As a freelance technologist who primarily works with nonprofits, I have noticed a couple common situations surrounding team dynamics that influence project success. I have changed how I approach conversations with prospective clients to ensure I have a full understanding of the team dynamics before I sign on because bad dynamics can delay implementation and produce poor results.
The first question is: why is the client hiring a technology consultant or contractor? Did the previous developer leave or is the client unable to get the time and attention of their organization’s larger IT department? Or is this project outside the realm of possibility for the organization’s technology department so they are forced to seek external help? Each of these situations has its own considerations.
The previous developer left
This is the most common scenario because many organization’s develop technology in organic ways. They don’t sit around thinking up big technology ideas, assembling teams (what teams do they have?), and then planning out implementation timelines. There is usually one person who wanted to make their job easier and they learned enough about technology to begin tinkering. The commercialization of no-code/low-code solutions in recent years has reduced barriers to entry and allowed nonprofits to automate many tasks that previously drained resources.
The person who started the project likely didn’t have a formal technical role; they might be a lawyer, an operations manager, or another role steeped in the content of the organization. But what happens when this person leaves? Unless the project was a huge success, it is unlikely the organization will hire a dedicated technologist to continue it. They will either hire someone in the same position as the incumbent and add some more technical job descriptions or they will hire a contractor to take on those responsibilities. I have only really seen the latter because those are the projects I am brought in on, but I think they are more common because they are logical and smart ways to allocate resources. Why try to hire a unicorn lawyer/technologist when you can hire a lawyer to do lawyer duties and a part-time technologist to manage the existing solution?
In these situations, you want to understand how dedicated the organization is to the project, what their goals are, and what support they will put in place to support you.
Dedication to the project is more than how they describe the project on their website (if they do that at all), it is about understanding how they plan to fund the project and evaluate success. You should ask about the funding sources, whether they plan to pay you from their operating budget or if there are dedicated grant funds for this project. If the latter, who is funding it and what are their objectives? As you learn more about grantmakers, you will understand how they invest and what is required to help the client demonstrate success to continue the funding. How did the project originate? Was it internally driven by staff who identified a need or was it a one-off idea from a board member? The former is much more sustainable because it is grounded in the client’s actual challenges; when they evaluate whether to continue funding the work, you will be able to clearly connect your work to improving their operations. Ideas that come from management, board members, or funders will only last as long as those individuals see the work moving in the direction they think indicates progress, which might not align well with the client’s actual needs.
The previous developer played a hybrid role that gave them a certain institutional knowledge and understanding that you lack. You likely do not have the non-technical skills they have in the law or social services and you need to address that in early conversations. How will the organization ensure you have access to the right people to support your work when you do need those skills brought to bear? Is there a project or product manager who will oversee your work, serve as your connection to stakeholders, and help you prioritize needs? If not, then you can assume you will have to wear that hat. In my experience, this responsibility can severely drain your time and attention because you responsible for project planning, prioritization, and all the technical implementation you originally thought you were signing up for. You might consider budgeting for a subcontractor to handle project management.
Key Questions: * How are you planning to pay for this project? * How do you plan to evaluate project success when it comes to deciding whether to continue funding it? * How will you ensure I have access to your staff to help with identifying and prioritizing needs and getting user feedback?
The client has no internal capabilities for the project
Sometimes, organizations get grants for data or technology projects without lining up the necessary technical partners they need. Sometimes the grantmakers have contacts with consultants who are more than willing to take on the project. I have found myself in this situation multiple times; nonprofits see data as a tool to help shine a light on injustice and technology as a means to make their jobs easier, but they don’t necessarily know how to accomplish their goals. They might get half way through a grant period before they realize they have to find a technologist. Involving the technologist late in the game only hurts the project, but there’s little you can do if the project just drops into your lap. You will need to figure out how to help them meet their goals with whatever time is left. You will have to accelerate the discovery period to identify needs and use whatever they agreed to in the grant application to constrain your work.
