Mastering CiviCRM #3: Simplifying
There's no question that CiviCRM is incredibly powerful.
You want a customized multi-level permission scheme in which members can view and edit not only their own information but also that of others in an ad hoc member cohort — without exposing sensitive data to unauthorized users?
You want customized and automated deduping that prevents and removes duplicate contacts easily, based on any number of complicated rules that you define?
You want to let site visitors purchase gift memberships and event registrations for any number of their friends or coworkers, with a discount code that only works for the first 10 people, and make sure all the payments get recorded automatically and correctly in QuickBooks?
Yep, I have clients who are doing all of that.
But that power comes with a cost: complexity.
Complexity is a cost
Make no mistake, complexity is a cost. It shows up when things aren't working the way you think they should work, and you can't figure out why.
A few real examples my clients have faced recently:
Site visitors getting access denied errors on simple contribution pages.
High abandonment rates for event registration forms that ask for too many questions.
Staff spending far too long entering data via complex workflows.
All of these problems were solved with one or both of these solutions:
Simplifying the system by streamlining permissions, workflows, and user interfaces.
Or, for complex components that you've decided are worth keeping, carefully documenting both the rationale and the functionality.
Simplifying reduces that cost
Open source systems like CiviCRM will give you plenty of rope — usually enough to tie yourself up in some pretty good knots.
Failing to manage the complexity leaves you with a system that you don't fully understand. And it will lead to mysterious issues that make you want to pull your hair out.
That's no way to build for success. Simplify where you can.
All the best,
A.