Keeping up with upgrades

If you’ve already got an expert professional (in-house or outsourced) handling upgrades for you, you can probably skip this email. But if you’re curious about the kinds of challenges that can come up, or you’re doing the upgrades yourself (totally do-able, by the way), this might interest you.

How actively should you be applying updates to your open-source CRM and CMS?

CiviCRM drops a new release at least once a month, and usually more often.

Drupal and WordPress may release a little less frequently, but not by much.

On top of that, new versions are continually being released for CiviCRM extensions, WordPress plugins, and Drupal modules.

How you respond to these updates is entirely up to you, but here are my general guidelines for most sites:

• Security updates: Take the update.
  
  If you find that a new release includes security fixes, take the update. It's very rare that you'll have a good reason to wait. Just do it.
  
  Rationale: Security issues are serious, and once the update is released, you can be sure that nefarious players are looking for un-patched sites they can attack. (Sure, if you're a developer with opinions about whether some security patches are not-so-serious, and are willing to own the risk, I won't try to persuade you. But for everyone else: take the update.)
  

• Non-security updates for the core CiviCRM, Drupal, and WordPress projects: Wait on it, if you can.
  
  If there's as bug-fix or feature improvement you believe would be fixed by updating, then take the update. Otherwise, it's generally not worth the effort to chase these updates just because they're available.
  
  Rationale: Updates require measurable effort (backups, installation, testing) and present measurable risk (potential new bugs). And updates to core systems increase the risk because they're more likely to affect the entire system. Unless you have a specific reason to update, it's not worth it.
  

• Updates for CiviCRM extensions, Drupal modules, and WordPress plugins: Take the update.
  
  Go ahead and take these updates as they're available. Make a practice of checking every week or so for available updates, and take them as they come.
  
  Rationale: These updates are relatively easy to apply, and carry a lower risk than core updates -- they may still introduce new bugs, but the scope of that bug is usually limited to the scope of the plugin. Applying frequent updates on these plugins gets you incremental improvement in bug-fixes and functionality, and helps limit the risk of version incompatibility when you do update your core systems.

Here's the thing:

Your open source tools are continually being supported by a vibrant and active community of contributors who are constantly handing out free fixes for your benefit.

Isn't it nice that you, your organization, and your members can benefit from it?

All the best,
A.

Knowing what you want

Sometimes I'm surprised by the number of people I see who seem not to know what they want.

Career decisions, relationship decisions, education decision, and business decisions.

Or I hear from people who say they want something, but they can't really tell me what it's going to get them or why they want it.

Here's the thing:

If you can't explain why you want something, then you're probably not really sure that you want it.

And if you don't really know what you're trying to achieve, why even bother starting?

CRM projects are expensive and risky: you're investing a lot of time, emotional energy, good will, and money. And all of those resources are always limited.

It's important to spend a little time figuring out what you want, and setting a goal or two to shoot for.

And if you can’t quite put your finger on it, then you’ve found your starting point: Identify the need, and identify even one thing that would help you move toward meeting that need.

Then set a measurable goal, and start working toward that goal.

Otherwise, how will you even know if you've succeeded?

All the best,
A.

There are no bad systems.

There is no right or wrong way to arrange your CRM systems.

There are only ways that fit your needs and resources, and ways that don't.

You've got 17 different Excel spreadsheets? That is not inherently bad.

As long as it fits your needs, and is well supported by your available resources, then surely there's no real business case for changing that arrangement.

Here's an example:

Several weeks ago I had a coaching call with a client who was trying hard to get CiviCRM going, so he could track and report publicly on certain kinds of data. Publishing that data is a major pillar in his org’s mission.

But he was a one-person operation, with a lot of irons in the fire, and not a lot of funding to get started with.

He had come to me for help with CiviCRM. It seemed like the "right" thing to do was to help make that happen for him.

But hold on — why does that have to be the "right" thing? What is inherently wrong with something simple like putting that data into a spreadsheet and publishing a couple of easy-to-read PDFs along with the raw data?

After looking closely at his situation together, we both agreed that was the way to go.

It fit his needs, his budget, and his working style. It was right for him.

