Drupal: Everything is Awesome

When you have kids, your movie-going habits change. The days of going to see a movie because you want to see it fades away, replaced by rounding up the family to see the latest animated production.

But sometimes movie magic happens and you see something that not just entertains, but resonates. For me, that was the Lego movie – a film I've now seen twice – and in addition to being just a great show, it's also particularly interesting for those of us who love open-source technology.

I won't give away too many spoilers, but the general idea is thaDit evil Lord Business doesn't like the flexibility and creativity that the Master Builders have in this Lego world, so he goes about trying to stop them. And Emmet Brickowski is the unlikely hero who ends up motivating the masses to rise up and defeat Lord Business with their creativity.

In the movie, Lord Business wants to freeze the world as it is with Kragle (really Krazy Glue) – permanently locking everything in place and preventing change. But we all know that life moves too fast for that – and it doesn't matter if we're talking Lego world or reality.

In the real world, business needs change, new technologies are developed, and social and political environments are adjusted. The successful companies are the ones that have the flexibility and creativity to adjust – and are also building off of a solid foundation of experience and knowledge.

At Digital Echidna, we are committed to open source technology – specifically, the Drupal CMS. And in watching the Lego Movie, I found that the plot paralleled why we have embraced this open-source framework.

Make it Better

In the film, the characters have to work together to complement each other – some are more creative, others are more practical, but they're able to pool their resources and develop something incredible.

Open-source is the same way. In Drupal, a module is never truly finished. It can be released into the community – and, almost immediately, there are those who will take that information and work to make it better. It's not starting from scratch; it's not reinventing the wheel – open-source is about respecting the foundation that someone else has developed and making it better by applying your skills, knowledge, experience, and talent to it.

We see that in all aspects of life. The cars on the road today may be related to those back in the early 1900s, but they are leaps and bounds more advanced. House building, electronics, food production, medicine – you name it – our society thrives because people take what others have built and make it better.

Sharing

Again, this is why our society thrives. We learn to share the resources and knowledge we have to make the whole stronger than the sum of its parts. In the Lego movie, everyone shares their talents and what they've built for the greater good. In open-source, we see the same thing. Sure, you could build an incredible module and keep it to yourself, but Drupal contributors love solving problems and sharing their solutions with fellow users.

And then that Make it Better process starts all over again! You share your solution and the community works to improve it.

Everybody has strengths and weaknesses. In early days, some people could build fires, others could hunt. Put those two together and you've got a tasty mastodon steak. In open-source, some people are better at certain tasks than others. By sharing resources and knowledge, it lets people concentrate where they're best suited, knowing that others in the community will step up and lend their expertise.

Everything is awesome!

In the end, the whole is truly stronger than the sum of its parts. Sure, you likely could build your own open-source content management platform. And it likely would be functional – maybe even really good.

But could it ever be as good as an open-source software that's maintained and developed by a community of over 630,000 users and developers? Could it ever be as strong as something that's supported and led by community-developed leaders (such as our very own Scott Reeves) who encourage and support people in pursuing their interests and matching their skills to task?

Sure, your CMS could be good. But when it comes to the power and potential of open source, I firmly believe that Everything is Awesome!