I happen to be the member of a few non-profit technology e-mail lists. One of them is the NOSI list. Just my luck, there was a discussion started by Dirk Slater who was asking about what kind of web cms should be used for the Community Voices Heard website. Dirk basically liked Joomla and Drupal as starting points. Little did I know that the NOSI list was populated by Plone vendors and developers. They really, really wanted Dirk to do the site in Plone.
And for what it’s worth, my org’s website runs on a Plone/Zope platform. We haven’t had the greatest luck with it but it works and is stable. However, I wouldn’t recommend using Plone/Zope for a smaller non-profit simply because it’s more of an application framework and not “just” a CMS. That little slash between Plone/Zope is ultimately my main concern about the platform in regards to a smaller non-profit. Zope is an application server and Plone is the CMS that runs on top of it. The application stack gets to be kinda complex to manage and administer when you’ve got Apache, Zope and Plone.
A quick look at Community Voices Heard’s Form 990 at Guidestar told me that they probably didn’t have the infrastructure to handle a Plone/Zope deployment: that is, there’s nobody in-house who will be able to watch over a complex Plone/Zope deployment and work with it exclusively. I’m not disparaging the Plone/Zope consultants but one does have to question whether or not it’s a good fit for an org with only $690,000 in expenses each year.
Eventually, I made this remark:
Basically, I think developers create a cycle of dependency when they implement a web app framework such as Zope/Plone for smaller non-profits. This is what I mean when I discuss the high IT priesthood (and as a former web consultant in the bubble era, I’m just as guilty of this as anyone). Many non-profits are then stuck in having to call the developer over and over again for minor changes such as a CSS style sheet change or a new content area with different content headings.
There’s no way that a smaller non-profit without dedicated IT staff can reach a level of robust independence from a developer if what they get is a web app framework and not an easy to use CMS.
And thus, my real fear. I’m not really interested in doing a critique of Plone so much as I am in the criteria that consultants and developers use in providing assistance to non-profits. As part of that discussion, I said:
As a general aside, we need to keep in mind the following thing as a IT worker in the non-profit worker [sic - I meant sector]: Are you sure you’re not creating future work for yourselves when you spec out a heavy-duty app framework like Zope/Plone for your clients and/or users? If they keep having to come back to you, are you really helping the non-profit sector? I think that if a client has to keep returning back to the consultant, that consultant has done a particular disservice. After all, you’ve just taken dollars that would have been spent feeding the homeless, helping people with life-threatening diseases or the myriad other things that non-profits too [sic - I meant to say do] .
Now, I’m not saying that all NPO tech consultants are opportunists looking to bleed NPOs dry. In fact, most open source tech consultants probably see themselves as the technical equivalent of NPOs themselves with the NPO standing in as the needy client. They try mighty hard to deliver solutions they see as the ethical equivalent of a food program.
However, there’s a life cycle that has to be considered when you’re building out what will eventually be an application. Traditional software development paradigms are fairly relevant when discussing the lifecycle of a website release. Once you start thinking that way, you then start thinking about the TCO involved with hiring consultants to support a product that is technically complex. Let’s face it, while the number is growing, it’s still more difficult to find developers and administrators for open source applications especially on Linux platforms. That tends to tilt the salary requirements for the in-house staff needed to take care of a Web site in the wrong direction. Combined with the low numbers of other capable consultants who work on the same platform, this will further constrain the options available to any smaller NPO.
NPOs have long ago seen this kind of interaction between themselves and their clients and have tried to alter this by changing the very nature of the interaction by doing more empirical analyses of the effects of their work on the outcomes of their clients and by reassessing the end product of their work and how it should affect their clients. I think it’s time for open source advocates to do the same.
I thought I was in the minority when I voiced my opinion (I even got flamed for even daring to speak poorly of Plone) but it turns out others share my opinions on this. A very reasonable position on OSS for NPOs is held by Nick Gleason from Citysoft. I think he and I are probably going to be virtually tarred and feathered but hey, this is what blogging is for. 
I really am looking forward to anyone’s opinions out there about OSS, especially if you’re a non-profit IT director/admin/worker. Have you experienced OSS’ peculiar brand of vendor lock-in? Does my critique apply to your ASP as well? If you want to keep from being eTarred-and-Feathered by leaving a comment, send me e-mail at confessions[type your at sign here]nonprofittechblog.org.
Loading ...
