A presentation at WordCamp Europe 2014 in in Sofia, Bulgaria by Andrey Savchenko
The Craft of Answering WordPress Questions
2 Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko ♦ WPSE ( s.tk/wp ) • family’s tech slave In the past • support infrastructure lead • “anykeyer”
not for sale
4 Taught me research & programming 1. Ultima Online 2. Answering questions Formal education never clicked.
5 Answering illuminates topic • breadth ( you are doing what? ) • depth ( look at what it can do! ) • trends ( enough of that, go away. )
scale
7 Things important for scale • workflow • environment Or your sanity won’t last.
8 Question comprehension 1. I did… 2. I expected… 3. I got…
kinds of answers
10 Nudge • short • precise • for pros • never just a link
11 Code • impressive • hard to read • eager to go viral ( worst of it is ) • result divided by effort
12 Answer • correction ( do / expect / get ) • educated guess • well–referenced
13 Legend • major experience ( 1–2 years ) • major effort ( 4–6 hours ) • whatever it takes
“it’s really good”
streamline
16 Boilerplate • personal • verbose • polite
17 “ Sometimes I start to type “what the f∗∗∗?” and it comes out “could you please elaborate?”.
18 Hotkeys • mouse is slow • find the hot spots • as much as makes sense
20 md-link.js javascript:(function () { var selection = window.getSelection().toString(); var anchor = selection ? selection : document.title; void(prompt('', ''+anchor+'')); })(); gist.github.com/5700850
but environment
22 People • who have your back
23 Step away when not your • depth • patience • happy place
24 Supply of questions • hard are for discovery • easy are for mastery • both are necessary
understanding
26 Thank you for listening! Questions? ;) • @Rarst • The Loop ( s.tk/chat ) Rarst.net/slides/answering
27 Image credits • “1971 Concrete Bridge” by John Lloyd CC–BY • WordPress.TV: Andrew Nacin “WP_Query” • xkcd: Is It Worth The Time? CC–BY–NC
At what point answering questions about WordPress goes beyond the making conversation and becomes a driver for professional skills and reputation?
Our proficiency at answering questions spans over our work, our ability to learn, and how we are perceived in community. Yet we are rarely purposeful in learning how to benefit from this skill and improve at it.
We can do better than that — to evolve professionally and personally. Let’s talk about how.
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