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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
Click the “Take the survey” link