My pickle of a problem

Previously, I have discussed my current work situation, which revolves around the fact that my organization is moving away from Drupal. This situation has led me to ask the question to Drupal or not to Drupal. To date, I’m committed to helping them migrate from Drupal to Sitecore.

I’ve also decided to remain committed to the sustainability of the Webform module. The “sustainability” of the Webform module has different meanings to different people and organizations within the Drupal community. Individuals want to know that there are resources available to provide guidance, review patches, and commit code to a project. An organization using Drupal and the Webform module wants to know that the code is stable, maintained, and secure. For me, I’d like to see compensation for my time in return for my continued commitment to the sustainability of the Webform module.

Being compensated to contribute and maintain code within an open source project can take on many forms. An organization could sponsor my work on the Webform module. At the same time, these opportunities are rare within our community. Frankly, assuming that a single organization could take on the responsibility of something like the Webform module might not be financially feasible.

Stepping back from my problem, there might be a more general solution for improving the Webform module’s sustainability. Still, sustainability is a pickle of a problem for an open source project like the Webform module.

The Webform module’s pickle of a problem

The pickle of a problem around the Webform module, Drupal, and Open Source is that people assume that everything is free. Open source code is free to use and distribute. The ecosystem built around the Webform module reinforces the notion that everything is free because we rarely put a “price tag” next to our…Read More