CRM projects I’ll say no to

I just got off the phone with a prospective client who was looking for help making CiviCRM do something really neat.

Like, “a CRM really should be able to do this stuff” kind of neat.

I talked him out of it.

He seemed pretty happy about that. I was too.

Why?

There are certain types of projects I just don't want to take.

At the top of that list are the ones in which the client does not have a sound business case for the work.

And that was the situation on today’s phone call.

We discussed the total value of what he was hoping to achieve — time and money savings for his organization, stress savings for himself and his volunteer staff, convenience for his constituents.

And we discussed alternative solutions that could get him a large chunk of that value for a fraction of the cost of his original proposal to me.

We happily agreed that those alternatives were likely to bring him far more value than creating an expensive project with me.

He was happy. I was happy. And there it ended.

Here's the thing:

For any project, large or small, the client is going to incur expenses:

• My fees.

• Their own time and effort working with me.

• The time and effort to train their staff, users, or others who will be affected by the change.

• The ongoing burden of maintaining whatever customizations are created through our work together.

Whatever units you might use, all of that adds up to some measurable investment.

I don't want to take anybody down that road if that investment is going to be larger than:

• the value they can expect to get from it, or

• the cost of some reasonable alternative.

That's why I’m always going on about — and asking about — business goals, strategy, and alternative solutions.

I hope you're asking yourself those questions as well, anytime you get a great new idea.

Great new ideas are always fun, but the real question is:

Is it worth it?

All the best,
A.