A short time later, your organization decides to open a second office, which has a different business focus than the first location.  But they ask if you can adapt your application for their needs, saying that they would like to go live in a month.  You try to get specific details about what they would like to see in the new system, but everyone is frantically busy and you end up having to make certain assumptions to revise the application for their needs.  But you push forward, and somehow are able to finish by the deadline.  Again, everyone is pleased.  Management again applauds your efforts.

Before you can savor your latest success, the first office asks if you can add some reports to the application which they hadn’t included in the original specifications.  (You had asked about reports, but were told that they would deal with that later.)  When reviewing their request, you realize that much of this information isn’t collected by the application, so you have to go back and revise some screens before creating the new reports.  And because of the tight deadline, you don’t have time to develop a front end interface to run the reports, but you say that’s OK because as the IT person, you can run them when requested.

You roll out the new reports and application changes, but then realize that your edits have broken something that is used by the first office.  So you need to go back and tweak the code a bit more and do more testing so that the application will work properly for both locations.  Due to some personnel changes at both locations, you also realize that you need to schedule user training.  And when they ask for user documentation, you realize that this was not done due to the rush to get things finished.

Eventually, your nonprofit keeps growing, and so does the use of your application was you originally designed for one office.  You keep making modifications, but these changes end up making the code increasingly complex.  (When you hire a new programmer to help you, it takes him months to figure out how everything works.)

Now your small application is in use by over 10 offices, all which use it a bit differently.  You’re now getting many requests for user support, and your tech support team can’t always help because they don’t fully understand how the application works.  When you speak to users from some of the earliest opened offices, you find out that many have established parallel systems in Excel and Access to handle situations that your software can’t accommodate.  Apparently, the business needs of your offices have changed so much that your application will need to be redesigned.

Finally you decide to have a meeting where you invite representatives from all of your offices to discuss what to do next.  Everyone says that their needs are unique and that they should receive special priority.  Many staff seem happy to continue using their personal spreadsheets and databases since it allows them to more easily manipulate and report on their data.  But your research department, which is trying to prepare organization wide reports to show the effectiveness of your work, is increasingly frustrated, saying that the data that they pull from your application is no longer accurate.

What to do next?  My recommendations:

1. Evaluate hosted solutions.  Unless your business need is very unusual, there’s probably something else out there that will meet at least 75% of your needs.
2. Look for the commonality between your offices’ work.  Even if you do end up having to build something yourself, there’s probably much functionality that will work for all.
3. Decide up front what reports will be needed, and in what format.  Give users the ability to manage their own data, otherwise they’ll again be tempted to enter data again in a parallel system.
4. Find out how other nonprofits of your type are handling similar requirements.  You may be able to learn from others’ experiences.
5. Sometimes you will need to say no when you don’t have the time to do the job right, or if you’re not getting the cooperation from stakeholders in defining requirements.  Better to be unpopular in the short run than to be blamed later for a system which doesn’t work as expected.
6. Use agile project management techniques to focus on short term deliverables.  This will allow you to more effectively respond to changing organization needs
7. Provide ongoing training for both new and experienced staff members.  Most systems aren’t easy enough for people to easily ‘figure out’ how they work
8. Get top management support, especially when you have to remind colleagues that not every request for program customizations can be handled.

• A Few Words About Gratitude, on how we can carry the spirit of Thanksgiving throughout the year.  Also see, Thoughts at Thanksgiving on Gratitude
• I’ve often discussed the importance of groups working together within a nonprofit, including facilitation of a panel on Collaboration and Management in Cross-Departmental Web Projects
• I presented an Nten webinar on Project Management for Nonprofits, suggesting that nonprofits use techniques already in use by many for profit organizations
• I asked Who Handles ePhilanthropy in Your Organization, mentioning the trend towards a separate department to develop and implement online strategy  It’s also important to know how what NOT to do online, such as interviewing vendors before you’ve firmed up your requirements.  And here’s why organization structure matters.
• At successful nonprofits, staff are all involved in fundraising and communications, no matter what ‘department’ they are in.  See Why Everyone Is In Communications
• To succeed online, sooner or later we need the help of vendors providing hosted software.  Read my tips on working with an online vendor.
• This year after hearing about Michelle Misner’s wonderful experience at a webmaster group I participate in, I co-presented another Nten webinar on How to NY Public Library Successfully Project Managed a New Drupal Website.  If you’re planning a CMS rollout, whether or not you’re using Drupal, listening to Michelle tips on the recording is a must.