This past week, he called me again to let me know that it was working great!

Here's the thing:

It is so easy to get caught up in the notion that you need a "real" CRM in order to operate like a “real” organization.

You do not.

What you need are clear goals, a clear assessment of what's possible, and a commitment to getting the results that you want.

If that means using CiviCRM or some other tool, or making substantial improvements to your current setup, that's fine. But it's not a requirement in itself.

Don't buy the hype. Stay focused on the outcomes. That's where success happens.

All the best,
A.

Who cares if you’re measuring outcomes?

Plenty of organizations muddle along "just fine", without setting challenging goals that target measurable results.

They make plans and programs, and they help their people, and they're okay with that.

So why focus so hard on setting clear goals and measuring outcomes? Who cares?

Here are some people who probably do care:

• Your board. When they're deciding whether to approve your next initiative, can you remind them that your last one increased membership renewals by X percent?

• Grant sources. If your work is funded by grants, you can bet the grant funders want to see measurable outcomes, not just generalities like "we did well".

• Your members. Members want reasons to believe that you’re helping them. Can you point to successful projects that, for example, helped place X hundred recent college graduates into jobs in the industry?

• Your supporters. Individual donors, volunteers, and advocates get excited — and more willing to participate — if you can tell them that your new campaign is on track to help X percent more people than you did last year.

• Future employers. We don’t usually like to talk about this, but it's a real thing. When you're seeking that exciting higher-level position at a new organization, will they be more impressed to hear that you “managed operations” in your previous position, or that you implemented an efficient donor outreach system that increased donor retention by 15% — without increasing HR costs?

• Maybe just yourself. Maybe you want to know that you're making the world a better place in real, measurable terms. Maybe it doesn't matter if anybody else in the world appreciates that, as long as you can take pride in it yourself.

Who really cares if you're setting and reaching clear and measurable goals in your organization's work?

Lots of people.

All the best,
A.

Is this a good deal?

Not every "good deal" is as good as it looks.

Yesterday at the grocery store I spotted milk for $1.29 a gallon. In my neck of the woods, that's about 1/3 of the normal price.

Who wouldn't want that?

Then I noticed that it was stamped to expire the same day. Not a good purchase for me.

But other people were buying it.

Maybe they didn't notice the expiration date.

Maybe they have a large family of teenagers and they know they'll go through a gallon of milk in a day.

Either way, I have to let them make their decision, while I make mine.

Here's the thing:

Something can look like a really good deal. The price is right. It's the kind of thing you need. Other people are snapping it up.

But it's not a good deal until you decide it's really right for you.

A new CRM, improvements to your existing CRM, whatever.

The way to know if it's right for you is to check whether it will meet your desired measurable outcomes (you do have those, right?) and fit your limited resources (I know you have those).

If it does, move ahead.

If it doesn't, look for something that does.

All the best,
A.

When a CRM is not the best tool

It can be tempting to try and make CiviCRM do things it wasn't really built for, or more importantly, to do things that don't fit the way you'll use your CRM.

For example:

• Anymous surveys: You're planning to send a link for this survey to a certain segment of your contacts, but you have good reasons to make it anonymous (maybe you believe that makes it easier to answer sensitive personal questions).

The responses are anonymous, so where would you even store them in a CRM?

The better tool for this is probably a plugin in your CMS (Drupal, WordPress), or an online form service like Google Forms or SurveyMonkey.

• Events that don't require fees or registration: You're running a series of "come and go" events in your community — maybe a monthly block party, or frequent bingo games, kareoke night, trivia bowl, etc.

Since these events don't require registration or fees, and you aren't planning to track attendance beyond total numbers, there’s not much for a CRM to do here. The better tool would be a simple static page on your website, or even a more full-featured "event calendar" plugin in your CMS.

Of course if you want, you can use your CRM to create a form where event attendees can voluntarily check-in on their phones, or where survey respondents can sign up to get the survey results.

Those would be smart uses of your CRM, to increase engagement with these folks.

And that — increasing engagement — is where you should be using your CRM.

It's just not for everything.

All the best,
A.

“Not my job”?

Who's responsible for making sure your systems are running well and supporting your mission?

