Why do Drupal Projects Fail?: Evaluating Success Factors and When to Use Drupal

Why do Drupal Projects Fail?: Evaluating Success Factors and When to Use Drupal Julia Kulla-Maderhttp://www.juliakm.comIRC/Twitter/Drupal: JuliaKMDrupalcamp Atlanta 2009

Julia Kulla-MaderDrupal.org member for 2 years and 33 weeks

Part I: How I started using Drupal

Web Development Internship

Yippee! My Own Project

Limited Budget

Not a lot of time

Trustworthy

• Security

• Customizable Permissions

Small, Modular and Useful

• Lightweight core code

• 4,000+ Modules

Lots of Smart, Helpful People

• 1,400+ at last Drupalcon

• Active support forms

• Used by major businesses & nonprofits

My First Drupal Project Was a Big Success

2 Years Later...How do I measure Drupal?

• IT Manager at a growing nonprofit

• Co-organizer of Triangle Drupal

• Continuously asked, “Can I do this in Drupal?”

Part II: Drupal Success Factors Survey

• Want to answer the question, “What makes Drupal projects succeed or fail?”

• Surveyed 25+ Drupal content administrators, backend administrators, backend integrators, theme developers, code developers (Source: Drupal Kata)

• Take the survey at: bit.ly/drupalsuccess

Survey Sample

Survey Limitations

• Small Sample size (less than 30 people)

• Self-selected group, all with Drupal experience

• Lack of historical data (Drupal 6 vs. Drupal 5)

• Questions were not required

Defining Success

• Was all or part of the project abandoned?

• The total cost of the project was within what was outlined in the project budget.

• New features requirements made up 15 percent or less of the total project requirements.

• The project was completed on schedule.

Success?: Abandonment

67%

22%

11%

Total abandonmentPartial abandonmentNo abandonment

Success?: Cost

40%

60%

Within Budget Over Budget

Success?: Scope Creep

47%53%

New features > 15 percent requirementsNew feature < 15 percent requirements

Success?: Completed on Schedule

53%47%

Completed on Schedule Not Completed on Schedule

Part III: What do problematic projects have in common?

1. Early Goal Setting Avoids Scope Creep

2. On-Going Project Audits Make a Difference

3. Modules Performance Matters

• If more than 90 percent of Drupal modules do not work as expected or meet user requirements, projects will:

• run into schedule problems

• experience scope creep

4. Non-Developers Need to Understand Drupal

• Projects completed on schedule without scope creep are built by developers working with technical project managers and stakeholders who “get” Drupal

“In client work, the biggest problem seems to be a lack of technical understanding by the client contact/project manager and

a lack of clear goals for the site because of this.”

5. Beware of Big Projects (Size and Cost)

50%

17%

17%

17%

Less than 20 pages21 - 100 pages101 - 500 pages501 - 1,500 pagesOver 1,500 pages

Projects Over Budget

22%

22% 44%

11%

Less than 20 pages21 - 100 pages101 - 500 pages501 - 1,500 pagesOver 1,500 pages

Projects Meeting Budget

5. Beware of Big Projects (Size and Cost)

14%

14%

57%

14%

Less than 20 pages21 - 100 pages101 - 500 pages501 - 1,500 pagesOver 1,500 pages

Projects Meeting Schedule

50%

13%

13%

13%

13%

Less than 20 pages21 - 100 pages101 - 500 pages501 - 1,500 pagesOver 1,500 pages

Projects Exceeding Schedule

Part IV: Should I use Drupal?

Can I devote time to setting project goals?

• Projects that devoted time to setting goals had more accurate specifications

Can I create accountability in my project?

• Can someone unbiased spend time checking deliverables against milestones?

• Is there someone who can do this without compromising their role on the team?

Do I have experience evaluating modules against user requirements?

• Can you or someone you hire can accurately predict whether a module will meet your requirements?

Do non-developers on the project have Drupal experience?

• Everyone on your team needs to understand Drupal before you start planning

How big is my project?

• Big Drupal projects need more attention and are going to be inherently risky

• If you have a big project (1,500+ pages, lots of module complexity), you need to be willing to alter cost, scope, or budget down the road

Part V: Last Thoughts

What are common patterns of project success?

• Early goal setting

• On-going project audits

• More than 90 percent of modules work as expected

• Whole project team understands Drupal

• Smaller projects are more likely to meet cost and time expectations

What questions should I ask before starting?

• Can I devote time to setting project goals?

• Can I create accountability in my project?

• Do I have experience evaluating modules against user requirements?

• Do non-developers on the project have Drupal experience?

• How big is my project?

Thank you for listening