Dries Buytaert

Drupal 8 is the first time we introduced the concept of formal initiatives and initiative leads. Over the course of these Drupal 8 initiatives we learned a lot and people are floating several ideas to increase the initiatives' success and provide Drupal initiative leads with more support. As we grow, it is crucial that we evolve our tools, our processes, and our organizational design based on these learnings. We've done so in the past and we'll continue to do so going forward.

But let's be honest, no matter how much support we provide, leading a Drupal initiative will unquestionably remain difficult and overwhelming. As a Drupal initiative lead, you are asked to push forward some of the most difficult and important parts of Drupal.

You will only succeed if you are able to build a strong team of volunteers that is willing to be led by you. You have to learn how to inspire and motivate by articulating a vision. You establish credibility by setting clear objectives and roadmaps in partnership with others. You have to motivate, guide and empower people to participate. You have to plan and over-communicate.

Not only do you have to worry about building and leading a team, you also have to make sure the rest of the community has shared goals and that everyone impacted has a shared understanding of why those decisions are being made. You use data, ideas and feedback from different sources to inform and convince people of your direction. Your "soft skills" are more important than your "hard skills". Regardless, you will lose many battles. You only "win" when you remain open to feedback and value change and collaboration. To lead a community, you need both a thick skin and a big heart.

Success is never a coincidence. You put in long hours to try and keep your initiative on track. You need relentless focus on doing whatever is necessary to succeed; to be the person who fills all the gaps and helps others to be successful. Instead of just doing the things you love doing most, you find yourself doing mundane tasks like updating spreadsheets or planning a code sprint to help others be successful. In fact, you might need to raise money for your code sprint. And if you succeed, you still don't have enough money to achieve what is possible and you feel the need to raise even more. You'll be brushing aside or knocking down obstacles in your path, and taking on jobs and responsibilities you have never experienced before.

Your objectives will constantly shift as Drupal itself iterates and evolves. You will want to go faster and you will struggle with the community processes. Imagine working on something for a month and then having to throw it out completely because you realize it doesn't pass. Frustration levels will be off the charts. Your overall goal of achieving the perfect implementation might never be achieved and that feeling haunts you for weeks or months. You will feel the need to vent publicly, and you probably will. At the worst moments, you'll think about stepping down. In better times, you realize that if most of your initiative succeeds it could take years of follow-up work. You will learn a lot about yourself; you learn that you are bad at many things and really good at other things.

Leading is incredibly hard and yet, it will be one of the best thing you ever did. You work with some of the finest, brightest, and most passionate people in the world. You will see tangible results of your hard work and you will impact and help hundreds of thousands of people for the next decade. There is no better feeling than when you inspire or when you help others succeed. Leading is hard, but many of you will look back at your time and say this was the most gratifying thing you ever did. You will be incredibly proud of yourself, and the community will be incredibly proud of you. You will become a better leader, and that will serve you for the rest of your life.