Climbing Mountains

Yesterday I heard Diana M. Dupuis (@mooncougar on Twitter) of Four Kitchens say in a presentation about training that users “don’t climb mountains they hike paths.” This is the best way to say what Denver DataMan has been trying to say for a long time. We train users to hike the paths that make sense for them so they can get to the tools they need. Often developing websites becomes about creating whiz bang features they don’t add to the user experience, don’t make the site run faster, don’t make managing the content more efficient and just add complexity to what could be made more simple. By creating nice clean paths of limited steepness for our clients to hike we are able to make a more productive experience.

When I think about this quote it just makes sense. In Denver, many of us hike, others hike harder mountains and then there are those of us who climb. I have said for a long time that programming is like mountain climbing, as long as I have something to grab onto I get to the next level but is the responsibility of the developer to create clear cut paths and maintain them.

Much of what I have learned today at DrupalCon is some real climbing (you know, ropes and carabineers and maybe a rock pick and whole bunch of stuff from REI). However as I climb with the rest of the Denver DataMan team we must remember to continue to create clear paths.

I am also very excited about the progress made on creating a contact relationship management system or CRM in Drupal. I have agreed to commit myself and the Denver DataMan team to documentation of the new tools that will fit in Drupal. We are so excited about a Drupal CRM because it will be robust and expandable, connected to web content and user accounts, connected directly to ecommerce, and social networking. We hope to be able to offer Drupal CRM solution packages by this time next year.

I also learned about a great event management platform that has been built for Drupal and would be able to be integrated with Drupal CRM when it is ready. We can start providing conference management solutions now.

I hope you’re enjoying reading my travel log as I am enjoying writing it.