Rudyard Kipling said he helped himself “promiscuously” from the writing of others. Dan Brown got sued for borrowing elements from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (or some other literary work, I forget). Steve Jobs replicated Xerox’s GUI. Windows borrowed from Apple. Popeyes was inspired by KFC.

I got an email about an expensive webinar on server-side Google Tag Manager. I didn’t go for it. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Right now that’s my innovation. Taking someone else’s rabbit hole and seeing if it leads somewhere useful.

Server-side GTM is the same idea. It’s not new. Plenty of organizations run it. But who is evaluating whether it makes sense for a mid-sized nonprofit running Open Y on Drupal, integrating with Daxko, and trying to figure out why their conversion attribution looks like a migraine aura?

A jar of fermenting hot sauce made from roasted poblanos, jalapeños, onions, garlic, and apples

I’m also making fermented hot sauce right now. Roasted poblanos and jalapeños layered with onions, garlic, and apples. I didn’t invent fermentation or hot sauce. But if this combo is tasty I’m taking full credit.

(Shaky transition back to main topic in 3…2…1)

So I began investigating whether to implement server-side Google Tag Manager for the YMCA of Greater Cleveland.

Every analytics blog says do it. Better data accuracy and faster page loads. Probably all true.

But look at the abacus for a nonprofit running digital across 11 branches: a cloud server to maintain, a tagging architecture to rebuild, ongoing monitoring, and a learning curve that lands on a small team already stretched between camp pages, local SEO, and program registrations.

The problems we actually need to solve right now are “does this branch page tell a parent why swim lessons here matter” problems.

I’m probably going to recommend we wait. The time and cost are better spent on work that moves people to walk through our doors.

I didn’t invent that calculus either. But I’m taking credit for applying it.

Keep fermenting.