I got the chance to catch up with Alan Burke at DrupalCon Prague. He and I go back a long way; we met at one of the first Drupal events I ever attended, DrupalCon Brussels in 2006. In the meantime Alan and his co-founder Stella Power have built up the successful Drupal agency Annertech in Ireland and they have an impressive list of contributions to Drupal to their names. Here, we speak about Drupal's technical history over the last 8 years and the exciting improvements coming in Drupal 8, the business climate for Drupal in recession-plagued Ireland, and the Drupal community's culture of teaching, learning, and sharing.

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/114-drupal-history-learning-business-d8-meet-alan-burke

Dan Callahan is part of the Identity Team at Mozilla who are trying to solve some of the problems of privacy and security on the Internet that have been hitting the headlines recently. Dan works on the Mozilla Persona project, a system to both replace passwords with verified identities and put that verification under user control, rather than the control of large corporate entities.

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/113-meet-dan-callahan-mozilla-persona

Part 2 - In this podcast, Yves Chedemois, aka yched, and I cover some changes to Drupal 8 core – CMI, the plugin system, and how they (and object oriented code) benefit developers.

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/112-meet-yves-chedemois-22-drupal-8-cmi-plugins-oo

In part one of my conversation with Yves Chedemois, we talk about his time working on Drupal, being part of the Drupal community (and the "Hey!" moment), Drupal development sustainability, and how the Drupal community stepped up to help him when he needed it recently.

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/111-meet-yves-chedemois-11-drupal-community-funding

Part 2: I spoke with the Top Shelf Modules team – Susan Rust, Ryan Cross, Rik de Boer, and Karl Scheirer – on November 4, 2013. In part two, we go into more depth about TSM's mission and discuss the sustainability (or otherwise) of Drupal's volunteer-based development model and the various efforts and experiments underway to change, improve, or "fix" it, some more pragmatic – like TSM and drupalfund.us, some more idealistic, like Gittip sponsorships and similar.

Read the full post and see the conversation video at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/110-meet-top-shelf-modules-22-volunteering-sustainability-dries-day

Part 1: I spoke with the Top Shelf Modules team – Susan Rust, Ryan Cross, Rik de Boer, and Karl Scheirer – on November 4, 2013. In part one, we go over the concept behind TSM, the quality and challenges in the Drupal contrib. module space, Drupal 8 and why it is time to upgrade your modules now (!). In part two, we go into more depth about TSM's mission and discuss the sustainability (or otherwise) of Drupal's volunteer-based development model and the various efforts and experiments underway to change, improve, or "fix" it.

Read the full post and see the conversation video at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/109-meet-top-shelf-modules-12-drupal-contributed-module-quality

In this podcast, I have a chat about Drupal with Josh Waihi, Enterprise Architect for Catalyst IT, and also find out why you should attend Drupal South in Wellington, New Zealand in February 2014 if you possibly can (Submit your session proposals now!)

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/108-come-drupal-south-2014-meet-josh-waihi

I spoke with Thijs Feryn, Technical Evangelist at Combell, at the Portland Convention Center while DrupalCon and Symfony Live were both happening there in May 2013. This conversation gives some background and context to Thijs's Acquia.com guest blog post, "Why PHP is for Real".

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/107-why-php-real-meet-thijs-feryn

Part 4 of 4 – On October 4/5, 2013 (depending on your time zone), I hosted a live Hangout on Air with three major Drupal core contributors: Lee Rowlands (larowlan), Tim Plunket (tim.plunkett / @timplunkett), and Daniel Wehner (dawehner / @da_wehner). We talked about what's going on in Drupal 8 and how you will benefit from all the new stuff. This post is the last of four that cover the details of that conversation.

Read the full post and see the conversation video at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/106-drupal-8-wont-kill-your-kittens-44-module-upgrades-and-more

iKOS is a digital agency specialising in eCommerce and Drupal. I caught up with Myles Davidson, Managing Director and Richard Jones, Technical Director, at DrupalCon Prague where they had been busy getting up to speed on developments in Drupal 8.

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/105-give-receive-drupal-and-digital-agency-meet-ikos

Part 3 of 4 – On October 4/5, 2013 (depending on your time zone), I hosted a live Hangout on Air with three major Drupal core contributors: Lee Rowlands (larowlan), Tim Plunket (tim.plunkett / @timplunkett), and Daniel Wehner (dawehner / @da_wehner). We talked about what's going on in Drupal 8 and how you will benefit from all the new stuff. This post is the third of four that cover the details of that conversation.

Read the full post and see the conversation video at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/104-drupal-8-wont-kill-your-kittens-34-why-fear

Part 2 of 4 of the "Drupal 8 won't kill your kittens" live Hangout on Air with Lee Rowlands, Tim Plunkett, and Daniel Wehner. Here, we discuss the incredible improvements that have gone into Drupal 8's entity and plugin systems and how you will benefit from these as a developer.

