Why Drupal Projects Fail: Drupal Adoption · We use ÒCompany XÓ Drupal. We do the impossible. We...

Why Drupal Projects Fail:Breaking Down Barriers to Successful

Drupal Adoption

Presented by cpliakas

Business and Best Practices

WARNING: Discussion not technical

AgendaIntroductionKey components to successWhy projects failBreaking down barriers to successQuestions

About Chriscpliakas on Drupal.org (sē plā kis)@cpliakas on TwitterModule maintainer, core contributorZend, MySQL, LPI CertifiedWorking with Drupal for 3+ yearsMember of Acquia’s PS team for 1+ yearPre-sales consultant for Acquia

What makes me qualified?

I work with many organizations

I remember learning Drupal

http://www.millsworks.net/blog/tag/bloody-head-banging-on-keyboard-animated-gif/

Artist unknown (please identify yourself, this image is great)

I see dead projects!

Been in the weeds

Seen the big picture

There are patterns

Five key components of successProject managementProcessDevelopment practicesThought partnershipExpertise

What we are really talking aboutExpectation managementCommunicationExecution

Barriers

Red flagsWe use “Company X” Drupal.We do the impossible.We have really good PHP developers that just need a couple of days to get up to speed with Drupal.We are pushing boundaries, so we do not work with the community.We have an offshore team do most of our development.We cut our rates to get the project.We will get bigger projects if we meet the aggressive timeline.

Let’s break it down

Mismanaged Expectations

No matter the end result, a project will be viewed as a failure if the

original expectations were not met.

Contributing factorsProduct misrepresentation– Accidental– IntentionalUnsustainable precedence– Timeline– CostCommunication breakdownLack of transparencyClient / stakeholder driven projectDevelop an exit strategy

Lack of Expertise

Drupal is complexThere are strengths and challengesYou don’t know what you don’t knowDrupal is not a magic bulletProblems aren’t trivialMany ways to accomplish the same goalTeam can add hundreds of hours– Designers add functionality– Developers reinvent the wheel

Building platforms too early

The platform problemNeed deep expertiseMaintenance is expensiveAre you blocking innovation?Are there enough use cases?What are your business goals?

Project

Management

Characteristics of a good PMKey member of the teamKnowledgable about technologyUnderstands processInternally keeps team on trackProtects the team externallyEffectively pushes back

Expectation management

Process

Define a process that works for youMethodology doesn’t matterWell defined, yet flexibleSimple is betterTransparent

Developmentpractices

Development practicesUse source control (SVN, Git, etc.)Facilitate communicationUse Drupal best practices– Some developers / designers resist– Publicly availableSimple is betterDev / Staging / Prod environmentsDeployment techniques

ThoughtPartnership

Drive goals and innovationUnderstand and identify business goalsUncover painProvide solutions and optionsAvoid ports

Experience

Become expertsDoesn’t happen overnightEmpower your teamLeverage the communityShare knowledge– “Cooperatition” (stolen from Jeff Eaton)– Knowledge gained in returnedGo to conferences, camps, meet-upsGive trainings

What can Acquia do for me?Professional servicesEnterprise supportAcceleratorsFREE training for partnersJoint proposals– Side by side– Behind the scenesAcquia Network

How can we help you succeed?

Questions?

THANK YOU!

What did you think?Locate this session on the DrupalCon London website:http://london2011.drupal.org/conference/schedule

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