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The first person fan gets to meet in Money Heist: Korea Joint Economic Area, is the K-dramas narrator. Actor rsula Corber initially played Tokyo, but Jeon Jong-seo took on the role for the K-drama remake. In the Spanish series, a tragic death due to a heist went wrong leads Tokyo to the Professor. In Money Heist: Korea, Tokyos story is changed to fit the economic and political circumstances of the K-drama.

[WARNING: This article contains major spoilers forMoney Heist: Korea.]

The series is told with the narration of Tokyo as she and the characters go through the planning stages of the heist and its execution. One rule set by the Professor is that none of the thieves know each others real names or backstory. In real life, Tokyo is Silene Oliveira, a thief since the age of 14. As a teen, she joined her 28-year-old boyfriend in planning and pulling off a total of 15 heists.

Tokyo falls madly in love with her boyfriend and gets engaged, but their new heist results in tragedy. With her boyfriend, they rob a Prosegur pickup truck. But the plan goes wrong and leads to a shootout, resulting in the death of three people, including Tokyos fianc.

She becomes a fugitive on the run and one of the most wanted thieves in Spain. Tokyo has a set plan to escape on a boat but decides to see her mother one last time. The Professor approaches her and explains police have her mothers home surrounded.

He offers her the opportunity to join the heist alongside the other thieves. Still troubled by her lovers death, Tokyo vows not to mix love and the heist but fails. Money Heist: Korea completely changes Tokyos story to fit the economic setting and turmoil.

RELATED: Money Heist: How Leon and Mathilda in The Professional Influenced Tokyos Story

Money Heist: Korea begins by introducing its narrator and protagonist, Tokyo. In North Korea, fans see a young Tokyo jamming out to BTS and is a self-proclaimed ARMY. But the countrys strict rules forbid South Korean music and entertainment.

The only difference between me and the other ARMY was that I had to join the real army, explains Tokyo. The scene shows Tokyo among other soldiers doing target practice. She is a perfect shot. In the flashback, she explains its been years since the summit between North and South Korea and the United States. When hope dwindled, the government announced the North and South would become a unified country.

Tokyo was determined to start a new life and heads to Seoul after her discharge. The year is 2025. Her new life does not go as planned as an immigration broker ran off with her money and job. Tokyo starts to work as a waitress and hostess, keeping men company.

She visits the gangster she owes money to when his thugs bring in a severely beaten woman. The woman is the waitress Tokyo worked with. When Tokyo tries to save her, the gangster hits her and plans to assault her and the girl. Tokyo uses her training to kill them, save the girl and rob them. She becomes wanted by the police for a series of thefts against loan sharks.

RELATED: Money Heist: Park Hae-soo Teases How Berlin Differs in the K-Drama Remake

There is one slight similarity in how Tokyo meets the Professor. Both the Spanish version and the K-drama version meet him at their lowest point. They see him as a guardian angel. In Money Heist: Korea, Tokyo sees the news report about her, but her bloody hand reveals she is gravely wounded.

In an empty alley near a church, Tokyo decides there is no way out and plans to take her own life. The Professor (Yoo Ji-tae) appears and entices her with a plan to pull off the biggest heist in history. The Professor explains if she is willing to throw away her life, why not put it in his hands.

Unlike the Spanish original, Tokyos backstory is not tied to a past love. Instead, the K-drama Tokyo is grittier due to her harsh past and has more combat training. As Tokyo does not have the same rule about love as the Spanish version, this means romance does not play a role for her.

Money Heist: Korea Joint Economic Area, is available on Netflix.

RELATED: Taxi Driver Season 2: Lee Je-hoon and Main Cast Confirmed Heres Everything We Know

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'Money Heist: Korea': Tokyo's Backstory Is Nothing Like the Spanish Original - Here's Why - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

When you have a productive team, youll have happier clients. And happy clients equate to sustainable business growth, which keeps your team employed and equally happy.

