DrupalCon Nashville 2018: You wouldn’t choose the cheapest brain surgeon

Dries said it himself: the future of Drupal is ambitious digital experiences. The power of building ambitious digital experiences comes with great responsibility. We owe it to ourselves, our users, our clients, and the community, to decommoditize Drupal development services.

Regardless of your tenure in the Drupal community, you’ve undoubtedly heard people talk about how “hard” Drupal is, and the steep learning curve it carries. 

The truth is, Drupal development can be complex and “difficult”. We argue that’s a good thing, and that Drupal development is not a commodity, but rather a highly critical procedure to be performed by the skilled expert, with an emphasis on not cutting corners. Drupal has evolved beyond its place among the Wordpresses and Squarespaces of the world. It’s too complicated for building basic marketing sites, and the effort to reward ratio for a site like that just isn’t worth it. That’s because Drupal’s effort to reward ratio sweet spot is with more complex sites. It’s meant for ambitious digital experiences. 

So why, then, do so many people try to cut corners and haggle on price when developing a Drupal website? These negotiation tactics are a practice that is reserved for commodities. You wouldn’t shop around for the best price on brain surgery. On the contrary - if someone offered you the “lowest price”, this would be cause for alarm and concern. This procedure is a massive investment and failure has massive repercussions. In this session, we argue that Drupal development is the same. 

As an attendee of this session, you’ll walk away knowing: 

Drupal’s value proposition as a complex CMS for building ambitious digital experiences
Projects that Drupal is meant for, and ones that it’s not 
How our agency has moved from thinking of Drupal development as a commodity to a consultative service 
How to make sure that Drupal is being used to its full extent on your project
This session is great for anyone who is evaluating Drupal for their project or has already decided on Drupal, but wants to make sure that they are implementing it in the right way, as well as people who work at an agency or consultancy that builds or sells Drupal websites professionally.