Motivating and Approaching Decoupled Drupal

Decoupled (or "headless") Drupal, where Drupal-unaware clients such as single-page apps and native mobile apps ingest exposed data provisioned by the CMS, has seen a lot of hype recently. Much discussion has revolved around how to decouple Drupal from a technical standpoint, but comparatively little debate has dealt with why Drupal should be decoupled from the business standpoint. This session will examine what motivates businesses from enterprises to small businesses into decoupling Drupal and what things to consider that may impact your bottom line for better or for worse.

Is decoupled Drupal just a buzzword, or are there real and convincing rationales for pursuing a decoupled Drupal architecture? Join me as we scrutinize discovery for decoupled projects, decoupled teams and project management, impacts on budgets and timelines, and how to approach a decoupled Drupal implementation properly. We'll also discuss how to justify untested technologies and what risks decoupling Drupal carries for your business.

Here's what we'll explore:

• Why decoupled Drupal is good or bad for business
• Motivating decoupled Drupal
• Use cases and alternatives
• Discovery for decoupled Drupal projects
• The risks of decoupling Drupal
• Available technologies
• Managing, staffing, and working in decoupled teams
• Independent work streams
• Impact on budgets and timelines
• New and future approaches to decoupled Drupal
• Epilogue: "Web 3.0" and the future of content (management)

This session is intended for those who are interested in pursuing a decoupled Drupal architecture for their business or anyone who is eager to know more about decoupled Drupal in the wild. It is not intended to be overly technical, though some technologies will be discussed superficially.