What do FrontlineSMS and EpiSurveyor Have in Common?

Ken Banks, creator of the terrific FrontlineSMS text messaging software, has some great thoughts today on why deep knowledge of on-the-ground circumstances is important to make great software.  And he points out that technologists usually have much lower understanding of development problems than the development specialists who've been studying those problems for years, or the on-the-ground folks who have been working on those problems (in health, in agriculture, etc) for years:

Do we know what ratio of “m4d” [mobile for development] projects are initiated by development practitioners (or sectoral experts in health, agriculture, conservation and so on) as opposed to mobile technologists, and what impact does this have on the success or failure of the project? In other words, if the problem solver is primarily a mobile technologist – the “m” part of “m4d” – then you might assume they have much less understanding of the on-the-ground problem than a development practitioner or sectoral expert might – the “d” part. [read the whole post here]

I think Ken's totally right about this: most technology-for-development projects fail because they rely on expensive (usually foreign) technologists for each and every implementation -- and those technologists almost always know less about malnutrition, farming, malaria, etc, than the folks who are on the ground (plus they're expensive!). So while Ken's experience in Africa was important for the initial creation of Frontline, the ongoing strength of FrontlineSMS comes because it is designed as a multipurpose communications tool that allows OTHERS -- who know their own situations, and their own needs -- to repurpose it as they like, when they like, how they like -- without Ken Banks' permission or assistance.