Search

Interview with Hugh Lashbrooke – Community Engagement Manager, WooThemes

Listen to this article
hugh-lashbrooke-interview
Hugh Lashbrooke – Community Engagement Manager at WooThemes

We’ve known Hugh Lashbrooke as the Lead Developer for Sensei, and the author of quite a few awesome plugins in the WordPress repository. Today Hugh Lashbrooke- the coder, talks to us about what it takes to be an ace WordPress developer, and the development processes he follows.

Hugh has nearly a decade of experience as a web developer, and is actively involved in his local WordPress community.

Many thanks Hugh for taking the time out to talk to us, and for the insights you’ve provided fellow developers.

[space]

[space]

[space]

[space]

[space]

What according to you is the difference between a good developer and a great developer?
It’s simple really – a good developer focuses on code, while a great developer focuses on users.

[space]

Which are the 4 must-follow coding practices in your ‘Coding Bible’?
My top 4 would be:
  1. Never underestimate the importance of security checks – WordPress provides a number of functions to help with this, so make use of them. Your code can never be too secure.
  2. Never forget that your code is written for users – no matter how complicated your software is, it should always be easy to use.
  3. Comment all the things – well commented code is happy code.
  4. Be flexible – don’t be afraid to refactor often and repeatedly. Just because your code works the first time, doesn’t mean it’s the best it can be.

[space]

How elaborate is your testing process for a plugin you’ve built?
My testing process isn’t as automated or clean as it should be (I’m only just starting to get into unit testing now), but I always test my plugins thoroughly on multiple live environments before I publish anything. While this isn’t necessarily fool-proof it has proved adequate enough for my plugins so far.

[space]

Which documents are a must-include for a solution you’ve built?
That depends on the plugin itself really – some plugins don’t need much more than a quick user guide and simple FAQ, while others need much more extensive documentation. The way I see it though, you can never have too much documentation, so even if it seems entirely unnecessary to do so, just write as much documentation as you can to help your users. Make videos too – some people hate reading docs, but will watch a video guide with no qualms.

[space]

Which guides or books should newbie WordPress developers refer to?
The WordPress DevHub, which includes the Plugin Developer’s Handbook as well as the new code reference, is the go-to resource for anyone getting into WordPress development. Aside from that, the best resource is the community, so don’t be afraid to ask anyone anything – you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how helpful the WordPress community can be. Feel free to grab me on Twitter for some advice.

[space]

How should a company handle a large scale project, which involves coordinating and syncing, multiple developer changes?
For any project, no matter how big, always track everything and always over-communicate. There’s plenty of software to aid with this kind of thing, such as TrelloAsanaGitHubTracRedmine and many others. The tools you choose to use will depend entirely on your organisation and team members, but I’ve found GitHub to be the best tool for this by far. Trello or Asana or great for higher-level planning, but when it comes down to the real meat of project work, nothing beats GitHub for ease-of-use and features on offer.

 

Ultimately though, it comes to the actual team members and their ability to work together, trust each other and communicate effectively. Without that, no tools or software will truly help.

[space]

Do you run any performance optimization checks on your code?
Whenever I develop for WordPress I have the a few great plugins installed that aid with that kind of thing – Debug Bar being one of the most useful. It allows you to see memory usage and query times easily so you have data to inform performance optimization decisions. Based on that data you can work out where there are performance bottlenecks and adjust your code accordingly.

 

The best way to get Debug Bar (and a host of other incredibly useful development plugins) is by installing the Developer plugin, which allows you to add a number of plugins with just a few clicks – all of which will aid in your development processes.

[space]

[space]

[space]

If you have any questions for Hugh, be sure to leave them as comments, and we’ll be sure to convey them to him.

Tarun Rai

Tarun Rai

2 Responses

  1. When it comes to managing big Projects apart from Asana, Trello etc I would really recommend Comidor which is really affordable and provides everything you need for efficient project management.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get The Latest Updates

Subscribe to our Newsletter

A key to unlock the world of open-source. We promise not to spam your inbox.

Suggested Reads

WordPress Development

Custom WordPress Solutions, for You

LearnDash Development

Custom LearnDash Solutions, for You

WooCommerce Development

Custom WooCommerce Solutions, for You

WordPress Plugins

Scale your WordPress Business

WooCommerce Plugins

Scale your WooCommerce Business

LearnDash Plugins

Scale your LearnDash Business

Label

Title

Subtext

Label

Title

Subtext

Join our 55,000+ Subscribers

    The Wisdm Digest delivers all the latest news, and resources from the world of open-source businesses to your inbox.

    Suggested Reads