The problem is many marketing leaders were trained in archaic productivity techniques, such as meeting madness that can quickly drain the creative air out of the room, or non-stop daily nagging via Slack.

Ive also witnessed many clients implode due to a lack of focus on productivity measures not only within their in-house marketing departments but across their entire staff. This is a major downfall for agencies like mine because of their lack of productive habits, they failed internally, and I lost a client. This lack of productive discipline hurts hundreds of agencies across the world.

Old habits die hard, especially when productivity comes into play.

So whether youre leading a team of writers, SEOs, or social media influencers, these productivity hacks will help your agency succeed.

And the more you repeat good habits, the stronger you can build on these, making you and your staff outrageously productive.

With that said, here are 21 tips to keep your marketing team or any team productive.

One of the main productivity issues Ive seen across hundreds of agencies and companies Ive worked with over the past two decades is the lack understanding roles.

Undefined roles and responsibilities can result in leaks in your project management funnel, where certain deliverables are not met, or clients are not given the required attention.

On the flip side, leaders have a natural impulse to put more responsibility on their most productive staff, creating bitter resentments between staff members and management.

To avoid these issues, its essential to define your work process as a company and clearly delegate roles and responsibilities to staff. Consider even minute details like administrative work, who takes leads on projects, and who needs to do the grunt work.

With various roles and responsibilities defined, you must put your team in the best position possible to succeed. Clearly, someone with little knowledge of SEO or writing will struggle in those roles, dragging down your business.

So if someone is better at client communication than one of your SEO associates, consider making them responsible for client relations.

However, no agency is perfect.

Outsource your weaknesses. Hiring freelancers or white labeling services is a great way to fill labor gaps without overwhelming your team or hiring new individuals.

Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses.

Your job as a leader is to put these individuals in the best position possible to succeed.

Capitalize on your teams strengths. Delegate the rest.

Because your team will have a diverse set of strengths and weaknesses, its common for some employees to at least feel like they are taking on more responsibilities than others.

Therefore, to prevent any sort of hostility and to incentivize greater production, it makes sense to tie compensation to productivity.

There truly is no greater incentive at a workplace than to base pay on performance. But better yet, give workers the freedom and flexibility to work on their schedule (including remotely) to save money and also save your employees their time.

Meeting mania many managers love it, but employees hate it.

There is no bigger impediment to the workday than taking a big chunk of time (especially in the mornings when people can be in full creative mode) to talk about strategy.

Cut out wasteful meetings, but make the most of the meetings you do need.

Apply these productivity hacks to meetings to ensure that you and your team are as productive as possible:

Have you ever noticed that you tend to be more productive in the morning, even without a cup of coffee? This is because, for the average adult on a normal schedule, your energy levels naturally spike shortly after you awake due to your circadian rhythms and cortisol levels.

Thanks to our agrarian roots, this was the time of day when you would typically go out and do manual labor, so our bodies created a little internal alarm clock to wake us up.

For this reason, I always do my most creative work such as writing and strategy planning, which requires lots of focus, early in the morning. You can also plan out tasks based on your general level of alertness.

For example, many of us experience a second wind mid-afternoon. So by performing essential tasks when were most alert and mindless tasks when we are crashing a little bit, you can get remarkably improved productivity without downing a couple of espressos to stay focused.

To follow up on this, its important to plan your day ahead of time. In fact, I like to take time on the weekend or early Monday to block off time for tasks throughout the week to keep my schedule on track.

By using a project management software or Google Sheets, you can track progress throughout the week, spend extra time working on tasks when youre falling behind on, and even gain a little hustle trying to beat the clock on tasks where you are falling behind.

For example, blocking off time to even look at emails is a great way to reduce distractions and condense tasks into a small, manageable chunk of time without being overwhelmed.

I check my email only three times a day on my creative days, which are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and about seven times or so Tuesday and Thursday when I plan the bulk of my meetings and more administrative work.

