As the country gets set for the coldest end of the winter in five years, the sun is still shining today in Brighton. The Arctic blast, or “the beast from the east”, is set to plunge temperatures below zero. But here at Pragmatic, we are warm and fuzzy, because today it’s PragLabs day! our monthly opportunity for everyone to pop client work on hold and get stuck into projects of their choice.
We’ve been running PragLabs for a few months now, but today feels like we are starting to see the fruits of our experiment. Projects are starting to take shape, some folks are flying solo, but many have formed collaboration groups. One of the most interesting aspects of PragLabs is how the groups form naturally, under normal circumstances agency project groups are planned around suitable knowledge and experience, taking into account talent and availability of course. But today, curiosity and genuine personal interest is the gravity that is pulling people together. Even those going it alone, are still sharing their ideas and getting input from colleagues. Community is one of the most powerful influences in the success of digital projects, and PragLabs is our nod to that spirit.
As I wander around the building, it’s clear everyone is enjoying themselves, most people just want to share their ideas and get feedback. So, with dozens of potential ‘world-changing’ ideas happening all at once it’s hard to decide what to publish.
Here’s an insight into just some of the great things going on today, straight from the innovators themselves…
Adam – Senior Developer
‘I’m using today as an opportunity to experiment with the Electron framework (https://electronjs.org/), which is a Javascript framework for creating cross-platform desktop applications. I’m going to have a go at creating a simple app idea like a crowdsourced FAQ system, to learn the ins-and-outs of Electron a bit more and hopefully soon we’ll be able to use it to build more desktop app use-cases.’
Rich – Creative Director
‘We’ve got the design team together to review and audit our UI and UX collateral, the aim is to align in a single style and location, so internal or external teams can design with confidence and consistency. The UI is only the start, I see this as a living document that will grow to include all of Pragmatic’s branding, visual assets, even code. The end goal is to save time, reduce debates, increase collaboration and adoption.’
Simon (Me) – Marketing Director
Apart from writing this post, I’m working with one of our Senior Devs, Phil, on a plugin to facilitate entering and voting for awards on WP sites. When I say I’m working on it, Phil is pretty much doing most of it. The plugin is part of a project called the IWP (International WordPress) Awards.
Laura – Marketing Manager
‘The Pragmatic team have been involved with organising WordCamp Brighton since its inception 3 years ago, and I’m really excited to be Lead Organiser for 2018’s event.
Organising this year’s conference has really only just started, but there’s a lot to be done! A venue has been secured, and the budget signed off by WordCamp Central, so the next step is to launch the website. I’ve used my PragLabs day to start writing the copy for the key pages we’ll be launching the site with.
Keep an eye out for further updates, and make sure you’ve got the 17th – 19th August reserved for the event. It’s going to be a good’un!’
Each month we’ll post updates on how we are getting on, plus intros to a few more projects. So as the day comes to a close, and the temperature drops, we’re all off to PragBar (thats another story!).
Photo by thomas henke on Unsplash