Technology has fundamentally changed how campaigns operate. Digital tools now shape how we raise money, communicate with voters, manage staff, and move data across the organization. Managing campaign technology is no longer a niche or optional competency. And while the tools themselves keep evolving, the ways campaigns mismanage them are remarkably consistent.
Whether you’re launching a website, rolling out an internal tool, or deploying a supporter-facing app, technology projects fail for predictable reasons. The good news is that those failures are almost always preventable.
Know the Texting Chain
Hitting send is only the start. Compliance checks, routing partners and carriers shape whether your texts reaches voters. A strong texting provider protects traffic and brand reputation across the full chain, not just their platform. Does yours?
Expect Delays (And Plan for Them)
Good technology takes time.
Delays happen for obvious reasons – vendors juggling multiple projects, key staff getting sick – but just as often, campaigns are the bottleneck. Late feedback, missing assets, slow approvals, or delayed access to domains and accounts all grind progress to a halt.
Every pause has a cost. When a vendor stops work waiting on you, they don’t just pick up exactly where they left off. Context is lost. Momentum disappears. Deadlines slip.
Delaying critical tech spending to preserve cash on hand until after a finance report is short-sighted. The signaling value of a big bank balance has diminished, and postponing core infrastructure almost always hurts performance later.
Budget Reality Beats Sticker Shock
Campaign technology isn’t cheap.
You’re not just buying a website or an app. You’re renting specialized talent: project management, design, engineering, security, and quality assurance. A “simple” website often requires three or more distinct skill sets working in coordination.
That cost reflects scarcity. Political tech is a niche market, and campaigns don’t benefit from the scale efficiencies of commercial software.
Be Intentional About Which Corners You Cut
If you compress timelines or trim budgets, quality will suffer. That’s unavoidable. What is avoidable is being blind to the consequences.
Every cut has a tradeoff. Fewer features. Less testing. Reduced training. Increased operational risk. Compromise isn’t free.
Never Skip Testing
Quality assurance is often the first thing cut when time or money runs short. It’s also the most dangerous thing to skip.
Testing is how you find the failures you didn’t anticipate. Without it, bugs surface in public, under pressure, when stakes are highest.
Training Is Part of the Product
A tool you don’t fully understand is a tool you’re under-utilizing.
Good vendors budget time for onboarding and training because software only delivers value when people know how to use it. Skipping training to save money often means you never unlock the features you paid for in the first place.
Always Have a Credible Plan B
If you’re pushing a system out on a tight timeline with limited testing, assume something will go wrong and plan accordingly.
A backup process, even if it’s manual and imperfect, can prevent a manageable issue from turning into a campaign-ending problem. Technology should augment your operations, not replace your ability to function when it fails.
Conclusion
Technology is now inseparable from modern campaigning, and managing it well requires a new set of leadership skills.
Campaigns that understand timelines, tradeoffs, testing, training, and contingency planning don’t just avoid disasters. They run tighter operations, adapt faster, and give themselves a real advantage when it matters most.