Of course, dont forget to block off downtime throughout your day and week for breaks. While breaks will momentarily stop productivity, taking a 15-minute break here or there will actually make you more productive throughout the day overall.

Not only do breaks make you more productive, but they make you more alert and a better decision-maker.

For example, a famous study of Israeli judges found that judges who took two breaks in the day prior to granting detainees parole were more likely to grant parole. On the other hand, judges who had not taken breaks typically chose the safest or most simplistic answer of just denying detainees parole altogether.

In addition, this study from Stanford showed that writers and other creatives who were stuck with writers block benefited tremendously from talking walks to clear the mind.

I also cease all work duties at 6 p.m. every Wednesday, and spend alone time either in the woods hiking, riding motorcycles, or in my office reading with a bottle or two of wine.

I shut off completely, and reset myself for the rest of the weeks duties. This means no computers or checking work emails or social media from my phone. I also do the same thing for the entire day Sunday, which is mostly spent with family to recharge.

The more mental clarity your team has daily, the sharper the focus and productivity.

While you dont need an entire yoga studio or massage center like those found at Google headquarters, some tips to improve mental clarity and reduce stress throughout the day include:

Creating a calm environment involves reducing distractions. Whether you have an open office layout, cubicles, or are remote, there are a few ways to reduce distractions throughout the day, which will help your team focus:

Unfortunately, our attention span can only focus on so much, and multi-tasking is often a distraction in and of itself.

Train staff and yourself to focus on single tasks simultaneously, even if it means blocking off points of the day for communication, like email and Slack.

Perhaps the most straightforward study arrives from the classroom. One ScienceDirect study found that college students who multitasked during homework and class assignments took longer to complete their homework and had a worse GPA.

One way to help your staff stay focused is to provide them with the proper tools and education to become more productive.

For example, project management software and calendar apps have led the way as a resource for individuals to plan out tasks in advance, set due dates and block off time to complete tasks.

If youre looking to save money, I also like to set up simple project management spreadsheets with tasks, checkboxes once a task is complete, due dates, and employee signatures to track and assign tasks.

These tools also provide a transparent view of staff members productivity and help you identify distractions or tasks they struggle to complete.

Furthermore, there is no better way to set your staff up for success than by explaining tasks thoroughly to avoid confusion. Many employees struggle to ask questions at work when they are confused about a task.

To prevent confusion and anxiety at work, provide detailed explanations and hands-on teaching to help staff master tasks quickly.

Naturally, in the age of AI and IoT, no agency still conducting manual keyword or backlink research without proper software really stands a chance. So, to boost productivity, you need to invest in the right tools.

For example, I like to use Semrush for general keyword research, backlink audits, and topic research. In addition, my team also uses Grammarly to cut down on editing times and provide clients with a polished finished product.

Transitioning a little bit from individual productivity hacks, the culture you create at your company will be a massive determinant of success and productivity. This article from Harvard Business Review outlines the importance of building a high-trust culture and how it boosts productivity:

Employees in high-trust organizations are more productive, have more energy at work, collaborate better with their colleagues, and stay with their employers longer than people working at low-trust companies. They also suffer less chronic stress and are happier with their lives, and these factors fuel stronger performance.

If employees are motivated to come to work and feel happy at their job, they are more likely to work harder and contribute as much as they can to improve their workplace.

Contrast this to toxic work environments where individuals are most likely to slack, gossip and complain, often not fearing if they will get fired or let go.

Hosting a diverse environment of people with different backgrounds and opinions contributes to knowledge sharing, which boosts the productivity and efficacy of projects.

And since most employees demand diversity in the workplace, this improves your overall culture and the well-being of your employees. Again, happier employees are more productive ones.

Im a big proponent of positive reinforcement and its efficacy in forming positive habits.

While discipline is effective at curbing bad habits, rewarding productive members with gratitude is a great way to reinforce positive habits, improving productivity.

Discipline for the sake of discipline is rarely effective. Rather, if you want to curb unproductive habits at work, you need to provide constructive feedback with solutions for employees to improve their habits.

