Yesterday I wrote about how a large-scale change in Drupal's code hosting last year has opened up new vistas for Drupal's technical landscape. At around the same time, Drupal's own Dries Buytaert was writing about the big architectural changes in Drupal 8. Making a broader point than I did (and doing it better as well), he explained why all of the substantial changes in Drupal 8 are important: improvements to Drupal's architecture that will keep it both technically relevant and also attractive to potential new contributors; moreover, certainly not change for change's sake.
Drupal is known for - almost proverbial for - its commitment to change; so what Dries said should come as no surprise to longstanding Drupal contributors. But it can still feel to the footsoldier like too many manoeuvers are happening at once: intellectually, I trust the initiative leaders to decide whether that's actually the case for the Drupal project; intuitively, I still get butterflies in my stomach every time I envisage what I'm going to need to learn and then internalize about Drupal 8.
That's all right, though. Sometimes- though not at all always - discomfort means you're doing the right thing:
The clue is: when you feel uncomfortable or despairing or awkward or prematurely worn out by what you’re facing, it’s OK. It’s OK to feel scared or tired at the sight of a blank page or an empty calendar. That’s how you’re supposed to feel, because it’s a sign you’re doing the right work. (Initiative is real work)
I can't imagine I'll start out comfortable with all the changes in Drupal 8. Moreover, I don't expect I'll ever be comfortable with every single one of them, whatever I might have preached in this blogpost. But at least now I'm a bit more mentally prepared for them, ready to at least try to embrace that discomfort. After all, if a straightforward move to using Git is still reaping rewards, who knows where the changes to D8 will lead us?
