Introduction
Over a year ago, changes were made to the Drupal Certified Partner program, with greater recognition offered to organisations that make greater contributions to Drupal itself. As a result, Zoocha has been able to achieve Platinum Supporting Partner recognition due to our quality contributions to Drupal.
This change led us to interrogate our own motivations for contribution and how we can best be supporting an incredible open-source solution such as Drupal. In this article, we discuss why we contribute, and why being a Platinum Supporting Partner is intrinsically tied to quality Drupal solutions in the long and short term.
It’s all about quality
In summary, the motivation that drives Zoocha to contribute to Drupal is because we are committed to quality in everything we do.
We don’t wait for others to make Drupal better - we take the initiative because we believe in delivering the highest quality solutions to our clients. Improved contributions means higher quality solutions, it’s as simple as that. Our clients deserve a platform that is stable, reliable, and continuously improving, and we ensure that by being active participants in its development.
Quality in software is not an accident; it requires constant refinement. If we encounter a bug, a performance bottleneck, or a missing feature, we have to fix it at the source.
But what about the competitive market?
Of course keeping these improvements to ourselves might seem like an obvious competitive advantage. But the reality is that a failure to contribute back improvements to Drupal runs the risk of increased maintenance and longterm hidden costs. When we contribute our enhancements back into Drupal core or contributed modules, we not only improve the ecosystem but also benefit from the extensive testing and real-world usage that comes with widespread adoption. This improves quality, reduces risk and ultimately reduces long-term cost.
Technical debt is able to accumulate when teams attempt to maintain too much custom code outside of the core framework. Instead of working in isolation, we collaborate, test, and refine our solutions in an environment where they can be strengthened by the expertise of others.
Ultimately, contributing to Drupal isn’t just about altruism—it’s about ensuring that we, and our clients, have access to the best possible software. We contribute because we care about the quality of the product we deliver. We contribute because we take pride in our work. We contribute because the only way to guarantee Drupal remains a high-quality platform by actively shaping its future.
Contributing on a personal level
On a personal note, contributing has helped to grow my skills as a developer across the decade of time I have spent working with Drupal. If I had to name one, I have always been particularly proud of my involvement with the password policy module. Here, I worked with the community to improve the security and flexibility of the module as part of its inclusion on Drupal 8 and beyond. The work I contributed was key in stabilising the module, and therefore key to supporting the security of over 60,000 sites using Drupal.
With the wide use of this module, I’m pretty proud of the fact that my work has helped solidify the reputation of Drupal as a secure solution, as well as help countless Drupal projects succeed. We use this module regularly in our work at Zoocha, contributions to this module have allowed us to deliver work faster and reduce costs to our clients, without compromising quality.
Conclusion
Ultimately, by choosing to be experts in something open-source, we’re choosing to be part of something bigger than ourselves.
Contributing to Drupal isn’t just about doing the right thing, it’s about ensuring that we, and our clients, have access to the best possible software. The future of Drupal, and open-source, depends on contributions that increase the quality of the product in an evolving competitive environment. Contributing is core to quality, and by consequence, core to everything we do.
Get in Touch
Looking to partner with a Platinum Drupal Partner? Get in touch with one of our team at [email protected].
About the author
Gareth is one of our Senior Drupal Developers and is an extensive contributor to the Drupal community. Currently the track lead for accessibility on the new Drupal CMS initiative, Gareth is passionate about quality Drupal contributions and supporting Drupal to continue to grow as a leading open-source CMS. Otherwise known as the 'G-Bomb', Gareth can always be found at Drupal events across Scotland, England and the wider European community.