For example, if I come back to you and say this article is poorly written without any feedback, how are you supposed to address my specific criticisms or improve?

Make feedback constructive and a learning process.

As previously stated, high-trust cultures tend to be more productive. Well, one way to build trust is to be authentic, open and honest with employees.

Building trust with your employees and establishing a positive company culture starts with your actions as a founder. So by being genuine and transparent with employees, you can cultivate trust, build their confidence, and boost their productivity.

A major part of building trust is transparency and being on the same page as employees. Establishing a shared vision for company growth and branding is a great way to build trust across your organization and also make employees feel like they are a part of your agency, not that they just work for it.

Actualizing your companys vision will require tons of hard work, which is where proper time management and productivity hacks come into play.

To bring your vision to life and improve the productivity of your employees, you need to set goals.

Goal setting can increase employees productivity by 11 to 25 times. Most importantly, big goal setting has the largest impact.

The logic is quite clear; when employees feel like they are working for something, they are more committed to seeing it through.

Even in an immediate sense, goal setting makes you one step closer to your goal just by setting expectations and tracking progress.

Stretch goals are high-risk, high-reward goals that require a lot of effort and creative problem-solving.

While wellness and proper guidance are all nice ways to boost employee productivity and happiness, sometimes it takes adversity to see what employees are made of.

So be sure to challenge leading team members from time to time with ambitious tasks to push them out of their comfort zones. Not only will employees learn more through this process, but they may even come close to reaching these goals, thus improving your agencys efficiency beyond previous limits.

By reinforcing these habits through continued education and guidance, your team can form long-lasting habits that will help make your agency operate the leanest possible.

And lean means higher profit margins, which equates to a sustainable business.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

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21 ways to keep your marketing team productive - Search Engine Land

After 21 years as one of New Orleans most trusted web designers, Brett Thomas, the founder and CEO of Rhino Digital, LLC has decided to team up with Franchise Marketing Systems to offer franchise opportunities to select markets in the United States.

Thomas built his first website in 2001, and at the time, he admits it wasnt really that good of a design. A US Army veteran and New Orleans tour guide at the time, Thomas made web design a hobby, only building about a dozen sites between 2001 and 2005.

Born Out Of The Flood Waters

In early fall of 2005, everything changed. Hurricane Katrina covered the city of New Orleans in flood waters and destroyed the local economy temporarily. No longer able to give tours in a flooded city, Thomas did odd construction jobs and contracted with a roofing company to put blue tarps on damaged roofs to make ends meet. He did this for about a year until one day, a friend in LaPlace, LA invited him to local business networking group. The group meet weekly for lunch with the sole purpose of passing business to each other. It was at this meeting that Brett was offered his first viable commercial web design job.

The owner of a glass company in LaPlace told me he needed a site and he said he had a $3000 budget. Of course I jumped at the chance!, Thomas says. It was at this point that he decided that he was going to do this full time and be the best web developer in Southeast Louisiana.

Thomas goes on to say, Learning to be the best was only the first step. It was always my plan to open Rhino Web Studios in multiple states around the country. He also quipped, Rhino stands for Right Here In New Orleans.

After 21 years of building the framework of the office support and training system as well as the client support structure, Rhino Web Studios is poised for explosive growth.

A supportive team and systems are essential for any new business owner ready to venture out on their own. Franchising offers new entrepreneurs a much-needed structure, with systems in place to help them navigate new business ownership. Thomas explains, Rhino Web has an excellent support system from both the owners as well as the Franchise Marketing Systems (FMS) team.

Christopher Connor, the president of FMS has over 20 years in the franchise development industry. He says, This is a winning franchise opportunity for anyone who wants to be involved in the growing web development industry, but doesnt know how to build websites.

Rhino Web Studios is ready to meet the demand for web design and SEO products, as well as the need for market leaders in the web development and SEO industry. Thomas is confident that FMS and their impeccable track record is the right choice to see this goal through. Franchise Marketing Systems has the experience and 20 year reputation of building successful franchises, and we look forward to a long and prosperous partnership.

