Happy Hallowsgiving

People remember results more than a missed deadline... most of the time.

Okay so it's a little late, but the office had some left-over pumpkins we figured we'd carve anyways.

Team member Hao copied the logo design but free-styled the "Tridion" graffiti outline, relying on artistic talent that he admits doesn't transfer to graphic software (and yup we could use just a little photo-editing!).
After he cut out the letters, the rest of us orange-handed participants attempted to carve out the details. Emphasis on the "attempt."

Template Building Blocks via .NET Assembly

After getting your hands on a CMS environment, you may want to work on a Tridion Template Building Blocks (TBB) created through an ASP.NET assembly from Visual Studio. For experienced Tridion developers and consultants, move along, there's nothing new or exciting here.

I surprised a fellow coworker when I confessed never having set this up before. SDL Tridion is so flexible there are several different ways of accomplishing the same task. The answer to many Tridion questions is a strange cocktail consisting of precedence, preference, and environment. Each customer is free to focus on the parts they like, which means Tridion users may end with a very useful, but small slice of the software's capabilities (e.g. you don't need a Linux setup if you're a Windows shop or in my case, XSLT component templates provide "enough" functionality). It also makes the consultant's job that much more fun, challenging, and exciting!

Option 1

Log in to the TridionWorld forum and ask.

Option 2

Read someone else's explanation. TBBs with .NET assemblies have been covered before, along with sample code (good stuff, visvabalaji aka "String Writer"). If you get bored with your typical object-oriented languages, put on your architect hat and try them in F#. Or try them pre-made. Fellow consultants at Building Blocks even follow Joel's Rules to bake them into their SDLC with continuous integration. When you're done checking out the other posts, you can even philosophize the pros and cons of TBB and if you're still not sure which TBB is what type, you can add some visual flair to your icons.

Option 3

Hack along with your Disruptive Innovator to prepare the TcmUploadAssembly program, create a .NET class library, update code, and then update the content management system (CMS). The following assumes you have Visual Studio installed on the same environments as the CMS.

I'm New to This. Really.

Apparently I've previously shared enough about Tridion that (more than a few) of my current peers thought I was a consultant or with a firm before joining SDL.

Surprise! I didn't have the title of "consultant" until last month. Up until September, I was a 100% honest-to-goodness non-developer (at-the-time), non-partner, project manager that did business analysis and software purchases. And I worked as an employee of a Tridion customer.

If that makes your head spin, in an alternate universe I'm likely a ballroom dancer or martial artist.

I've enjoyed systems-related work that have included a mix of research, business analysis, and agile (or not-so-agile) development. I would have loved to do Tridion-related work on the side, but alas companies that buy this type of software don't have night and evening opportunities!

I was approached by a half-dozen "opportunities" from third-party recruiters--yes, it's a good market), but I had to apply (sorry, no glamorous come-work-for-us-offer) to my current job like anyone else (tip: an international call from California to SDL's HR office in Amsterdam aint cheap!).

So I'm a mix of someone who's...

• new-to-consulting, but familiar with giving advice and teaching
• new to having actual readers (hi Twitter bot and my dozen readers), but comfortable with informal, technical, and academic writing
• the "new guy" that happens to have been around since the R5.3 release

When and When Not to use "SDL" When Talking about Tridion

Consider using "SDL Tridion" or #SDLTridion when communicating about your favorite Web content management system.*

*Okay it may not be your favorite. Use "Tridion" when complaining.

My main social media approach has three elements focused on being authentic and genuine (and improving my communication skills).

• share interesting, useful, or amusing content (the quality of of which is determined by you, though I try to stick with things that I want to write about)
• be authentic, personable, open, fair, and honest-as-possible-when-dealing-with-proprietary-info (it's an interesting balancing act for sure)
• engage with others by giving/getting credit
  (one of my more popular recent posts wasn't about me, it was about the creative logo work from the Tridion PowerTools open source project.)