More highlights from past posts next week.  Meanwhile, thank you for reading my thoughts for the past five years.  I wish you a wonderful 2012!

1. Ask some friends (who aren’t familiar with your organization) to critique your nonprofit’s website.  Are they able to quickly understand what you do?  Is it easy to donate or sign up for your email list?
2. Analyze your website analytics, Facebook insights data so you know what’s working best with your constituents.  And don’t forget to segment your audience.  Debra Askanase explains more
3. Go back to the basics – find new ways to build your email list (via Idealware)
4. Encourage your staff’s professional development by supporting their participation in organizations such as Nten, which will have its annual conference in April and sponsors informational webinars and live 501 Tech meetings throughout the US throughout the year.
5. Saying thank you to donors is always an good idea, but it’s also crucial to make sure your staff and volunteers feel appreciated for their hard work.  As my friend Shana Masterson recently tweeted, “You might not be in a position to reward someone (financially), but u can always acknowledge the work they’ve done.”
6. To make your meetings your effective, make sure an agenda goes out to participants in advance and a summary is sent shortly afterwards – it’s a simple project management technique that can insure that everyone’s on the same page
7. Help someone who is in transition.  While unemployment figures seem to be dropping a bit, there are still many people who are struggling.  Reach out to colleagues who need encouragement and support.

Have a healthy and peaceful holiday and a wonderful new year.

In addition to the tips I provided in my earlier blog post, here’s some additional takeaways from yesterday’s session:

• Do a content audit before starting a website redesign;  you probably have more content than you think; allow plenty of time for migration into the new CMS
• Picking the product is easy compared to instilling a culture within your organization so everyone assumes responsibility for online content – if only the communications department has updated web pages in the past, this will be a major shift
• Training is a continual process – not just when you roll out the new system;  Drupal has a steep learning curve, so make sure you allow the time for internal staff to learn the software, especially the person(s) who will be managing the site
• Make sure you coordinate what’s on your website with other communication channels, e.g. social media, and use an editorial calendar to plan content updates on all platforms
• Plan who will be responsible for content updates and then trust your staff to post them; not every piece of content needs to be reviewed before going live, but some parts of your website may need to be more closely monitored than others.  (Drupal does not have a built-in way to notify approvers that content is awaiting review.)

1. Find out in advance who will be attending so you can prepare the most relevant content.  (You can also learn about participants during the event by asking questions with a few short polls.)
2. Allow plenty of opportunity for audience interaction, preferably throughout the session – not just at the end.
3. Keep your slides short.  While it’s good to summarize major points, don’t offer so much information that it overwhelms your viewers.
4. If possible, ask someone to monitor the back channel – it’s a bit difficult to present and to also handle incoming chat questions.  Provide a hash tag so those who couldn’t attend live can easily follow the live tweets.
5. Be prepared to switch to a web browser to show something that isn’t available in your slides (and practice how to do this before you actually are in the webinar)
6. Offer to respond after the event to questions you didn’t get to, or for which you want to provide more information for later –  but don’t promise what you can’t deliver
7. Offer online resources to others in our nonprofit community for attendees who want to go deeper

Frustrated trying to keep up to date with Facebook?  Get help in John’s Tactical Guide to Recent Facebook Changes and sign up for next month’s bi-monthly Facebook features update from Common Knowledge.

Planning to roll out a new website with Drupal?  Have you already launched, but finding it difficult to manage how to manage content edits and approvals?  Join Michelle Misner and I on Nov. 29 to learn How the NYPL Successfully Project Managed a New Drupal Website.  (It’s free if you’re a Nten member!).

Speaking of Nten, I’ve just signed up for next spring’s annual Nonprofit Technology Conference in San Francisco.  Please register now to lock in the lowest rate.  It’s always the premier event of the year for the #nptech community.

It’s year-end fundraising season again.  Get a jump start by reviewing Farra Trompeter’s online fundraising tips, Convio’s How to Get Your Holiday Appeals Opened and Jeff Brooks’ reminder to Avoid Common Fundraising Mistakes, e.g. remembering that you are not your donor.  And of course, don’t forget to plan a multi-channel campaign.

