This PowerUp blog post was written by Laura Ubelhor, who owns and operates Consultech Services, Inc., a Rochester, Mich.-based consulting company established in 1992. Laura has extensive hands-on experience specializing in IBM i application technologies and working with a long list of clients in a variety of businesses.
When pondering how to encourage and help local i colleagues enhance and broaden skills and how to enthuse local i colleagues to participate in user group activities, the thought came to mind to use a hands-on activity to provide LUG members an opportunity to learn new and current skills. It was an idea that I knew would require time commitment and funding to put into action. I was pleased to see a grant offered by the Maxava iFoundation and filled out the application. My local user group, SEMIUG, received the grant and the plan was put into action.
The objectives included providing a means for LUG members to learn new skills through a hands-on experience, working on a live project, to encourage LUG organizations to use new technology and to drum up enthusiasm to participate within LUG activities. The starting point was aligning a box to complete the hands-on activity. Fortunately Larry Bolhuis (iDevcloud) was kind enough to provide a reduced rate. I decided to use a PHP project–knowing it is a current and hot technology, the cost would be minimal and it’s a skill that I am comfortable with.
The plan was to use a LUG member organization project for the learning experience and to enlist local user group members as participants. Once the concept of having a project coded for free was understood it was not difficult to find organizations willing to provide a project for the activity. The only requirement for an organization or individual to participate was they had to be a current LUG member.
It was easy to round up a group of 20 participants with varying degrees of skills and exposure to Web development. We split into teams, not to compete but to allow all participants an opportunity to roll up their sleeves and actively work on the project. The chosen project was quite robust including add, change, delete, inquiry, internal user application, external user application, email notification with attachments, creation of PDF and excel documents, call to an RPG program, and security requirements. Detail specifications were provided for the project.
The first meeting kicked off with an overview of PHP and a review of the project plan. Participants were given homework to start the learning process. It was interesting to see how each team took a different approach to creating applications, how quickly teams were able to begin coding and also to see how the teams bonded during the learning process. Participants had varying skills and did a great job working with and helping each throughout the activity. The meetings/sessions were completed with participants joining in remotely using GoToMeeting. We had on-site interaction before and after regularly scheduled user group meetings. Most participants were from SEMIUG and a couple from WMSUG. The activity was completed over a three-month period. We used Zend studio for coding and everyone was set up with the capability to sign on to the box remotely. Part of the project requirement was to code and test the applications and also to create user documentation.
At the end of the set timeline we scheduled a big reveal. The activity was a fun gathering held as a regularly scheduled user group meeting. Zend's Mike Pavlak was onsite for the big reveal of the completed projects. Each team showed its completed applications followed by a panel critique of the finished projects. Zend provided support throughout the project and also furnished prizes for meeting attendees and project participants including t-shirts, pins and copies of Kevin Schroeder’s book “You Want to do What with PHP?” After the finished applications were reviewed closely, a project was chosen and feedback was provided. Based on the system users’ feedback, all participants pitched in and did a final round of enhancements on the chosen application.
The outcome of the activity was beyond what we set out to accomplish. Forming teams and completing a project from start to finish also included developing and using project management and team interaction skills. Participants walked away with new skills. Several participants have already put their new skills into action, a member organization has a PHP application running in production (a new technology for their environment), and user group attendance and enthusiasm took a boost.
It was exciting to see how much effort participants put into the activity encouraged by their desire to learn new skills. I would like to see the hands-on LUG activity grow to include other user groups and provide an opportunity for more LUG members to learn/expand skills. Discussion and plans are already in motion to expand the activity to include other user groups. We are hoping to have another activity later this year. The first round proved the idea works with participants joining in remotely. The long-term success of the activity is dependent upon resource and funding. By including other user groups it is more likely the hands-on LUG activity will continue and will reach more i colleagues. We likely will do more PHP activities, but it is also a great fit for the development of other skills, such as RPG Free, ILE, SQL, WebQuery, iSeries Access for Web, RDp, RPG Open Access, mobile applications, etc. What are your thoughts on hands-on LUG activity?
Kudos to you and your teams! What a wonderfully successful idea. The big reveal must have been fabulous. I wonder if you can post screen shots of the project and some highlights into its functionality? It sounds like you created quite a robust application. Again - congrats on this success!
Posted by: Jeb Bouchard | July 12, 2012 at 06:14 AM
Jeb. The big reveal was a lot of fun. We had a great turn out and a lot of excitement for the activity. Everyone enjoyed seeing the completed projects and participants appreciated the feedback. Mike, Alan, Kevin and Mark made the activity fun with panel critiques of the finished applications. I'm not sure that I can post screen shots but will ask if it is possible to do so. The project was an application used to track parts sent for outside plating. The plating requirements were generated and formatted using backend RPG programs. Email notification was used to make outside plating vendors aware that parts were on the way - sort of like an ASN. The emails included excel and/or PDF file attachments. The application included admin functions used to set up users and provide security access based upon what type of a user. The application also included functionality to allow internal users to update records before being sent to vendors and also included history of modifications.
Wheels are already turning to plan the next hands on activity. We have plans for a Web Query project this fall and also hope to have another PHP project this year. This activity will include SEMIUG members and also will include members from some other user groups.
We look forward to more hands on activities working with live projects. It is a great learning experience for participants and also has resulted in a member organization now using PHP and enthusiasm within our local user group.
The activity wasn't intended as a competition but did seem to enthuse participants to dig in, learn and do a great job. The organization had a hard time choosing as all of the applications met the requirements. Up front specifications was key to this happening. Ironically the application chosen was based upon appearance. The final decision after end user and management review was based upon the professional look of the chosen application. Ironically the look was achieved using an HTML template. At the end of it all the participants enjoyed the activity and learned some great new skills.
It is ever so important for IBM i colleagues to learn new skills. The hands on activity has proved to be a great way to do so and we look forward to including other groups and hopefully many more hands on LUG activities in the future. Including other groups should help to accomplish the goals by providing additional resource to organize and manage the activities.
Posted by: Laura | July 17, 2012 at 08:56 PM