Community Connection - Garvita Kapur

We’re featuring some of the people in the Drupalverse! This Q&A series highlights individuals you could meet at DrupalCon.

Every year, DrupalCon is the largest gathering of people who belong to this community. To celebrate and take note of what DrupalCon means to them, we’re featuring an array of perspectives and fun facts to help you get to know your community.
 

For our next connection in this series, we feature the insight of Garvita Kapur.

Garvita (garv) was first introduced to Drupal in 2009, right before Drupal 7 was released. She taught herself Drupal on the job; with her PHP background, she was able to pick it up quickly. Later, she was promoted from Lead Developer to Development Manager, and from there was hired as the Web Engineering Manager at Weill Cornell Medicine, which had a much bigger team and site portfolio that needed to be moved to Drupal. She has continued using Drupal for nearly 10 years.

Why was it you continued down the Drupal path, and how does it shape what you do currently?

At my current organization, we use Drupal 8, and I am in the process of leading migration efforts on our remaining D7 websites. It took some time and effort to convince leadership of the merits of D8, but I was able to showcase the business value that D8 brings to our web platform. It has been a great learning experience and has given me the opportunity to work with some very talented Drupal developers and get involved in the Drupal community.
 

What is a piece of advice you received that influenced your career?

At my first proper job out of University, my manager at the time, Danny Lee, told me I needed to develop the ability to know when to say “no.” When you are young and hopeful (or foolish!), you tend to take on everything in an attempt to prove yourself. You need to have the sound judgement on where to establish that boundary and say “no.”
 

What book or piece of writing have you read in the last year that impacted the way you approach your work or colleagues? Why?

I am currently enrolled in the Executive Master of Science in Technology Management program at Columbia University and I have read many interesting and impactful books. There are three books in the program I found particularly interesting, the first of which is Team of Teams, which focuses on empowering your teams to make decisions. Teams need to have trust, purpose, and shared conscious by creating transparency and information sharing, which leads to collaboration. It recommends leading like a gardener: “Eyes on, hands off.” (McChrystal, S. A., Collins, T., Silverman, D., & Fussell, C. (2015). Team of teams: New rules of engagement for a complex world. New York, NY: Portfolio/Penguin).

The second book is Immunity to Change, which addresses technical challenges and adaptive challenges. Technical challenges are about learning a new skill, whereas adaptive challenges require altering our mindset to understand our triggers so we can overcome the emotions, assumptions, and biases to change our behavior over time. (Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2009). Immunity to change: How to overcome it and unlock potential in yourself and your organisation).

Last but not least, the book I am reading right now, The Real Business of IT, teaches the valuable and critical skill of communicating the value that IT brings to business by using objective metrics rooted in financial and business/operational performance. (The Real Business of IT. Hunter, R., Westerman, G. (2009).
 

What is one thing you think people of today will miss in 20 years?

Tactile objects like books, remote controls, perhaps even pens and pencils—everything will be voice- or gesture-controlled.
 

What are you most looking forward to for DrupalCon Seattle?

I help organize the Higher Ed Summit with Eric and Paul, so I am looking forward to it and connecting with all the wonderful people. It’s always a pleasure to reconnect with them and hear about the latest projects and challenges at work. In addition to the usual sessions, BoFs, and knowledge gathering, I especially enjoy the social aspect of DrupalCon.
 

Join us April 8 - 12, 2019 for DrupalCon Seattle!