Cooperation and Collaboration--can it happen between shops?

One of the challenges faced by different Drupal houses is overlap of efforts. For any given client, there may be several solutions for the same problem that has faced other developers. Similar solutions come up again and and again--meaning there is a waste of time and a waste of code. Often code that goes into a client project, it dies in a client project. If code is contributable back to the community, share it. It belongs in Drupal CVS.

Our first actionable step is to figure out where we overlap. A great example can be seen in both imaging handling and feed aggregation. Why have we, as community, hit the same issues over and over. Often, a house is facing performance issues and develop a solution that works for a given client. The first step is identifying these issues. Then we can tackle them as a community.

When tackling a new project, it is essential to do your research first and figure out what is already there. If you are creating a custom solution, find a way to blog more and blog better about where your efforts lie. Feel good about contacting someone you don't know who has written about similar situations you are facing. Participate in the community--it will pay back the time in dividends.

When developing for a client, encourage your client to buy into contributing back to the community. Try and get clients to fund good development, because it too will pay back in dividends for both the client and the shop.

There was the idea that different shops are not competitors, but collaborators and that the competition lies outside of the Drupal community. We need to foster those partnerships within the Drupal Sphere.