Talking Business and Strategy in Barcelona
This year, the Business and Strategy track in Barcelona will be about growth and change. The Drupal market is expanding as companies are growing, being founded or merging. Both growth and change present Drupal businesses with various challenges which is why we will focus on how we grow and how we sustain a strong culture in the midst of it, while sharing proven processes and tools.
How did this year’s track description came together?
Six interviews were conducted with CEOs and Managers from all over the world. Four interviewees are leading agencies with 20-30 people and the remaining two are in management positions at small Drupal shops with a maximum of five employees. Due to time constraints, we did not include clients in this survey of the Drupal Business ecosystem.
I asked the interviewees a series of open-ended questions such as “To achieve your current goals, what is missing? What do you need to learn?” and “What frustrates you about running your business at the moment?”
The hottest topic, with five of six managers identifying it as an imporant issue is team structure. They would like to learn how other agencies and companies organize their multidisciplinary teams and how those structures have to change when they grow.
Four people mentioned that culture is key. They are curious as to how a good corporate culture can be maintained when the company grows and when new people are added to the team. Tips to improve collaboration within the team and to keep up motivation would be helpful in their eyes.
Four leaders talked about growth in general. They would like to look at companies that are a few steps further in the corporate development and learn from their challenges, failures, and success. An interesting thought was if it is possible to link certain pitfalls to a certain size or development stage of a company? They would like to see concrete KPIs with which they can use to measure their business.
Business diversification - either within the Tech area, to serve other platforms, as well as diversifying outside of Tech into areas such as User Experience and Digital consulting - is something half of the leaders are actively thinking about.
Tools and processes are mentioned between the lines by all interviewees but half of the respondents went into more detail what their needs are in this area: improving time tracking and billing, using KPIs for business performance and customer satisfaction.
Topics mentioned by two people were: profitability and planning teams on projects, selling Drupal 8 and in which way the European market is special compared to other big markets such as the US.
It was great talking with all these amazing people and collecting their inputs which have helped shaped the major themes of DrupalCon Barcelona's Business and Strategy Track.
Now it’s your turn. Please help us to make this year’s business track the best ever. You can do so by submitting a talk and by motivating other talented speakers to share their knowledge.
See you in Barcelona!
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Business and Strategy Track Chair
DrupalCon Barcelona