Simple: Anybody who has a say in the matter, and who cares about your mission.

But you can’t assume that everyone on your team will understand that.

The question is, how does it help them?

This is a perennial problem in commercial CRM implementations, and associations and nonprofit teams are no less immune.

Harvard Business review has a nice little article that touches on getting buy-in from all departments to avoid the outright failure of a CRM project. Sure, that's in a commercial context, but the lessons are the same for your organization:

• Data quality suffers when staff members routinely fail to enter good data.

• Getting everyone on board with data quality is a lot easier when they believe it will help their own work.

• If the CRM is hard to use or confusing, staff members will be subtly but powerfully incentivized to just work around it.

Here’s the thing:

No matter how great you think your system is, if your department directors and staff — and even your board — can't see how it fits their priorities, it won't be long before you’re back in the fragmented world of spreadsheets, Google docs, and address books.

Building a successful system requires helping everyone to see the value of that system for their own work.

What steps can you take to help them see that value, and to make it easy for them?

All the best,
A.

Learnable skill sets

Managing your CRM, whether it's CiviCRM or anything else, requires a substantial set of skills.

It's unavoidable. It's the same as operating a sailboat, a bulldozer, or a race car. If you want to experience the satisfaction of using it well, then you and your team will always be learning how to do it better.

You can decide how to divvy up the work. You don't personally have to be great at everything. But you do have to make sure you've got the skills on your team.

And here's the thing:

It is a learnable set of skills.

Get a little help if you need to. Teach yourself over time, hire someone to show you the ropes, or find a coach who can guide you through the difficult parts.

It can be intimidating to ensure that your team is mastering the tools you’ve selected — but it’s always worth the effort.

All the best,
A.

You do not need features

When you're on foot in midtown Manhattan, and you need to get uptown quickly, what you need is not a taxi.

Sure, a taxi might help. But the taxi is not what you need.

What you need is to get uptown quickly. There are any number of ways to do that.

And let's be honest, is getting uptown even the thing you really need?

Are you severely injured and need to get to the hospital? An ambulance might be better than a taxi.

Do you just need to deliver an important package? A bicycle messenger could get it there without you.

Here's the thing:

When you're working everyday with a powerful CRM system — especially one as open-ended and customizable as CiviCRM — it can be very easy to get caught up in ideas about what it can or cannot do, or could be made to do.

But that, in itself, is not the thing you need.

Focusing on features without carefully identifying the measurable business outcomes is a dangerous distraction.

Identify the need first. Identify a goal — hopefully one with a number and a unit. Then, and only then, are you in a position to decide how best to reach that goal.

All the best,
A.

Selling your vision

Ever feel like you're all alone in pushing for better systems and data for your organization?

Your board, your ED, your staff, they've all got a dozen other things on their mind. And there's a good chance they don't understand the value of the improvements that you'd like to see.

Sure, we're all in this together. We're all here to serve the mission of the organization.

But one of the unavoidable facts of operating in a team is the ongoing tension between doing well in one's own area and supporting the work of other team members.

When you have a vision to improve your organization's efficiency and effectiveness through better use of your constituent data, you're probably going to have some convincing to do.

Here’s the thing:

To be a winner in your position, it's not enough to get buy-in from your donors and members. You have to get it from your own team too.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could point to a track record of measurable business wins? Or to important early indicators of bigger accomplishments to come? Or even to a clear plan that offers a well-founded expectation of specific and measurable results?

Just like your donors and members, internal stakeholders have their own ambitions and anxieties.

What steps can you take to promote your vision in a way that appeals to their concerns?

All the best,
A.

CiviCRM is free, but so what?

Hopefully you didn't choose CiviCRM just because of its zero-dollar license fees.

I'll admit that's a vote in its favor, but by itself it's almost certainly not enough to make it the right choice.

Where CiviCRM really shines is in two aspects:

First, it's designed from the ground up for associations and community-driven organizations. The more well-known business CRMs, designed as they are for sales pipelining, do not really fit the business needs associated with memberships, contributions, events, and advocacy.

