Get 65% more value using Drupal distributions (showcase)

Introduction

In this session a developer, Ronald te Brake, and a business owner, Mieszko Czyzyk, explain how their teams leverage open source to bring more value to our client projects, a Drupal 8 distribution (Open Social) and Drupal in general.

These insights are based on the Youth4Peace case for the United Nations (drupal.org case study). This project was developed in only two months, which was made possible by using an existing Drupal distribution.

Interestingly, as much as seven project specific features have been rolled back into the distribution. Also, the project produced a Drupal 8 core patch. Overall we estimate that up to 65% of developers' code found its way back to the distribution.
This additional value becomes available for future projects, both within our agency but also in the wider Drupal ecosystem :D

Take-aways

This talk appeals to business owners, product managers and project managers interested in building and maintaining a Drupal based module, product or distribution. For business owners it touches upon:

• real world business metrics on billable hours versus non-billable time spent on the distribution, including estimates of return on investment

• managing client and product teams within one company

• An overview of how distribution based client projects are a cost effective and sustainable way of growing a Drupal based technology company

Product and project managers can learn:

• How to identify client needs and the current match with a distribution (gap analysis)

• Practical and technical details on how to contribute back client specific features to a distribution, using examples from the Youth4Peace showcase

We reserve 15 minutes to demo key Youth4Peace features and innovations and mirror these to features rolled back and now available in the Open Social distribution. The last 10 minutes is reserved for discussion, both business topics and more technical questions are welcome!

Youth4Peace Showcase

The ground-breaking UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security, adopted on 9 December 2015, recognizes the positive role that young women and young men play in maintaining international peace and security.

The Youth4Peace platform provides users and partners access to relevant and timely information on youth, peace and security and acts as a virtual meeting place for those striving to collaboratively support the participation of young people in peacebuilding.

Community contributions we talk about:

• Drupal 8 Core

• Open Social distribution
  - Book page implementation
  - Image cropping for all content types (Drupal media initiative)
  - Download counter for files

You can find elaborate project details on this drupal.org showcase page.

About Open Social

Open Social is an open source platform for building online communities made with Drupal 8. Replacing traditional intranets, Open Social fuels bottom-up innovation within organizations.

Early versions of the software have won the Dutch Interactive Awards in 2015. The project, Greenpeace Greenwire (drupal.com), helps 60.000 active volunteers of Greenpeace to bring positive change around the world. In the Netherlands the software increased volunteering by 600%.

We offer our software in three versions: free distribution, fully maintained software-as-a-service and an enterprise edition. The product is developed by a core team of twelve people and is funded by GoalGorilla, a leading Drupal agency from The Netherlands.

Open Social is based in tech-hub TQ in Amsterdam and in Twente, both are part of Dutch StartupDelta; Europe’s largest startup ecosystem.