Your website needs to keep improving. Some things needs to be done fast and others slow, and clearly defining the difference can help you dig out of the deluge of change requests. In particular, many topic pages are low quality, and some topic page changes should happen quickly and others slowly. First presented at Gilbane 2013, in a session moderated by Jose Castillo where Rebecca Rodgers also presented on innovative intranet homepages.

1. Your site needs improvement!
If
Topics
Pages
Are
So
Easy,
Why
Are
They
So
Bad?
@jdavidhobbs

2. But
you’re
probably
overwhelmed
• Weight
of
all
the
past
changes
• One-­‐offs
• Everyone
has
an
opinion,
with
an
expectaEon
of
easy
changes
on
the
web
• Just
plain
can’t
keep
up
@jdavidhobbs

3. What
happens?
You
start
saying
yes
when
it’s
hard
to
say
no
This
just
makes
the
problem
worse
@jdavidhobbs

4. Get
the
bones
right
@jdavidhobbs

5. @jdavidhobbs

6. Some
change
should
be
fast,
and
some
should
be
slow
@jdavidhobbs

7. What
should
be
fast
may
be
camouflaged
@jdavidhobbs

8. Ongoing
change
@jdavidhobbs

9. For
big
changes,
have
an
ongoing
change
process
@jdavidhobbs

10. Topics
pages
@jdavidhobbs

11. The
Promise
Topics
pages:
• Are
easy
to
create
• Are
automa)c
• Provide
context
• Allow
site
visitors
to
view
content
that
is
important
to
them
@jdavidhobbs

12. The
Reality
,with
Topics
pages:
a
lot
of
planning
and
hard
work….
• Are
easy
to
create
• Are
automa)c
• Provide
context
• Allow
site
visitors
to
view
content
that
is
important
to
them
@jdavidhobbs

13. @jdavidhobbs

14. @jdavidhobbs

15. @jdavidhobbs

16. Every
site
has
different
topic
needs
• Provide
official
government
informaEon
on
a
topic
(where
correctness
is
key).
• Curate
seemingly-­‐disparate
content
into
a
quirky
grouping
to
be
thought-­‐provoking
(where
speed
and
graphic
control
may
be
key).
• Provide
thought
leadership
on
a
set
of
topics
(where
deep
context
is
important).
• Deliver
late-­‐breaking
news
on
a
developing
story
(where
speed
is
paramount).
• Frame
a
topic
in
a
fashion
that
drives
behavior.
@jdavidhobbs

17. Fast
and
slow
change
for
topics
Fast
Add
new
content
(that
will
automaEcally
appear
on
a
topic
page)
Slow
Adding
a
short-­‐lived,
news-­‐driven
topic
page
DeleEng
or
archiving
a
topic
Adding
a
new
Changing
funcEonality
“permanent”
topic
of
how
all
topic
pages
work
Changing
metrics
to
evaluate
topics
Changing
hierarchy
of
topics
@jdavidhobbs

18. Based
on
rules
@jdavidhobbs

19. Example
metrics
@jdavidhobbs

20. @jdavidhobbs

21. The
norm
in
making
changes
Generally
be<er
approach
Topics
as
an
example
Launch
and
forget
Get
the
bones
right
and
then
make
ongoing
changes
Define
what
topics
expectaEons
are,
track,
and
iterate
Do
what’s
easy
Streamline
for
maximum
impact
Streamline
content
publishing
and
any
“fast”
topics
Ad
hoc
On
a
regular
cycle
to
review
big
changes
+
streamlined
for
types
of
changes
that
need
to
be
fast
Changes
outside
the
streamlined
ones
go
into
broader
“suggesEon
box”
for
changes
@jdavidhobbs

22. h^p://websiteproductmanagement.com