Thinking of owning a own Rhino Web Studios franchise? For franchising information, visit https://rhinopm.com or contact [emailprotected]

Media ContactCompany Name: Rhino Web StudiosContact Person: Brett ThomasEmail: Send EmailPhone: (504) 875-5036Country: United StatesWebsite: https://rhinopm.com

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Rhino Web Studios is pleased to announce the launch of its new franchise. - Digital Journal

WASHINGTON, D.C. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation today announced that the Coalition to Back Black Businesses (CBBB) has awarded 20 Black-owned small businesses from CBBBs 2021 grant program an additional $25,000 enhancement grant to support their growth and long-term success. Among the 20 recipients 45% of which started their business during the pandemic 80% are women-owned small businesses and 85% have six or fewer employees.

Employing nearly half of the U.S. workforce, the strength of small businesses is critical to the prosperity of our communities and our economic recovery, said Carolyn Cawley, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Were committed to supporting the needs of Black small business owners in America through our Coalition to Back Black Businesses and equipping them with tools to thrive.

Now in its second year, the CBBB initiative was established in September 2020 by the U.S. Chamber Foundation, founding partner American Express, and four leading national Black business organizations the National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Business League, U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., and Walkers Legacy to provide immediate financial assistance and mentorship opportunities to help strengthen the Black business community. Since its launch, CBBB has awarded grants to 1,091 Black-owned small businesses in 40 states to help cover essential needs as they navigated the pandemic, from covering rent and payroll expenses to expanding their online presence and marketing efforts.

We proudly back small businesses because they are the backbone of communities across the country, said Madge Thomas, head of corporate sustainability and president of the American Express Foundation. In the second year of this program, we welcome the chance to continue to help Black-owned businesses recover from the pandemic, innovate, and grow.

According to a survey conducted in January 2022, Black-owned businesses hit record levels of lower sales, with more than half reporting lower sales than in the previous year. Meanwhile, CBBB grantees report being optimistic about the future of their business, with 50% of them experiencing increased revenue in the second half of 2021. After more than two years into the pandemic, reduced consumer traffic, access to capital, and employee availability remain top obstacles to business growth.

Because of COVID-19, the price of all raw goods has gone up in some cases, three times as much, and the additional funds helped cover the cost of our raw goods, said Nekia Hattley, owner of My Daddys Recipes in Inglewood, California. The $5,000 grant was a blessing, it meant someone saw my dream and believed enough in it and in me to invest capital to aid in my growth. This support encourages me to keep growing, learning, and going.

Additional funding from ADP, AIG, Altice USA (parent company of Optimum and Suddenlink), Dow, and the S&P Global Foundation, along with programmatic support from Stanley Black & Decker, Shopify, and Firefli, will provide $14 million in grants and other critical resources, like mentorship, to support Black small business owners across the country through 2024.

The mentorship and coaching support that we have received from the Ureeka platform has been phenomenal. It is unmatched, said Bupe Mulenga, owner of Stephens Southern Delights in Detroit, Michigan. That in and of itself supplied so much encouragement, support, and reassurance that although we dream big, we can definitely achieve what we set out to do.

Enhancement Grant Recipients

Twenty grantees were selected by a panel of judges to receive the $25,000 enhancement grant out of the 491 businesses in CBBBs 2021 cohort. Businesses are located in cities across the country. Top reasons for requesting an enhancement grant included developing a stronger online presence, relocating to a larger physical space, and hiring additional staff.

The enhancement grant will support us with crucial costs to propel our growth forward for 2022, including hiring more pilots, investing in SEO marketing, web platform improvements, rent, and more, said Bronwyn Morgan, owner of Xeo Air in East St. Louis, Illinois.

The full list of grantees includes:

Learn more about the winners and how the CBBB program has positively impacted their businesses at webackblackbusinesses.com/recipients-2022. Applications for the fall 2022 cohort will open in August. For more information on eligibility and the application process, visit webackblackbusinesses.com.