Second, as an open source project it is infinitely customizable. With skillful configuration and the addition of any of a vast number of community-provided extensions — which also usually come with no license fees — you can make it do what you really need it to do. Assuming you make a practice of goal-driven and value-based planning, this customization can be a huge win for your organization.

But the fact that it's “free software” can be a bit of a distraction.

Here’s the thing:

Yes, resources are always limited, and what you get out of the box with CiviCRM, for free, is a huge leg up. But as an organization, you're not in business to save money. You have a mission in the world, and your business is to further that mission.

If you just need something free, or cheap, there are plenty of other options out there that are easier, quicker to spin up, and cheaper to own.

If, on the other hand, you're interested in choosing the CRM that works best for you, and you’re ready to budget appropriately to achieve specific business goals, this open-source solution can be a real winning long-term play.

Don't get caught up on the free price. Instead, ask yourself how you're going to use this to win in your mission.

All the best,
A.

What keeps them up at night?

Do you know what your members’ biggest concerns are? Your donors? Your allies and your volunteer advocates?

If they're giving something to your organization, what are they hoping to achieve by that? When they’re reminded of issues related to your mission, what are the worries and frustrations that really trouble them?

Hopefully you've asked them, but if you haven't, what's stopping you?

And if you do know, how are you using that to inform your outreach, your programming, your membership offerings?

Here’s the thing:

Knowing your supporters, and your potential supporters, is a critical element of your capacity for growth.

Don't forget to keep asking, keep listening, and keep responding.

All the best,
A.

KPIs for success

So if you’re really after “success” and not just “systems that work well,” how do you define success?

And how do you identify steps that will take you in that direction?

And even better — how can you celebrate your successes in ways that support your mission?

ASAE dropped a great article on Tuesday covering the value of tracking and reporting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for volunteer programs.

Some key takeaways:

“I framed the discussion around our goals, the metrics we’ll use to measure impact, and the outputs and outcomes,” she said.

Identifying goals? Measuring outputs and outcomes? Winning!

Before ASID green lights any special initiative, the volunteer group must answer the “what” and the “what for”—in other words, what the project is and its purpose. … “The volunteer group would need to map it back to our core values.”

Planning and prioritizing based on mission impact? More winning!

“This framework removed a lot of ambiguity,” she said. “It was easy for us to say, ‘Here’s the initiative, here’s how it aligns with our core values, this is how the group will be able to accomplish these goals by doing x, y, and z.’”

Fostering engagement and buy-in by sharing the expected measurable outcomes? Most winning.

Take a look at the article here, and consider the possibilities for your own mission.

All the best,
A.

“Happy with it” vs. winning

I assume you're using CiviCRM. Are you happy with it?

That's good. But it's not enough.

The real question is: Are you winning with it?

Are you nailing your membership goals? Are you expanding your capacity to fulfill your mission as an organization? Can you point to measurable wins?

If you are, hit reply and let me hear about it.

If you're not, what's stopping you? Let's get that out of the way and move you into more than just “being happy” with an “okay” system.

- A.

What’s next?

You know that win you just got?

What was it — you rolled out a new feature? Hit a membership goal? On-boarded some new team members?

Fantastic. Congratulations.

Now, what's next?

I'll tell you what's next. Turn it up. Foot on the gas. Keep building.

You’ve got a mission to fulfill, and you're not there yet.

I want you to take half a second to note your victory, note what you did right, and then get in there and put it on blast for your next goal.

Write me back. Let me hear what your win was, and let me hear what you're getting after next.

Stay on it,
A.

Division of labor

This morning my wife's car wouldn't start. So she called me. And I fixed it.

In my house anything under the hood pretty much falls to me.

Is that the way it should be? Should all women assume that car maintenance and repair is an area for some man in their life?

Of course not.

There is no should here. In my family we've simply discovered over the years that some of us are more or less interested in taking on certain types of tasks.

Now that we have a common understanding for how we’ll handle most types of work, we're all pretty comfortable with how we've divided it up.

So what about managing your business software systems? Who should be responsible for what types of tasks?

The short answer is: There is no should here.

You get to decide what tasks you'd like to take on yourself, or allot to your team, or assign to an outside specialist. You'll decide this based on your assessment of people’s interests, stress levels, skill sets and aptitudes, and your own cost/benefit calculations.

