a consequence of good vibe, not a cause ● Maybe one day you simply took your Duke plush to hike volcanoes with your peers
- 18. And some more lessons ... ● Take into account who will be your participants ○ If students and beginners: it will be very hard to grow group professional level, get seniors and take part in AdoptJCP/AdoptJSR ○ If middle and seniors: you should have skilled speakers (otherwise participants will not come back) and potentially you will have lack of speakers ● You should become a public and very easy reachable person ● Track your every visitor
- 19. Level 2 – Repeatable … and your group becomes stronger
- 20. Level 2 – Repeatable ● The core of participants emerges ● Have a site or Meetup account ● Your group has different channels of communication ○ Group mailing list ○ Facebook group ○ Twitter account ● But … ○ Meetings are not periodical and depend on speakers availability ○ You invest your own money to provide some pizza or cookies for participants
- 21. Steps for moving forward ● Be a media partner of different IT events ○ It can provide some discounts for your group members ● Ask local software companies for speakers and events hosting ● Invite speakers from local conferences to your meetings ○ Catch international speakers if they are passing near you ● Try to increase your group visibility!
- 22. Level 3 – Defined
- 23. Level 3 – Different meetings ● Taking fees from participants or having a sponsor(s) ● 500+ members in mailing list ● JUG meetings are periodical with defined number of participants ● You look for speakers according to your members demand or your meeting theme ● Articles, Interviews, Blogs, and Newsletters ● You can start different types of meetings ○ HOL / Tutorial / Hack Day ○ Events for Junior Developers ○ Software Craftsmanship Community Round-tables
- 24. HOL/Tutorial/Hack Day ● JDK8 lambdas and streams ○ https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK/lambda-tutorial ○ https://github.com/stuart-marks/LambdasHacking ○ https://github.com/stuart-marks/LambdaHOLv2 ● Eclipse Collections Kata ○ https://github.com/eclipse/eclipse-collections-kata ● Java 8 Date And Time Hacking ○ https://github.com/olegts/Java8DateAndTimeHacking ● Practical RxJava Workshop ○ https://github.com/simonbasle/practicalRx ● Java 9 REPL ○ https://www.jclarity.com/2015/04/15/java-9-repl-getting-started-guide ● Jigsaw ○ http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jigsaw/quick-start ○ https://www.infoq.com/articles/Latest-Project-Jigsaw-Usage-Tutorial
- 25. But in some day, you …
- 27. Level 4 – Conference Let’s organize our own Java conference! And invite Rock Stars Speakers!
- 28. How to organize a conference ● The simplest way is … to invite Voxxed guys ;) ● If you are not a Devoxx, don't expect to have 1000 participants first time ● Start from 100-200 participants and 1-2 tracks ● Engage some local software development company as a main conference partner
- 29. How to organize a conference ● Organize a conference day before or day after some big conference ● You should “book” Rock Stars speakers minimum half a year before the conference ● Three main areas of responsibility: ○ conference program ○ technical organization ○ sponsors and partners ● And … good luck!
- 30. In some day you can have James Gosling
- 31. JavaDay Kyiv experience ● JavaDay Kyiv 2011 ○ 1 day ○ 1 track ○ 5 speakers ○ 7 talks ○ 100 participants ● JavaDay Kyiv 2015 ○ 2 days ○ 5 tracks ○ 45 speakers: James Gosling (1 hour online Q/A session), Venkat Subramaniam, Arun Gupta, Bruno Souza, … ○ 60 talks ○ 1000 participants ● JavaDay Kyiv 2016 ○ Is coming … ;)
- 32. JavaDay Guatemala experience ● JavaDay Guatemala 2011 ○ Mostly a Barcamp/unConference ○ 1 track ○ 15 speakers ○ 15 talks ○ 100-200 participants ● JavaDay Guatemala 2016 ○ Country tour (Duke’s adventures) ○ 9 days (in 9 cities) . . . so far ○ 5 tracks in main conference, 35 speakers ○ Co-hosted with EclipseDemoCamp ○ Between 1000-3000 participants ● JavaDay Guatemala 2017 ○ For sure it will happen … maybe JavaDay Central America :)
- 35. unConference
- 36. unConference
- 37. unConference Be aware! You should have experts in particular topics Christoph Engelbert Stuart Marks
- 38. Conferences drawbacks Conferences take time and slow down your JUG progress
- 40. Level 5 – Influence Java ● How can we influence Java platform? ● Hackathons ● Adopt a JSR program for Java User Groups! ○ JUG UA took part at Adopt JSR 367 (Java API for JSON-Binding, JSON-B) ● New kind of meetings ○ Coding kata's/dojo's, Code & Coffee, Round tables, … ○ How to be accepted to speak at a Conference ○ Speaking Out: A workshop for public speaking in tech ○ Career Hacking - Interview Skills / Cracking that interview
- 41. Hack the Tower (London hackday) http://www.hackthetower.co.uk/ Is a hack day for any and all developers to come and collaborate on projects or discover new technologies together and enhance their skills. Rough agenda: 10.00 Doors open 10.30 Share project ideas or technology you want to try 10.45 Team up and get going 13.00 Lunch time 13.30 Keep on hacking... until you have had enough or want to go to the pub! 16.00 [Optional] Show off projects
- 42. Hack and Adopt OpenJDK ● Improved OpenJDK 9 test coverage ● OpenJDK Warnings cleanup ● Small Bugs Fixes ● Try new staff and provide a feedback ○ Java 9 REPL - http://goo.gl/68sZ5x
- 43. JUG UA Adopt a JSR participation http://jug.ua/adopt-a-jsr ● How did we start? ○ Joined mailing list for JSON-B spec ○ Analyzed Spec early draft ○ Wrote set of unit tests for mapping different Java data structures to/from JSON using JSON-Binding API ● Results ○ More than 60 comments/suggestions have been made ○ About 30 out of them have been incorporated in Spec ○ We've got experience and fun
- 44. JUG UA Adopt a JSR participation JSR-367 Java API for JSON Binding Specification