Hey WordPress friends, welcome to another edition of the Pirate Interviews series! Let’s jump head first into the fall season by interviewing Brad Touesnard, the founder of Delicious Brains, where he leads a team of intelligent developers contributing greatly to the WordPress community.
But before we talk to Brad, in case you missed our previous interview, here’s Bob Dunn telling us more about his blog and podcast.
Before becoming Delicious Brains’ CEO, Brad used to work as an independent web developer. Now, he’s very proud of his achievements and believes that working together with a group of people will get you farther than working alone.
But it’s not only entrepreneurship that keeps Brad Touesnard busy; he also runs a podcast titled Apply Filters and a blog where he shares his insights as a professional WordPress-er.
When he’s not doing any development or other WordPress-related work, he loves to travel from city to city and explore the beautiful world we live in.
Let’s hear the rest from the man himself in this Brad Touesnard interview:
Brad Touesnard interview – the founder of Delicious Brains
When and how did you start working with WordPress? Is there an interesting story here?
Delicious Brains comes up with ingenious product ideas often (e.g. the latest Facebook Messenger bot). How is your implementation process going on? Is there a schedule or planning for that?
Our for-sale products include WP Migrate DB Pro, WP Offload S3, and Mergebot. The rest of what you see from our team (like PHP Serialized Editor and WP Image Processing Queue) is out of their own personal interest or interest in contributing to the larger WordPress community.
What’s your technique for staying productive throughout the day?
I think I can credit most of my productivity to just observing what works though. What’s working for me right now is daily yoga practice + a simple list of what needs doing for the day.
How do you define “being successful”?
For me personally, I’ve been able to create interesting work for myself with the plugins we build at Delicious Brains while still getting to have dinner with the family every night. It’s also given me the freedom to work from anywhere and travel while still being intellectually challenged.
So I’d call that successful for me – that definition probably changes depending on what’s important to you though.
In the past, you worked as a freelancer. What do you find more efficient: working in a team or on your own?
I think with the right team, you’re certainly more productive. I think what can sometimes feel like “wasted time” and lack of efficiency for a team can ultimately be better for productivity – things like catching up and team building/socializing can mean a better-bonded team. And a more bonded team can often get things done more efficiently.
From all the things you are currently doing (you’re doing so many things actually) which one is the most fun and/or challenging? Why?
What do you wish more people knew about WordPress?
Who’s doing things that are just cutting-edge and incredible in the WordPress space right now?
Describe the WordPress community in one word.
Open 🙂
What’s the one thing you’d like to change about WordPress?
Maybe the documentation. I often hear from newer WordPress developers that the documentation for various plugins and other pieces aren’t as clear as they could be.
What’s the main threat to WordPress these days?
What are your recommendations for a WordPress novice?
That sums up our Brad Touesnard interview. If you have any questions for him, please leave them in the comments section. Also, if you have any suggestions for who we should talk to next, feel free to give us some names in the comments as well!
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