Migrating a Platform in 3 Days: The Artisan of the Day Is Dan Ferguson.
Dan Ferguson brings a practitioner’s background in digital transformation, natural disaster recovery and relief, and fast‑paced delivery across startups and global enterprises to his work at Communiti Labs. His mission is clear: use proven tools to deliver real outcomes for governments and the communities they serve. That’s why, when it matters, he chooses Laravel.
From Slow Stacks to Laravel Speed
At Communiti Labs, early experiments with React and Next.js were a strategic choice, not just a “shiny object.” Dan optimized for a stack the team could scale on from an employee‑resource perspective. In practice, however, the approach introduced friction: basic capabilities such as mail, queues, and caching were a patchwork of plugins and external services. Add the unique constraints of serving governments (security, reliability, and repeatability), and the calculus changed.
“We needed a stack that was tried and tested, one that got out of the way and let us deliver value. My decade in the industry, across charities, enterprises, and startups, all pointed to the same answer.”
Dan rewrote the platform in Laravel in three days over a single long weekend; solo. The result? A dramatic jump in cadence and confidence.
“With Laravel, if we need cache, we have a facade. If we need a queue, it’s there. If we need to send mail, it’s built in. We ship faster because the framework comes ready for real work.”
Laravel as a Tool for Real-World Impact
For Dan, technology is a lever for measurable change.
In the summer of 2020, Australia faced the largest bushfires in its history, the Black Summer bushfires. Dan saw thousands of generous Australians offering accommodation, yet struggling to connect with those in need. He spun up Helping Homes: a simple site (one PHP file, 440 lines) that let people quickly offer places to stay and find safe accommodation nearby.
In the first week of going live, over 5,000 beds were registered nationwide, with tens of thousands of people visiting daily. As demand surged, Dan moved the project to Laravel to harden security, add real testing, introduce caching, and render pages more intelligently. The shift enabled Helping Homes to scale responsibly and help more families find safety during the fires.
“Technology is my weapon of choice when I want to effect change, and Laravel is the technology I reach for when people are counting on us.”
Building with AI and Analysis for Communities
At Communiti Labs, Dan and the team build products that help public‑sector and civic teams turn community feedback into evidence they can act on and trust.
Communiti Analysis brings together qualitative data, like open‑ended survey responses and consultation notes, and uses AI, NLP, and other ML techniques to surface themes, patterns, and insights in minutes, not months. Real‑time collaboration, auditability, and sensible guardrails mean analysts and engagement teams can work faster without sacrificing rigour.
The vision is simple: equip governments and NGOs to understand their communities at scale and report transparently. By automating the repetitive parts of analysis and reporting, teams get time back for the human work: listening, deliberating, and making better decisions.
As Dan writes in another post, Communiti Analysis lets users “talk with their data” using large language models, making analytics more accessible to non-technical community leaders.
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