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how to get a better fit
(between groups in need and service providers)
Posted: July 27th, 2008 @ 4:12pm
It is not that I am against money. Or making lots of it. I would love to win the lottery! (If I gambled... which I do not.) What I am against is the mindset that technology tools are only appropriate if they are the cutting edge, best because the critics rave about them on their blogs etc....
Not that those blogs and the critics aren't great guides and resources. It is just that there are increasingly important factors involved in small group technology decisions:
who is running the app - a newbie? a seasoned volunteer? a dedicated IT person who loves the little group? a dominating overlord whose opinions must be obeyed by all the "idiots" in the volunteer group?
how much can they afford? all the money in their coffers? none? some pennies from the donation jar?
what exactly are they going to do with it? get an award for best use of some great product? get their community communicating with current technology? manage to show people that they are not full of crap, or worse, nothing?
how much investment are you willing to make for that group as their tech. guide? years, months, install and run?
what type of support manual does the app offer the group? good, bad, ugly? english, made up language, korean?
what type of support community for the app is there? lots, none, cretins, geeks, millions.
how long will they need the app? until they die, until they learn to handle something better, until they grow up into a more solid organization?
these are not novel questions and many have asked them. my take on it is that you can find a decent fit for your small to mid size org without having to: do it all yourself, rely on insane tech volunteer who might lose interest tomorrow, pay a lot of money, teach monkeys to run the space shuttle
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