Government agencies want to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, yet many still fund custom code to solve problems the Drupal community has already solved. How do you convince clients that investing in reusable, community-driven software creates greater long-term value?
This session equips project managers, technical leads, and delivery teams with practical strategies, messaging, and business cases for gaining government buy-in for a contribution-first approach. You'll learn how to position reusable Drupal solutions as responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, communicate the long-term value of shared software, address common client concerns, and gain resources to take back to your agency to help you share the story of why building for the community is often the smarter investment.
Whether you work for a government agency or a contractor supporting one, you'll leave with practical talking points and a repeatable framework for helping clients choose community-driven solutions over one-off custom code.
About the Speakers
Kelly Smith
Senior UX Design Engineer at CivicActions
Riverview, FL
I’m based in Riverview, FL, where I live with my husband, Kerry. At CivicActions, I'm the lead designer on the VA CMS project, and I lead cohorts of non-engineers through the Acquia Site Builder Certification course. I’ve been in the design arena for over 10 years, and prior to that, was an educational trainer and high school French teacher. When not working, I spend time attending baseball games, hockey games, and boating.
Steve Wirt
Engineer at CivicActions
Nokomis FL
I have been working in Drupal for over 17 years and in Federal Gov't website and application building for 11 yrs.