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Coalition to Back Black Businesses Awards $25000 Grants to 20 Black-Owned Small Businesses - uschamber.com

This year, at WordCamp Porto, I had an opportunity to interview Josepha Haden Chomphosy, Executive Director of WordPress.

She gave us some very in-depth answers about what is happening in the world of WordPress, and what we can expect from the top CMS in the future.

WordPress powers nearly half of the web. What challenges does WordPress face as a CMS in the coming year, and how does it plan to overcome them?

Chomphosy: WordPress in the next year One of the biggest difficulties we face in general is the fact that we are rewriting our entire codebase as we also continue to move forward as a functioning piece of software.

In a lot of cases, you would see a software stop every contribution from their community and rebuild everything while no one else is in it and just kind of use a closed model of re-envisioning how their software would work.

We are five years into this probably ten-year project, and so the next year, as with all of the years in a project like that, is making sure we are still as stable and capable as a CMS as people have come to expect while also still pushing forward with a newer more modern way to manage your content online.

No big deal. Small problems.

I know about Matt [Mullenweg]s Five for the Future initiative, which aims to solve the challenges of supporting WordPress as it grows. How do you see that working? Do you see enough response rates from the community?

Chomphosy: The Five for the Future program initiative has been around since 2014, so quite a while. It wasnt until 2016 or 2017 that we had a more codified program around it where people could pledge their time to specific teams, and those teams would know we have some volunteer work that we can send to people, and we can see the people who are interested in doing that kind of contribution.

It funds the project from a time perspective so that its easy for individual contributors to say what they are interested in, its easier for contributor teams to see who is interested in them. And recently, we also have expanded that program to include whats considered a Five for the Future team.

I think that major corporations in the WordPress ecosystem should give back substantially to the WordPress project, especially if they make a substantial amount of money or revenue using WordPress.

Overall I would say that we have had a good response from both our community of contributors and our economic partners in the ecosystem. I do think weve had a good response, but we can always use more.

The WordPress CMS is used all over the place and is maintained by less than 1% of the people who get a benefit from that and people in corporations who get a benefit from that and so I always want more people to be involved and responding, but we do have good response to it.

Do you foresee any changes like WordPress becoming paid, for example?

Chomphosy: Its hard to predict the future, but I dont see any way for that to happen, no.

Free, open-source software, Im sure you know, but many people get confused about whether that means its free, as in, not any money, or free, as in, provides freedom to people.

We like to remind everyone all the time that its free, as in, freedom to people, but also making the software freely available is incredibly important to WordPress. So I cant see a future where wed be like, just kidding, pay for licenses.'

Whats going to make WordPress continue to stand out/above its peers and competitors? How is WordPress future-proofing?

Chomphosy: I think that the thing that makes WordPress as a project stands out from its competitors is the strength of the community thats around us and, interestingly enough, the thing that makes our community stand out compared to other open-source projects that also have communities is our in-person event series and so not having those for the last two and a half years certainly has been a struggle for us.

And so this flagship event is the first in-person flagship event since we had to cancel WordCamp Asia in 2020, and were very excited to have everyone back together.

There were 800 people at the contributor day, and that is the biggest contributor day at a flagship event that weve ever had. And so, you can see in not only the number of people who are coming to this event but also in the number of people who showed up to learn how to give back to WordPress, the project, the CMS, and the ecosystem. The strength of what we are and how we will sustain ourselves into the future lies in that group of people that just wants to be here and continuing to make it better.

I think thats how we set ourselves apart. And also, from a future-proofing standpoint, in the way that we invest in those contributors, the way that we bring them into the space, and how they can make it better if thats what they want. I hope thats what they want. That is certainly how were future-proofing things.

A little side note from a leadership perspective. Its always important for me to look at how we can make sure the organization outlasts anyone whos leading right now. Outlasts me, outlasts Matt, because everyone is one catastrophic event away from not being able to do what they used to do.