Here's the thing:

There is no right or wrong in dividing this work.

There are common patterns that you might draw from — such as the notion that the CEO should not be caught up in answering every user support request, or that high-value early-stage planning and architecture is a good candidate for pulling in an outside expert.

But you don't have to follow those patterns. You can take on any tasks yourself if you wish, or assign them to whomever you decide.

Don't let anybody convince you that you have to do it one way or another.

Just be sure you're making a reasonable assessment of concerns such as cost-to-benefit, efficiency, and most importantly: measurable business outcomes.

All the best,
A.

Your CRM is for growth

CiviCRM will let you collect donations. But that's not really what it's for.

It will help you manage memberships. And register event participants. And manage your mailing lists. And generate reports. And more.

But those things are not the reason you have a CRM.

Your CRM is there to help you grow.

To grow your income. And your membership. And your advocacy base.

So that you can grow your mission and your impact in the world.

What growth opportunities are there for you? What are your goals for growth? How can you leverage your CRM to make that happen?

All the best,
A.

Vitamin N

Sometimes the best response to a new idea is simply to say “no.”

Or at the very least, "slow down a minute."

There's no shortage of great ideas in the world. You'll hear them from your board, from your members, from staff at other organizations.

But a good idea is not enough. It needs a plan. It needs a goal. It needs a realistic assessment of benefits and costs.

Of course it can be hard to identify the ideas that are worth pursuing. Here are three questions you can ask yourself to make it a little easier:

1. What are the measurable business outcomes w'e’ll get if we implement this idea?

2. What's it going to take to make this happen?

3. Is there another way we could get the same benefit — easier, faster, or cheaper?

Only you can answer the first one. If you're not sure how to answer the other two, it's okay to pull in a more experienced player for expert advice.

Here's the thing:

If you care about your nutrition, you probably want to be sure you're getting the right vitamins. This one is what my mother used to call “Vitamin N.” Take it often.

And when a careful assessment leads you to a “yes,” you can move forward with purpose.

You don't have to say no to everything, but you should really make sure that when you're saying yes, it’s for something you really need.

All the best,
A.

Boeing 737

In yesterday’s email I offered you a Boeing 737 for $500,000. (No not really. Do I look like I have a Boeing 737? But I could offer you 17 free kittens!)

So why wouldn’t you buy that airplane? Those planes typically sell for something between $89 million and $135 million. At half-a-million dollars, that’s a steal!

But of course there are plenty of reasons not to take that deal:

• You don’t need an airliner, and couldn’t use it — couldn’t even afford to use it — if you had one.

• Oh, you could resell it for a profit? How many buyers do you know off-hand?

• Meanwhile, that’s $500K out of your pocket that you could be putting to very good use.

Here’s the thing:

Just because something is a good deal in theory, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for you, right now.

Whether that’s a 737, or a full-blown Salesforce implementation at “non-profit rates,” or an out-of-the-box open-source CRM with zero license fees — you still have to be able to use it, for identified business needs, with identifiable value.

All the best,
A.

Perfect and affordable? Wrong questions.

Ever bought a house or a car? Most people quietly ask themselves two questions about such a purchase: Is it perfect for me? And, can I afford it?

But in business it's different. In business those are not the questions. The main question in business is this: Will the business value of this purchase significantly exceed its costs? (And there are several costs to consider.)

If the expected value isn't right, no price can be low enough — even if it's free.

I mean, can I give you 17 free kittens? I can drop them off at your house tomorrow.

Can I give you a burned-out car with no doors and no engine? You've got plenty of space in your front yard.

How about a dull razor for a dollar?

Boeing 737 for $500,000? Come on, that's a heck of a deal.

Here’s the thing:

CiviCRM, like WordPress, Drupal, and other open-source tools, is extremely affordable if you just count the license fees — there are none! Even when you add on the implementation costs, you can still come out way ahead.

And if you’ve identified the business goals that this helps you achieve, and you know the value of those achievements, you can pretty easily tell whether it’s worth the investment. (Hint: With careful planning, it usually is.)

All the best,
A.