Richard Jones of iKos gave a presentation on simplifying and streamlining the development of Drupal sites. His team observed that they were creating the same basic sites over and over again. To this end, rather than starting from scratch each and every time, the team created basic sites to start from and rapidly built out the basic site for a client in several weeks. This allows the client to start entering data early in the process - which means come theming time, you are working against real client data. This is a plus when you are trying to achieve the results your client is seeking. In the iKos model, design comes last and is somewhat subject to the functionality that has been developed.

iKos set the the goal to reduce Drupal development time by 80% - to radically reduced the repeated effort that the company engaged project after project. They created a model of a site "startpoint" that begins each new client effort.

Many thanks to everyone who made Drupalcon CPH happen. The final session is a suitable (if silly) ending to what was a very productive week for me. Lots of meetings, reconnecting with old friends, and sessions.

The greatest silliness and fun in the session were the Kitten Killers - you can see just that piece of the presentation here (again and again and again).

If you just want to see the final session from beginning to end - I've posted the entire session below. The second to last is the Kitten Killers.

Some loved it. Some hated the sex-tape comments. Some were not sure what to make of the Tupperware analogy. All this caused a kerfuffle on Twitter, but the keynote was interesting as ever.

I was amazed by the varied tweets that came across the twitterverse that included:

"I always love the Driesnote. @Dries is a fantastic speaker. #drupalcon"

"It was good that @dries mentioned the need for more women in Drupal but unfortunate he linked it to welcoming non-engineers. #drupalcon"

Con Growth
I've been to quite a few Drupalcons. My first was Barcelona which had around 450 registrants or about 15% of the attendees in San Francisco. This Drupalcon was marked by training prior to the main event, providing 100's of people with the nuts and bolts of working in Drupal. This kind of training is essential in continuing to grow our ecosystem. I'm grateful to all those that provided these opportunities and hope they were profitable.

Ecosystem
Our ecosystem is growing at a tremendous rate. With 3000 participants this time around, ranging from clients to practitioners to hobbiests, it has become more difficult to connect with old colleagues and friends. That said, I found myself talking with all sorts of new individuals. I didn't go to many of the large after hours parties - they have just gotten too big for me to feel like I can spend time with those I want to chat with. That didn't stop me from having many pleasant evenings with friends, both old and new. It does mean that you have to work a little harder to make connections but I think it is well worth the effort.

Sessions
Other obligations kept me away from quite a few of the sessions I wanted to attend. The quality of the ones I did attend was varied - but that is the same at all conferences. I'd say that there more good than bad, but also - like many other conferences - I found one of the BOFs I attended that most valuable session of all. Word of advice, seek out subjects you find interesting or start a conversation yourself. It is sometimes pretty amazing where those conversations will lead. I attended one on Project Management that was interesting and validating.

Videos from Tim O'Reilly's keynote speech at Drupalcon SF 2010.