During my DrupalCon Nashville keynote, I shared a brief video of Mike Lamb, the Senior Director of Architecture, Engineering & Development at Pfizer. Today, I wanted to share an extended version of my interview with Mike, where he explains why the development team at Pfizer has ingrained Open Source contribution into the way they work.

Mike had some really interesting and important things to share, including:

Why Pfizer has chosen to standardize all of its sites on Drupal (from 0:00 to 03:19). Proprietary software isn't a match. Why Pfizer only works with agencies and vendors that contribute back to Drupal (from 03:19 to 06:25). Yes, you read that correctly; Pfizer requires that its agency partners contribute to Open Source! Why Pfizer doesn't fork Drupal modules (from 06:25 to 07:27). It's all about security. Why Pfizer decided to contribute to the Drupal 8's Workflow Initiative, and what they have learned from working with the Drupal community (from 07:27 to 10:06). How to convince a large organization (like Pfizer) to contribute back to Drupal (from 10:06 to 12:07).

Between Pfizer's direct contributions to Drupal (e.g. the Drupal 8 Workflow Initiative) and the mandate for its agency partners to contribute code back to Drupal, Pfizer's impact on the Drupal community is invaluable. It's measured in the millions of dollars per year. Just imagine what would happen to Drupal if ten other large organizations adopted Pfizer's contribution models?

Most organizations use Open Source, and don't think twice about it. However, we're starting to see more and more organizations not just use Open Source, but actively contribute to it. Open source offers organizations a completely different way of working, and fosters an innovation model that is not possible with proprietary solutions. Pfizer is a leading example of how organizations are starting to challenge the prevailing model and benefit from contributing to Open Source. Thanks for changing the status quo, Mike!