Thats always a very important part of this for me. Im constantly training people who are with us in this work toward WordPress. Im always training them to do what I know how to do because its never appropriate for me to be the only person who knows how to do anything that is vital to WordPresss success.

The CMS market is becoming competitive day by day. Do you see a decline in WordPresss market share, or is it growing?

Chomphosy: There was, in the WordPress community recently, a bit of a discussion about W3Techs market share and usage numbers. There was a small decline. Its publicly available, and we had discussions around it. Theres no point in saying there wasnt a decline there.

However, I dont think that theres anything to be worried about. With W3Techs, as they are working toward deprecating one of its major datasets, it will always change what were seeing there. We cant be sure what theyre doing and not doing; its very closed, very proprietary.

In the grand scheme of things, its basically level at the moment as far as Im concerned there.

There were complaints from users that WordPress, by the introduction of full site editing, now does change too frequently and drastically, and they now have to spend a lot of time/resources to learn it again and fix broken parts of websites, when it used to work for them just great. What will be your message to those users?

Chomphosy: I know that it is frustrating to have to relearn something that you spent so much time learning, but that is the way that we have chosen to do that rework of WordPress as kind of a phased evolution over time, as opposed to a single point of a revolution was so that people could learn gradually over time, based on what they found in small places.

As we make the editing interfaces of the CMS more and more similar, theyll only have to learn they can use the same type of user flow, the same type of interaction pattern across the CMS. And so, the basic understanding of all of the mechanisms should start to translate into the rest of the CMS as well.

Every open-source software builds everything in public, and it is people who are telling us, This is hard to learn. This is hard for me to use.

Its that sort of feedback that helps us to make it better, but it has been for many, many people seeing full site editing right now, a long time since WordPress do such big changes in public, but I wouldnt say its necessarily faster than we expected.

If youre following the Beta and in the plugin, you get a new release in every two weeks, but if youre not following the Beta and the plugin, you get three releases a year, and that is, I think, a pretty fast pace, but tolerable as well if you are keeping track as you go.

So I guess my message is to make sure that you dont just wait until every ten releases to update because then you are going to have a lot that you do to have to learn.

There are classic editor plugins around for those who want to use the old style of WordPress. Do you think you will maintain the plugins for a long time? Do you think you will deprecate them?

Chomphosy: We have been taking that year by year as we see peoples need for it and as we end up with something much more robust in the CMS itself.

I dont see any future where we just remove it from the repo or any of the directories. I dont think were planning on deprecating it and having it be gone forever. But it is always better to try to keep up with things as its coming out slowly, so you are not overwhelmed by all of the things at one go.

How do you decide what features to ship in new versions? What does the process look like?

Chomphosy: Thats all a very public process. Fortunately, we get by with a little help from our friends on that one.

So we have core chats every week, and every major component most major components inside core have public chats where people talk about the tickets theyre working on, the features they are working on, the bugs they cant quite solve, and prioritize based on what is the most impactful for users and what is feasible, based on the timeframe were working on for any given release.

The decision is based on what is ready at that moment, but also certainly but also what the general impact is.

What is one major fix you would like to see WordPress make?

Chomphosy: Our next big need is to focus a lot on the menus and navigation, and that is a very complicated thing. That is hard, even in the best of moments. No one would disagree that spending a lot of time on that and getting a good solid fix that is user tested and approved is the right way to head next.

Almost all WordPress users complain about built-in internal search. Do you have plans to improve it? For example, giving website owners decide which articles to exclude from search or adding customizable search indexing weighing factors?

Chomphosy: The short answer is: Yes, there are thoughts around how to fix it, and there is a lot of research that is being done by contributors.

I dont think that anyone has found a solution that we all agree is as functional as we want it to be while also being as elegant and performant as we need it to be. We have not figured out what the proper solution is to that. But yes, absolutely, it is something the community discusses frequently and does ongoing research on.