If you’re in NYC, join us at next week’s 501 Tech NYC event;  this month we’ll chat about Google for Nonprofits.  Also if you manage a nonprofit website, sign up for the next quarterly gathering of the Not-for-Profit Webmaster Round Table, planned for mid-December.

Although there are many great open source content management systems available, I’ve noticed that it’s still a challenge for many nonprofits to decentralize the process of updating website content at our organizations.  But at least one organization at our meeting has figured out how to do it right.  Michelle Misner, Digital Project Manager at the NY Public Library, kindly shared her experience with us yesterday in rolling out Drupal which “revolutionalized” how their website is maintained.  How did they do it?

1. Setup extensive training both during rollout and on an ongoing basis to familiarize staff with the new software
2. Recruited senior management to spearhead the process, including the modification of staff roles to include responsibility for website content updates
3. Using permissions, user rights and specific Drupal content types, entrusted staff with responsibility for specific areas of the website and chose not to use an intricate approval process.  Instead, there is a staff person who monitors site updates.
4. Encouraged in-house developer to learn Drupal to maintain the system instead of having to continue to rely on the outside firm which assisted with the implementation.

We also took a look at how to optimize web content for specific contents, such as the Boston Globe‘s impressive use of responsive design,  shared tips for getting the most from Google AdWords and debated the latest Facebook news feed updates.

Thanks to David for having kept our group active for several years and to Michelle for sharing her story about how we can better manage content for our websites.  Quoting David, paying attention to your website could make the difference between your organization receiving an online donation, attracting a volunteer – or not.

• Get to know your stakeholders.  Especially if you’re in a new environment (as I am now as Technical PM at the Center for Court Innovation), take the time to learn about why the project was initiated, and how committed (or not) your colleagues are to its success
• Project success isn’t about the technology.  As was pointed out in a recent discussion on the Nten email list, it’s crucial to understand the business processes – how things are done in an organization – before you recommend how technology should be used.
• Remember that your project team (usually) doesn’t work for you.  As a result, you have to be respectful of their other work obligations, and set reasonable deadlines for project tasks.
• Participate in person at PM groups like PMI and NY Spin, and online at LinkedIn (try the Project Manager Network).  Don’t just attend meetings to earn PDUs;  ask other PMs what they’re doing to manage projects successfully.  Also review Lou Gasco’s Top 10 Obstacles to Project Success.
• Don’t forget about training.  If you roll out a wonderful online application without planning for ongoing training and support of your user population, you haven’t completed the job.

As the next step in my career, I will join the Center for Court Innovation (CCI) on Monday, an organization which has used technology to revolutionize who things are done in criminal justice, creating demonstration projects throughout New York which have been used as a model for similar initiatives elsewhere in the United States and internationally.

As Project Manager, I will be supporting and enhancing the use of technology at many of these projects, as well as helping to create new programs.  CCI describes its goals as helping victims, reducing crime, strengthening neighborhoods and improving public trust in justice.

As I learned more about the organization during the interviewing process, I’ve been impressed by the Center for Court Innovation’s focus on innovation and having won numerous awards for its achievements in only 15 years of existence, as well as the professionalism of those I met with.

If you’re not familiar with CCI’s work, please visit its website, Facebook page and Twitter stream - or watch this overview video – as I begin another chapter in my career serving nonprofits.

The debate continues on the new Google Plus.  Beth Kanter offers her take, as does Frogloop and TNW Social Media.  I believe there may be a benefit to adding your contacts manually, as it forces us to give some thought of who should be in each ‘circle.’  According to the Huffington Post, nonprofits are wasting no time in kicking the tires of Google’s answer to Facebook.

If your organization is undergoing a major change (as most of us do sooner or later), Peter De Jager provides many great resources on change management at Technobility.  See also Chaos is the New Normal.

Learn about fundraising and emarketing in Blackbaud’s Summer School webinar series which starts this week and, if you’re in NYC, attend next week’s 501 Tech Club meeting featuring how to get started with WordPress (which this blog uses).

As a follow-up to last week’s post on How to Make Your Projects Successful, Ben Lichtenwalner offers his Inverted Pyramid of Project Success.