Learning to Share - a Hands-On Approach of Inter-Agency Know-How Exchange Based on Reciprocal Internships

Kasper Skaarhoj, the creator and "keeper of good spirit" of TYPO3 coined the motto "Inspiring people to share" and assigned it to his creation - likewise as a provisions and compass on it's journey through the world's website. There is no doubt that the current active, friendly and lively TYPO3 community is actually guided by this motto. It becomes much more difficult to hold up this banner if you enter a commercial environment, in which TYPO3 plays an important and sometimes major role within the company's strategy and is responsible for paying salaries and feeding families. Interests like profitability, the battle for new projects and the advantage in competition are taking a leading roll. These are aspects and interests that do not seem to be compatible with the idea of "sharing" in the first place.

"Learning to share" tries to introduce an approach that promotes the idea of "sharing" even in the environment of commercially oriented companies. The core of the concept is a reciprocal temporary exchange of staff members between agencies that utilize TYPO3 in their daily work. Such an approach not only offers advantages in terms of exchange of knowledge and skills about TYPO3. It also offers employees a fundamental chance for new, valuable and inspiring experiences that would result from such a radical change of one's personal working and living environment. This would substantially exceed simply improving their knowledge of TYPO3. Of course, many questions are raised with this concept. Mainly questions about how using this approach commercially oriented interests can be harmonized with Skaarhoj's seemingly contradicting idea.

This presentation will offer suggestions to solve these issues. The speaker's intention is to start a dialogue about the idea, inspire new ideas and to let the notion of "learning to share" become a reality in a commercial environment.