Our site is called the EMC Developer Network (EDN) because its mission is to connect people with the resources they need to get their work done. Resources include documentation, sample code, utilities, interviews, events… and other developers. If you have been following my column, you may have gathered that I am pretty keen on this theme of fostering a sense of community. Any time people with a common interest get together, whether in the same room or in cyberspace, there’s the potential for sharing information… and having a good time.

In last month’s column I talked about the benefits of attending conferences and sharing experiences with your peers. One of the downsides of conferences is that they generally happen only once a year. Where do you turn if you need more frequent interaction with warm bodies? There may be a user group right around the corner.

User Groupies

I’ve been participating in user group activities since personal computers became generally available in the early 1980’s. People typically didn’t have modems, there was no internet access, no email, so getting a group of people together in the same room was a natural way of sharing your triumphs and grief. It wasn’t unusual to attend several different user groups per week.

Back then, it was a matter of survival. No one person could keep up with it all. We needed others to make sense out of the deluge of conflicting information and help us out of jams that we inevitably created (ok, some things haven’t changed.)

Creatures of the night

Generally these gatherings were held at night, after business hours. Evening meetings were attractive because of easier availability of meeting rooms, and attendees are busy during the day. We attended on our own time, many hid their nocturnal activities from their management (if you were in corporate IT, associating with microcomputer users was akin to consorting with the enemy.)

Some of these meetings were general purpose with hundreds of people filling large auditoriums every month. Soon enough, they organized and formed special interest groups (SIGs) based around software products or technologies, holding separate meetings to help focus the discussions.

Still these events were almost always held at night, once a month, sometimes in people's basements, and lasted two or three hours. Being sociable types, conversations would continue over late dinners with a groups of power users and developers (who always stayed to the end) after the meetings. We had great fun, some great meals, and with traveling back home, made for very, very long days.

Daywalkers

Over the years, there have been significant changes. Let's take a look at EMC Content Management user groups. Meetings are usually held during the business day, and instead of being a couple of hours, usually start in the morning and run through mid-afternoon. Members attend as part of their jobs with the permission and even encouragement of their management. For many, it makes good business sense to take the time to attend, and people are simply delighted to get out of their office for the day.

Instead of monthly, groups meet three or four times a year (some even have an annual regional conference with multiple tracks.) Meetings often includes breakfast and/or lunch, so it’s no surprise that people stay the entire day. There seems to be a recurring correlation between providing food and attracting a good group.

Although some groups are purely ad-hoc, many have sponsors, usually partner companies that coordinate the meetings, plan the agenda, get people to present, do the publicity, and acquire the meeting space.

What’s in it for developers?

User group attendees are a mix of people: those thinking about using the software, casual users of the product, power users, IT managers, and of course, some developers.

As a developer and software architect, I always find it very useful to speak with people who use the products day in and day out. I want to know where their “pain” is. I want to know what takes them a long time to do, where they make mistakes, and what’s needlessly tedious. Programming is generally about automating tasks and procedures to take less time and reduce/eliminate errors. The better we understand what users are doing right, and wrong, the better we can program to act on their behalf, or streamline the process and interface to help them work better.

Although it’s possible to be a good developer without actually using a product (some people are great at simply reading api calls from the documentation), having a working knowledge of the environment you are trying to automate is a big plus, and being around users who spend their time with the day to day, nuts and bolts of the interactive areas of a product is a great help as they might be expert in areas of the product that you’ve never touched.

How’ya DUNE?

EDUNE (formerly DUNE), the EMC Documentum Usergroup of the NorthEast is a great example of a thriving regional group. I’m based in the New York area, so this is my ‘local’ group. I use the term ‘local’ loosely because they hold quarterly meetings, two in New York City, and two in Hopkinton MA. I’ve attended at both locations, which are held at EMC offices, and look forward to participating on a regular basis.

The meetings are co-sponsored by two long-time partner companies, PhoenixSI and CYA, each taking responsibility for coordinating two of the quarterly meetings.

A typical meeting agenda is ambitious, with the following format:

• Registration and breakfast (coffee, carbs, and fruit to fuel you for the morning)
• Welcome and user group update (take care of group business)
• Keynote speaker (sometimes provided by EMC, always interesting)
• Customer case study (implementation, migration, cool systems!)
• Lunch, sometimes combined with:
• Breakout discussions / workshop / panel (preplanned topic or chosen by attendees based on the day’s interest)
• Vendor presentation (utilities, add-ons, often proudly acclaiming their certification via the Designed for EMC program.)
• Closing remarks

There’s something for everyone. It’s a pretty full day, with a couple of short breaks to catch up on phone calls. When asked, I find that about 20% of this group identifies themselves as developers, which I think is pretty typical for user groups. All the members seems upbeat and talk easily to the group about what they’re doing, the hurdles they’re dealing with, and are proud of their accomplishments.

User groups are mostly regional, but they don't have to be. There is interest in SIGs based on vertical markets like financial and pharmaceutical. The EMC User Groups page lists Documentum content management groups around the world. If there's no group in your area, there are services in place to help form groups, provide mailings, and even arrange for speakers.

Who's that lurking?

Don’t be surprised if you find some strange guy sitting quietly in the back of the room taking notes. I’ll be visiting user groups whenever I can. I’m not shy, eventually I’ll introduce myself to the group and participate in any open discussions.

As EDN Editor I’m always asking people what they like about our site, and what they feel needs improvement. When I mention this at user group meetings, people are eager to share their opinions, and this feedback is important to me. I get to sit down with people during the breaks and talk about ways to better serve the developer community, and encourage developer participation. Sometimes I even give them a sneak peek at things we’re actively working on to make the EDN better and make it easier for you to participate... to give you a voice.

I know there are lots of reasons why people don't currently participate in our developer communities. Send emails to me, dn_editor at emc.com (or add a comment at the bottom of this page) with issues that keep you from connecting with other developers. Between us all, there should be enough ideas and constructive suggestions to help lower the barriers.

I’ll get to meet many of you at our annual Developer Conference. I also look forward to attending local group meetings, it’s yet another way to stay connected… in your own backyard.

Alan Z.

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