Why do Drupal Projects Fail?:
Evaluating Success Factors and
When to Use Drupal
Julia Kulla-Mader
http://www.juliakm.com
IRC/Twitter/Drupal: JuliaKM
Drupalcamp Atlanta 2009

Julia Kulla-Mader
Drupal.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
11%
Total abandonment
Partial abandonment 22%
No abandonment
67%

Success?: Cost
Within Budget Over Budget
40%
60%

Success?: Scope Creep
New features > 15 percent requirements
New feature < 15 percent requirements 47%
53%

Success?: Completed on Schedule
Completed on Schedule Not Completed on Schedule
47%
53%

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)
Projects Over Budget Projects Meeting Budget
17% 11%
22%
50% 17%
22% 44%
17%
Less than 20 pages Less than 20 pages
21 - 100 pages 21 - 100 pages
101 - 500 pages 101 - 500 pages
501 - 1,500 pages 501 - 1,500 pages
Over 1,500 pages Over 1,500 pages

5. Beware of Big Projects (Size and Cost)
Projects Exceeding Schedule Projects Meeting Schedule
13% 14% 14%
13%
14%
50%
13%
13% 57%
Less than 20 pages Less than 20 pages
21 - 100 pages 21 - 100 pages
101 - 500 pages 101 - 500 pages
501 - 1,500 pages 501 - 1,500 pages
Over 1,500 pages Over 1,500 pages

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