On Twitter this morning, I asked: How do you feel about having clients sponsor development of specific features? Good idea or fraught w/ problems?

Apparently this dilemma resonates with developers:

• Rarst: “sounds better in theory than works in practice, from my limited experience”
• Boone: “Generally a good idea, as long as the client’s needs aren’t so wacky as to make the feature awkward for general release. You might also include something in the agreement about post-contract support of the feature. Transition from ‘I’m paying you to implement my wishes’ to ‘I’m a regular user making feature requests’ is the tricky point”
• Eric: “If you properly vet these specific features (as opposed to blindly accepting cash) I think it’s a good idea. Biggest drawback is when the sponsorship dries up and you still have to support said feature in the plugin.”
• Brad: “great idea, not only features but full plugins. Easy to sell them on it knowing you’ll keep it up-to-date with current WP”
• Brady: “I’d say it’s a great route if the feature makes sense for general use, otherwise an extension/add-on might be better.”
• David: “good idea, as long as client understands the difference between customization and configuration. Oh, and proper contracts.”
• Nick: “As long as they understand they don’t own that feature and you may need to implement it in a more general way, it can work. One approach is to make it an addon and add the necessary hooks in core plugin. Allows you to EOL the feature if needed.”
• George: “don’t see anything bad in developing add-ons for side income, plus you might never developed for your use.”
• Jake: “as others said, it’s all about good expectations upfront, and not compromising the rest of the plugin’s audience”
• Travis: “Personally, I think it is a win-win, but it heavily depends on the “strings attached” mentality of the sponsor.”
• Ryan: “I’ve done that many times before and have encouraged it. I usually gave a big discount for open source stuff. I used to provide two prices, one for open source, one for closed source. Everyone chose the cheapest option.”

My takeaways:

• Make sure you’re explicit about the business relationship upfront (including support scope), probably in contract. If you aren’t, it can get complicated.
• If it fits within the scope / roadmap of the plugin, it can be a nice way to bootstrap open source development. Otherwise, it probably makes sense as an add-on.
• Pay attention to what users want as add-ons, as you can potentially turn those into premium plugins.