I initially liked using Monica, even though it was a
huge pain to self host it - the installation process in particular. It felt like I was putting together a spatial ship - error after error, warning after warning. A rather frustrating experience. And after I finally managed to install it, I've used it for half a year and it felt like a lot of work to keep it updated, get used to the processes / logic behind the system etc. Furthermore, I realised that it's basically an immense liability - all my contacts and private details about myself and them in one single place.
As such, my rules for a personal CRM are as follows:
1. No server to maintain; it should be an old school piece of software that I can install on my PC/phone etc.
2. I like the idea of being able to update it from different locations and using different devices; the only service acceptable here is for the makers to either offer a paid-for sync service or a method for users to sync the data between devices themselves. Not an essential service to me though.
3. No unencrypted data should be allowed, regardless of whether it stays local or it's synced across devices, or whether it's live or a backup file.
4. Backup, import, and any data handling should be easy as a breeze. Should I open my backup / db export done with version 1.0 with a fresh installation v9999 it should work flawlessly, no errors, no hiccups, no file corruption, no issues whatsoever. That data is the one reason for the software to exist and the only valuable entity in the whole scheme; if it becomes unusable, it's beyond frustrating and not a good solution to even consider.
5. No updates should be forced, ever. If my OS supports version 0.5 until year 3500, the CRM should continue work as expected. Security updates should be entirely separate than feature / bugs etc. I accept security updates within reason, in many cases I would much rather risk my PC to be hacked and data to fall in the wrong hands, than corrupt it or lose it due to some feature update I never requested or needed.