WordCamp US was amazing. I connected with many old friends, quite a few new friends, and friends that I only know online. I also spent time with my team at Motivation Code. It was all I had hoped. But not without some unexpected surprises.
Foundations
I came home to an appointment with a foundation inspector. If you’re not from the DFW area, you probably don’t get foundation inspections often. Unfortunately, the thick, clay soil in DFW doesn’t treat foundations well. My house is 17 years old, and it’s past time for foundation adjustment.
I’ve known this and I’ve been living with a low-level stress for too long. Two years ago, I had a foundation inspection and they said that I had a drainage issue, nothing wrong with the foundation. I fixed the drainage issue with better downspouts.
I still felt uneasy about the foundation. My gut was telling me something was wrong. I’ve been waiting for this appointment for a while. I spent a good deal of the evening last night reviewing the inspection and the proposed plan with a trusted advisor.
This was all happening as a firestorm of blog posts and tweets were flying about Matt Mullenweg’s blog post, keynote, and subsequent conversations online about WP Engine. I had numerous thoughts about the entire thing, but not really working in WordPress® anymore, I figured I would keep my voice out of it.
After all, I have a foundation to fix.
Funny about that. This morning I realized how related these things are.
WordPress® is a Foundation
No two houses in DFW are exactly alike, but they all have cement foundations. It’s kind of like WordPress® in a way. No two WP sites are exactly alike either, but there is a foundation of WordPress® that makes all of these creative implementations work brilliantly.
Many people trust their digital homes and livelihoods to WordPress®. It’s not just behemoth corporations backed by venture capital who make their small fortunes. We’ve all chosen WP for various reasons, but primarily, we choose it because we trust it as a foundation on which to build our dreams.
We trust the foundational software of core, we trust the plugins and themes that empower us to do more, and we trust the people who make all of that possible.
When things shift in that underlying trust, it shakes the foundations of more than a flagship WordCamp. It shakes our trust in everything about our digital homes, our livelihoods, and our future.
It’s not fun to wake up in the morning bleary eyed to new cracks where there weren’t cracks before, or old cracks getting larger. That goes for homes as well as digital foundations.
When other organizations, large or small, find success with WordPress®, it gives us a sense of trust. When leadership exhibits optimism and a clear vision and mission for the future, it gives us a sense of trust. When leadership exhibits distrust, blame, and fear-based thinking, it shakes foundations of trust.
Ultimately, WordPress® is more than software. It’s about the people. Not the person. But the people. But when one person is at the helm of an organization, it behooves that person to put the people and the trust bestowed in the software first.
Governance
I’m not a huge fan of decisions by committee. It was one of the reasons I left tech the first time. But I don’t think governance has to be a blocker by committee.
Governance happens now, it’s just that there is a benevolent dictator doing the governance instead of operating on a system of checks and balances.
Leadership matters where foundations of trust are critical. If WordPress® is to grow into the future and remain the best choice for establishing digital homes on the web, then the foundation has to be strong. Trust has to be earned, respected, cultivated and honored.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be preparing the house for what will be a scary (to me) and critical adjustment to the foundation. I’m looking forward to closing the door on constant worry and crack inspection with a renewed sense of trust in the foundation of my real home.
WordPress® has a foundational issue that requires similar adjustment. That process could be similarly scary, but if we’re to re-establish trust where it has been broken, we need to do the hard work of creating leadership that respects the trust we’ve placed in the foundation. The people who entrust their digital homes on the web to WordPress need and deserve that.
Edit for clarity: I am not defending WP Engine. I am not taking sides. I simply think that there has to be a better way than going to war at a WordCamp.
