A subject to exchange: Andrei Solntsev at TEDxLasnamae 2014
## Speaker Context
- Role: Unspecified speaker giving a talk/presentation.
- Setting: Presentation/Talk setting, likely related to community building or professional development.
- Framing: The speaker frames the problem as the lack of opportunity for informal discussion of professional issues outside of immediate work pressures.
## People
- Nadin: Addressee who noticed the problem discussed.
- Vova: Colleague mentioned in the context of serving 10 years at work.
## Organizations
- Devclub: A club for developers/IT specialists, described as a community of IT specialists.
## Places
- Qatar: Location mentioned in relation to a picture used as an example.
- St. Petersburg: Location where an attempt to create a dev club failed due to a long break.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- Internet: Source of a huge amount of information and opinions, which often contradict each other.
- Laptop: Used by a person who took a nap during a conference.
- DevClub: An informal association of professionals, sometimes associated with a physical "hall."
## Concepts & Definitions
- Devclub: A community of IT specialists.
- Negative experience: Subject to exchange, which the speaker argues is what needs to be exchanged, rather than just "how to do it right."
- Moderation: Finding a balance in an event, preventing the discussion from becoming too boring or too much.
## Numbers & Data
- 10 years: Period of service at work for Vova.
- 80, 90, 100 people: Approximate size of an IT get-together the speaker has attended.
- Five years: Duration the speaker's group has been gathering.
- 5 most important things: Number of things the speaker formulated regarding creating a devclub.
- Eight programmers: Initial number of programmers who formed the devclub.
- 15: Second number of attendees for the devclub.
- 25: Next number of attendees for the devclub.
- 63: Number of people who attended later for the devclub.
- 100-seat hall: Size of a hall mentioned in the context of trying to create an Estonian devclub.
- One year: Time frame for the speaker's request to be invited back to a club.
## Claims & Theses
- The risks are wrong because people really lack the opportunity to talk about work topics in an informal setting.
- A programmer should sit down, relax, take a break from current affairs and think if I am doing everything right.
- Usually, there's no time for this at work because there's a rush, stress, and so on, pressure.
- The biggest problem is that people working in the same company still think within some framework.
- The Internet is both a strength and a weakness because the information often contradicts each other.
- The most valuable experience is negative experience.
- A person learns much better not when they are told how to do it right, but when they are told how to do it wrong.
- Bridges are separate conferences for programmers, separate conferences for testers, separate ones for managers.
- The most important and most valuable thing could be when a programmer talks about testing.
- People need informal communication on professional topics.
- In the dev club, people talk about personal experience, not about how it is right.
- Falling is also very useful and can be exchanged.
- The most important rule for creating a devclub is to start small.
- Regularity is key (or "regularity is your typical mistake" if neglected).
- People love events for the tradition.
- The most difficult thing is finding your balance in moderation.
- The speaker values any experience, and any person's personal experience is valued.
- Informal communication on professional topics allows for accumulating a large circle of people and statistical data that cannot be gotten anywhere else.
- The speaker thinks that for people to understand each other (like different tech disciplines or nationalities), it is necessary to create conditions for them to talk.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- Programmers should sit down, relax, take a break from current affairs and think (process for self-improvement).
- The development of thinking gradually develops more or less within the same framework (groupthink mechanism).
- The process of communication for developers in the devclub involves friendly laughter and sharing personal attempts/failures.
- The process of building a devclub involves starting small (e.g., 8 programmers in a bar) and allowing it to grow organically.
- The mechanism for learning described is better understanding from showing incorrect methods (showing incorrect chords/harmful advice).
- The process of maintaining a devclub includes creating traditions (e.g., end-of-year meeting, awarding prizes).
- The mechanism for knowledge transfer in the devclub is the open exchange of personal, working experiences.
## Timeline & Events
- One month ago: Time frame of the last conference the speaker attended.
- Over five years: Period that the speaker's group has been gathering.
- The last December DevClub meeting: Annual event where results are summed up and speakers are awarded.
## Examples & Cases
- A programmer needing to sit down, relax, and think if everything is right (Work Example).
- A family doctor sitting down, relaxing, and thinking about long wait times in lines (Work Example).
- A photo from the last conference: Showing someone taking a nap on a laptop (Conference Example).
- A reporter launching a program, showing bytes, speed differences, and loading issues (Qatar example).
- The devclub starting with 8 programmers meeting at a bar in Kolya (Devclub Start Example).
- The devclub growing to 15, then 25, then requiring a hall (Devclub Growth Example).
- Trying to create an Estonian devclub: Starting too large (100-seat hall) and suffering from low attendance (30 people).
- A programmer talking for an hour and a half about their favorite language, causing people to fall asleep (Boring Talk Example).
- A programmer from Java spending 40 minutes discussing compilation, followed by another person who spent life in C++ needing simple help (Different Disciplines Example).
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- Discussing work issues via: Informal setting (preferred) vs. Internet/Books/Documentation/Conferences (alternative methods).
- For learning, trade-off between: Being told how to do it right vs. Being shown how to do it wrong.
- For organizing an event, trade-off between: Having a structured, expert presentation (e.g., chief architect talking for two hours) vs. A simple personal account of failure/success.
- For event planning: Being grand/big vs. Starting small.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The Internet has a huge amount of information, but this is its strength *and* its weakness because it often contradicts each other.
- Conferences are often paid for by the employer, meaning they aren't always those wanting to learn something new.
- The speaker notes that a company might send someone to a conference as a reward for service time (e.g., 10 years).
- The speaker notes that the best people who *could* speak on a topic (like programming to testing) are separated into different conferences.
## Methodology
- Using personal observation/experience ("as far as I've noticed," "I have experience").
- Drawing on statistical data accumulated in a Google group.
- Suggesting the creation of specialized clubs (e.g., accountants' club, teachers' club, lawyers' club).
## References Cited
- A photo from the last conference the speaker attended (literally a month ago).
- The concept of "A code club": Formally defined as a community of IT specialists.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The speaker recommends creating a local, informal gathering space/club for professional topics.
- The speaker gives five tips for creating a club: 1. Start small; 2. Be regular; 3. Don't skip; 4. Maintain traditions; 5. Find the balance in moderation.
- The speaker explicitly invites the audience to create such a club and invite him to speak there in a year.
## Implications & Consequences
- If people rely only on formal learning (conferences, official documentation), they might miss valuable insights from personal failure/experience.
- If communication remains segregated (e.g., programmers only talking to programmers), they fail to build necessary bridges between different professional fields.
- If a club lacks regularity, the community interest will fade (example: St. Petersburg).
## Open Questions
- What is the best way to achieve balance and moderation in a club setting?
- What specific roles will be played in the suggested professional clubs (accountants', teachers', lawyers')?
## Verbatim Moments
- "guys, stop today, just not at work" (The cherished phrase that triggers the issue).
- "I generally have a theory that a person learns much better not when they are told how to do it right, but when they are told how to do it wrong."
- "Negative experience is subject to exchange."
- "It's important to start small."
- "The most important rule is to start small."
- "People love them not for valuable knowledge, not for megabytes of useful information, they love them for this tradition and the most difficult part..."
- "We need to somehow not give him that, that is, but a balance."
- "fell, it hurt, it didn’t work out, got bruises, come share it with everyone, fell, did push-ups, well done, come share too."