Sprinting in Sorrento

This year I helped organize the annual sprint in Sorrento called the Plone Open Garden. Plone is a highly secure and feature rich open source content management system written in Python. Plone has no single company behind it, its IP is held by a non-profit foundation. Progress on the software happens through the efforts of a self-directed community, whose members sponsor sprints to work on particular problems.

PLOG took place April 12-19 and it was a great success, attended by 18 people from 7 countries. There were two training classes:

• Porting Plone sites and add-ons to Python 3
• Creating a web application using the restapi and Volto, the new React front end for Plone

We also accomplished a lot of work:

• Python 3 ports of over a dozen Plone add-ons
• Accessibility improvements for classic Plone and Volto front ends
• New Volto features and documentation
• Marketing discussions
• Documentation discussions
• …and various other Plone improvements

I posted a news item on plone.org that describes the details of what we accomplished. But Plone sprints have a social side as well as a technical side. Friendships are renewed, meals and news are shared, and a good time is had by all. This year’s PLOG was true to form. Here are some of the things we enjoyed.

1) Breakfasts at the Hotel Mediterraneo, the sprint venue since 2007. Pictured below is the pastry table; there are also tables for cheeses, meats, fruits, breads, cereals, eggs, and more. You can squeeze your own orange juice and optionally add some Prosecco.

Dinners, also included, are a wonderful way to end a day of sprinting. First and second course, plus dessert.

2) Happy hour at the Mediterraneo. We book the rooftop for happy hour at least once during the sprint, where we enjoy the sunset over Capri (pictured at the top of this post) and the extensive cocktail menu. That’s a Black Mohito at the top and a Negroni at the bottom.

 

3) Excursions. One day we walked to Sorrento’s old harbor and had lunch with a view of Mount Vesuvius.

4) Being with old friends and meeting new ones. Always the best part.