Read the full post and see the conversation video at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/103-d8-wont-kill-your-kittens-24-drupal-8-wins-unified-entities-n-plugins

On October 4/5, 2013 (depending on your time zone), I hosted a live Hangout on Air with three major Drupal core contributors: Lee Rowlands (larowlan), Tim Plunket (tim.plunkett / @timplunkett), and Daniel Wehner (dawehner / @da_wehner). We talked about what's going on in Drupal 8 and how you will benefit from all the new stuff. This post is the first of four that cover the details of that conversation.

Read the full post and see the conversation video at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/102-drupal-8-wont-kill-your-kittens-14

Inside Acquia, the Client Advisory Team is something special. These are the people who are on the front lines of helping others succeed with Drupal 24 hours a day. They go way out of their way for anyone who needs help and for other members of the team. In July, I spoke with five Acquia Client Advisors about their work and their team.

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/101-supporta-meet-acquia-client-advisory-team

While the Acquia Podcast is busy at DrupalCon Prague, here's a flashback to DrupalCon Portland. I went around the exhibitors' area and through the halls of the Oregon Convention Center asking two vital questions to our community: What is your favorite thing about Drupal? Why should other people come to DrupalCon?

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/87-best-things-about-drupal-drupalcon-portland-rebroadcast

I spoke with two members of the Bay Area Drupal Camp (BADCamp) 2013 organising team, Anne Stefanyk and David Hwang.

Read the full post and see the conversation video at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/100-low-cost-high-value-come-badcamp

I ran into PHP consultant, Lorna Jane Mitchell at DrupalCon/Symfony Live Portland this May. She and I had a great talk about PHP for building secure, modular, high availability applications in the enterprise; where newer versions of PHP (5.3, 5.4, 5.5 ...) are headed; and the business value inherent in open source software. This conversation was the seed for Lorna's Acquia.com guest blog post, "The Future of PHP is ... Here Already", which compliments this podcast perfectly!

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/99-php-taking-care-business-meet-lorna-jane-mitchell

I spoke with Kevin Miller, lead web developer at Cal State Monterey Bay. He's been working with Drupal for more than six years and is making great contributions, especially in the area of accessibility.

Read the full post and see the conversation video at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/98-accessibility-testing-tools-and-quail-meet-kevin-miller

I recently spoke with the Managing Director of Deeson Online, Tim Deeson about how choosing and using Drupal has given his agency the tools it needs to provide great, large scale digital experiences for large, multinational organizations.

The sound quality is not the best at some points during this recording. I am still figuring out how best to produce these "video podcasts"; apologies in advance. The things that Tim has to say are very much worth your while, nonetheless! I've included extensive excerpts in the notes below, too.

Read the full post and see the conversation video at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/97-drupal-digital-agency-meet-tim-deeson

I had the tables turned on me at DrupalCon Portland and got interviewed by Ray Saltini from Blink Reaction. He asked me some great questions about Drupal, and especially why you should come to Drupal community events like DrupalCon.

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/96-why-should-i-go-drupalcon-benefits-being-there-person

Acquia Cloud Engineer, Tim Hilliard, and I sat down at Acquia headquarters this spring to talk about ... what else? Drupal and helping people succeed with it.

I find Tim's job interesting. He is part of the client advisory team at Acquia, but isn't specialized in front-line client support. He describes his role as part of the onboarding team for the Acquia Cloud platform, as "support enablement," ... "Enabling Support to do a really stellar job is one of the things that I really love and I focus on."

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/95-support-enablement-through-automation-meet-tim-hilliard

Kevin Hankens, Acquia Engineer, discovered Drupal 5 when he was looking to build a highly personalized eCommerce visitor experience for his then-employer's website. I was fascinated to hear an origin story of the very beginnings of the sorts of digital experiences everyone is talking about today* (see below), 6 years later.

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/94-drupal-digital-experiences-and-best-module-ever-meet-kevin-hankens

In our first "video podcast", I recently spoke with prominent PHP developer Michelangelo van Dam (aka @DragonBe) about PHP, its history, current trends toward convergence and compatibility, use in the enterprise, and where Drupal fits in the picture. This conversation is a follow-up to Michelangelo's guest blogpost on Acquia.com: "The power of PHP: The Swiss Army Knife of Digital".

Read the full post and see the conversation video at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/93-power-php-meet-michelangelo-van-dam

Jeff Beeman, Acquia Professional Services consultant, talks about how far Drupal has come in the last 8 years, what it's like to be on a team of people specialised in joining other teams, and the satisfaction of making Drupal really sing when it counts.

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/92-meet-jeff-beeman-embedded-drupal-consultant

This is the second part of a two-part conversation with Acquia's Chief Marketing Officer Tom Wentworth. In it we discuss Tom's understanding of data-driven marketing, the rise of the "Chief Digital Officer", and choosing a future friendly digital platform for your business.

Read the full post at the Acquia Developer Center: https://dev.acquia.com/podcast/digital-marketing-embrace-change-or-play-russian-roulette