These projects will often end when the grant ends. This might be more a reflection on the state of grantmaking for nonprofit data and technology, but the organizations I have worke with usually have a set of defined outputs (i.e., a report, data visualization, dashboard) and they do not have plans for integrating this work into their operational needs, even if they might continue to benefit from investment. You can try to guide them, identifying their ongoing needs and funding sources that might serve as new opportunities for collaboration.
If they didn’t have technologist before you, they likely won’t have any after you. They might find volunteers but they are often low commitment and low impact. You need to plan for this eventuality. If you are building operational systems that they want to continue functioning after you leave, you need to select a small number of robust and user-friendly tools that they might be able to carry on with and you must meticulously document your work down to smallest, most self-evident detail because you don’t know who will pick up the work. If the project has defined outputs that will not require any ongoing upkeep, you have more freedom to pick the tools that best fit your preferences because you might be the only person who ever looks at it, but you should still document as you go with the assumption that someone with basic aptitude might want to update the products in the future.
I have primarily focused on situations where the organization appraoches the technologist with a project, but it can also be driven by the technologist. I have approached organizations that I admire with grant opportunities and ideas. If they are on board with the financial and operational benefits, then I can work with them to ensure the grant application is accurate, well-informed, and realistic.
Key Questions: * Why are doing this project? What do you hope to gain from it? * Why have you been unable to find technical support up to this point? * What do you consider the essential tasks for meeting your grant requirements and which tasks do you consider the most useful for your organization?
The organization has no internal capacity for the project
This scenario is different than the previous one because, here, the client is part of an organization with technologists who might be capable of implementing the solution but, for one reason or another, they are not going to. Naturally, you will want to know why; has the client discussed their needs with their IT folks? If so, what can they share about those interactions? Their IT folks might have found the clients needs were not high priorities when compared to other organizational initiatives.
Sometimes, it seems the client never discussed their needs with IT and it can put you, as the external consultant, in a complicated situation. You are split between the desire to assist your client in a timely manner and the desire to implement new technical solutions in a sustainable way. Sustainability means understanding the organization’s capacity to maintain the solution after you contract ends. IT departments often have preferred or required vendors for certain technologies; many organizations are deeply intertwined with specific cloud providers and building soluations in a different cloud environment reduces the chance they will maintain it long term. Beyond the concerns for sustainability, IT departments can also become bureaucratic impediments when it comes times to begin prototyping. In-house technologists do not like “shadow IT” or “shadow data” projects and they will naturally put obstacles in your path, including requiring certain documentation completed before they will grant you access to IT resources, including access to cloud environments or credit card numbers for external software tooling. You might think you can go it your own, but as soon you want to start using ChatGPT’s API or an EC2 instance, someone needs to put a credit card down and it should not be you.
You have a primary responsiblity to proactively communicate with your client about to what degree they want to work with their IT departments to complete the project. They will naturally want to avoid what they perceive as unnecessary bureaucracy and gatekeeping; you need to give them a realistic understanding of project success and timeline based on whether they choose to work with IT or to go rogue. If the client is open to collaboration with IT, then you should facilitate the conversations and ensure everyone is aligned on key topics, such as: * identifying whether there are formal processes for initiating new projects. If so, what documentation can they share about these processes? * how they have worked with external technology consultants in the past in planning and implementation. * how IT wants to be involved in the conceptualization and planning of the project. This is an area where you should share you previous experience in these types of projects and any initial legwork you have done to plan the project. Demonstrating that you are competent and capable will give them confidence that working with you does not mean diverting their time away from existing projects. * ensure your client is at the table and ask them to discuss their needs at a high-level. You can learn a lot about the organizational dynamics between your client and the IT department here, including seeing where decision-making lies and determining whether this is the first time they have had this discussion.
Key questions to ask before signing on: * Do you have an internal IT department that you are working on for this project? What are their capabilities? * Have your discussed your needs with them to see whether they have any ongoing initiatives that might meet your needs?