Gutenberg has Full Site Editing (FSE), but is said to still be in Beta. Is there an ETA for that label coming off?

Chomphosy: I dont know that there is an ETA for it coming off. It is true that in the WordPress project, we use those terms of it differently, just like we do sequential ordering as opposed to semantic versioning.

Its Beta in that it is going to keep moving and iterating; its not beta in that it is unstable. It will be in Beta at least through the current phase, but not because its generally dangerous to use. Just because it will change frequently.

I think its fantastic that WordPress has a performance team working on improving the core, so it has fast performance. But no matter how fast you make the core, it seems like all it takes is a sloppy theme to undo all the good work the core had put into it. So it seems like the next step is to get theme and plugin developers on board. Is that something on the horizon?

Chomphosy: Themes are particular. Themes are essentially a core issue.

I have not run into many people in the world, many users in the world who feel like their theme was not WordPress. No one has got WordPress, the CMS, and then also a theme, and they think, I had a bad experience theme, Ill switch out that theme.

I shouldnt say no one, but regardless, themes are considered such an inextricable part of WordPress that we have to consider them almost as a part of the core sometimes. And so, do we want themes and plugins to also make some effort around performance? Yes, absolutely. But do we have any rules in place at the moment? Not really.

Themes has been undergoing a bit of a transformation along with the core because we have offered new functionality. And were trying to reshuffle whether youve got functionality or just the visual representations in themes. As that moves forward, probably we will have to move forward with some of the ways we guide all of the contributors.

Thats true for plugins, as well as features in plugins, kind of move with the way core is able to support them, in that it makes sense that we would have to have some sort of refreshed guidelines down the road. But at the moment, no one is discussing them because theyre still trying to figure out how to make everything work well with Gutenberg.

Do you have plans to introduce badges like WordPress Certified? Like Google Certified Partners, but Certified WordPress Developers. Like team developers can get those by passing a test or an interview with the WordPress core team to get those pages, and whenever they are developing, have those badges in place, so everyone knows that those teams have skills like the WordPress core team.

Chomphosy: Its interesting that you ask because questions of certifications are coming up in the community right now. Ive had so many conversations with attendees at this particular WordCamp. Its on everyones mind.

Historically weve never offered any certifications. The logistics of it are hard. The documentation we have is not always easy to keep up to date. There were some logistical hurdles to it; there were some philosophical questions around open source and certifications and what that would mean for how we could help our community stay together with each other through their learning and through improving the CMS.

The conversation has come back up because we have started to provide some training via learn.wordpress.org. Its getting more and more true that you can get a lot of information that you need about how to use the WordPress CMS not only through written documentation but now also through workshops and social learning spaces.

As we are providing more of that, [theres] the question of how we can give some indication that people went through those workshops and went through those training and succeeded at them. So its a new old question back on the table.

The Redirection plugin is installed on over 2 million websites. Clearly, theres a need for that, so is there any chance you will integrate a redirection function similar to the plugin into the core? And if not, why not? Does it bump up against WPs goal of keeping it simple for everyone to use?

Chomphosy: I dont think that better native features and functionality ever make WordPress hard to use. It shouldnt, and if it does, we shouldnt put it in there. But there is currently not a discussion about that.

There is a feature plugin proposal process where people can say that this plugin is basically used everywhere; we would like to propose that we find a way for it to be included in core. No one has brought that up. No one has brought that to the table.

I was talking to the performance working group about that yesterday. Not about that particular plugin, but about the feature plugin approval process. The documentation around that needs some updating, but its certainly a thing we have always done in the WordPress project and would be the first step in including something like that in the core.

We hope youve enjoyed these insights into the current and future plans for WordPress. Remember that the WordPress project continues to improve based on the contributions of its users. Be sure to learn more about the many ways you can contribute to and give back to the WordPress community.

For more on WordPress from WordCamp Porto, dont miss our interview with Ivan Popov of Vipe Studio on Headless WordPress SEO.

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