[consulting] Drupal considerd dangerous

[Sami Khan]

Kaliya * wrote:
>
>
> On 12/24/06, *Sami Khan* <sami at etopian.net <mailto:sami at etopian.net>> 
> wrote:
>
>     Drupal can and will pretty much do anything that a web application
>     can do given it's in the right hands of people, this is in terms
>     of functionality, ANYTHING!.If one of the core developers takes on
>     a project that they're bound to finish regardless or any
>     circumstance then yes Drupal can be developed into any type of
>     application you want, period.
>
>
> Ok. so you Sami just proved the point of the original author of this 
> thread. This is the arrogant 'it can do anything attitude' along with 
> the caveat 'especially true if you are core.'
> Well the companies that adopted this and then were hurt likely heard 
> the first sentence and didn't quite get the second sentence. They then 
> found out about it when the got stuck and had to pay some core 
> developers really high rates per hour to get them unstuck. Of course 
> core guys can build what ever they want. The swim in the code all day 
> long and have done so for years. This does not mean it is the right 
> choice for a startup.
Kaliya,

I don't think that the startups were hurt because they choose Drupal, 
but rather because of the fact the first of all the believed the 
assertion without asking what was the catch... that's due diligence. 
Second, once they adopted a technology, and considering that they 
themselves were not developers or not well versed in Drupal, how did 
they aim to retain the developers? I personally and many like me are 
happy to work for startups considering that there's an upside and 
they're giving a piece of the venture in return for retention, these 
types of ventures often fail then those who think that they can just 
hire someone for a few thousands dollars and expect that person to 
produce everything that they had in mind and more.

Failure rate in general entrepreneurship is 70%+ and therefore failure 
is common in the entrepreneurship world. Companies often invest millions 
and IT and don't see any return on their investment. I think that it's a 
bit too convenient to say that they were convinced into using Drupal and 
then they had to pay the big, mean, expensive core developers to get 
unstuck... Instead I think it's more fair to ask why they got stuck in 
the first place in terms of the decisions they made with choosing 
Drupal, choosing developers, allocating budgets and rewards to keep 
their developers motivated, etc., Also I think that its more accurate to 
say that Drupal is a bag of mixed blessings, and as with any technology 
you win some and you lose some... I personally think that's what 
separates the successes from the failures, those who roll with the 
punches vs. those who close shop and blame their failures on technology, 
rather than the incorrect business decisions they made in terms of 
technology, HR, finances, etc. There is no conspiracy to get people to 
use Drupal, just honest attempt to sell it for its functionality, which 
often requires more effort that it might seem at the surface, but you 
would know that if you did your due diligence and evaluated all the 
alternatives.

Regards,
Sami


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