Defining the content strategy is the easy part. But how do you actually make it work? Not just today, but tomorrow, and next year, and the year after that? How can you continually evolve and mature your content practices, create rock-star content teams, and produce better content faster? Sound magical? Nope, it’s just good content governance. In this introductory workshop, we’ll use group discussions and debates, thought-provoking exercises, and real-world client stories to build your knowledge and awareness of content governance. Here’s what you’ll learn: How to identify where your organization fits in the content maturity model, and how to progress Different options for content governance within an organization The five pillars on which you need to build your content governance How to advocate and influence for content governance changes The steps to take to get you started towards better governance

1. Kathy Wagner & Melissa Breker
Co-Founders, Content Strategy Inc
@Kathy_CS_Inc + @ melissabreker
#ConfabINT

2. What’s up
for today?

3. Session overview
1. Maturity Models
2. Governance Models
3. 5 Pillars of Content Governance
4. Change Management
5. Road Map

4. Have a scenario
in mind…

5. Melissa’s Bio
• Grew up wrestling
crocodiles in
Australia
• Transitioned out of
marketing into
content strategy
• Fell in love with
supporting change
Today I help change the way people think about content through teaching,
mentoring, partnering with others, and running workshops.

6. Kathy’s Bio
• Grew up reading and
daydreaming
• Moved through technical
communications &
customer experience
• Have been doing content
strategy my entire life
Today I help change the way people think about content by shining a light in
dark corners and cleaning out content cobwebs.

7. Company Clients

8. And what
about you?

9. And what about you?
• 72% work in a company
• 10% work in an agency
• 10% work in government
• 8% work in higher education

10. And what about you?
• 60% are just getting started in content
governance.
• 25% are already awesome at it and want to
swap notes.
• 15% don’t know where they fit, but seem
pretty worried about content governance.

11. • Personal intro
• One thing you love
• What’s important to
you about content
governance and
why?
Small Group Introductions

12. Content Governance

13. Content governance
provides a
framework for
content decisions,
roles, and,
responsibilities.

14. Project X
Process √√√√

15. Content Maturity Model1

16. What are we
trying to
achievewith
governance,
and why?

17. Content Process Maturity Model
Get a detailed version of this model here: http://www.contentstrategyinc.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Content-Strategy-
Inc-Content-Maturity-Model-2014.pdf

18. What do we hear
from clients?
“This is so embarrassing. We’re the
worst.”
“But nobodynobodynobodynobody does it well, do they?”
“In some ways we’re managed and
sustained, and in other ways, we’re
ad hoc.”

19. True story…
Get a detailed version of this model here: http://www.contentstrategyinc.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Content-Strategy-
Inc-Content-Maturity-Model-2014.pdf

20. 3 questions in
3 minutes

21. Where is your organization
on the maturity model?

22. What could
your
organization
do to moveup
a level?

23. What could be the
positivebusiness
impact ofmoving
up a level?

24. Learning Exercise

25. At your table:
Discuss at your
table.
Where is your
department?
Where are you as
an organization?
Content
governance
environment
Where are
you in the
maturity
model?
How can you
progress to
the next
level?
Why is it
important to
progress?

26. Questions?
Short stories?

27. Content Governance
Models2

28. A governance
modelis how
the governing
responsibilities
are assigned
and distributed.

29. There are 4 different models:
• Informal
• Decentralized
• Centralized
• Hybrid

30. What about
a matrix
model?

31. Adapted from Jason Mogus’s four governance models for managing digital:
http://communicopia.com/insights/four-models-for-managing-digital

32. Adapted from Jason Mogus’s four governance models for managing digital:
http://communicopia.com/insights/four-models-for-managing-digital

33. Adapted from Jason Mogus’s four governance models for managing digital:
http://communicopia.com/insights/four-models-for-managing-digital

34. Important to note:
A
centralized
content team…
…can actually sit within multiple other teams.

36. Matrix model(True story… )

37. Howdo youdecide?
Business goals
Maturity model goals
Organizational culture
Management style
Scalability
Ease of execution (readiness for change)

38. As content specialists, we often prefer the
idea of a centralized model.
It allows for maximum control over content
strategy, quality, and functionality.
BUT…

39. “A hybrid model works
best for us.”
What do we hear
from clients?

40. 3 questions in
3 minutes

41. What governancemodel is
your organization
currently using? Howdo
you know?

42. What governancemodel
would be mosteffective
for it to use, and why?

43. If those two
things are
different, what
are the obstacles
in changing
governance
models?

44. Learning Exercise

45. At your table…
Debate
• Which governance model works
best for your situation?
Or, Discuss:
1. What are the barriers to changing
your content governance models?
2. What are the benefits of changing
your content governance models

46. Questions?
Short stories?

47. 5 Pillars of Governance3

48. How?

49. People

51. Just a fewwriting-specific skills
Web writing
Marketing
Journalism
Technical writing
Creative writing
Blog writing
Business writing
Editing

53. True story…

54. True story…

55. True story…

56. True story…

57. What do we hear
from clients?
“Nobody wants to
give up control.”
“We don’t know
what anyone else does.”
“We’re all executers.
There are no leaders.”

58. 1 question in
1 minute

59. Do you know what skillsets are needed to
achieveyour vision?

60. Content Success Metrics

61. Think about
Governance success,
not just content
success.

62. Business success:
• Align with business strategies
• Reduce costs and time to publication
• Improve consistency of customer experience
Employeessuccess:
• Do good work and grow their skills
• Feel ownership over their work
• Understand the bigger picture

63. Breaking it down

64. Plan to communicatelevelofsuccess

65. 1 question in
1 minute

66. Howwill you
know if your
content
governance
is working?

67. Decision-Making
& Support

68. “If you chose not to
decide – you have still
made a choice!”
Neil Peart

69. Why create standards and
guidelines fordecision making?

70. To make sure that decision making is:
• Strategic
• Consistent
• Scalable
• Learnable
• Sustainable
• Measurable

71. A content
support tool
communicates
decision points
that have already
been made, or
provides strategic
guidance for
making ongoing
decisions.

72. What do we hear
from clients?
“The squeaky wheel gets their
content on the home page.”
“We keep inventing the wheel
again and again.”
“We have a style guide. It’s on the
shelf. It’s outdated.”

73. 1 question in
1 minute

74. What decisions
need to get
made?

75. Brainstorm
As a group, write as many content
support tools as you can think of.
Use 1 stickie per idea.
Post the stickies on the wall on your way
to break.

76. Piano

77. Content Processes

78. What is a businessprocess?
Process
Sub-process 1
trigger result
“A process is a collection of interrelated
activities, initiated by a triggering event,
which achieves a specific, discrete result.”
Sub-process
2
Sub-process 3 Sub-process
4
~ Alec Sharp, Workflow Modelling, 2008

80. Design & create content process

81. Detailed
processes
Lines of visibility:Lines of visibility:Lines of visibility:Lines of visibility:
Who does what
when they hold the
work.

82. Start high-level.
Provide more detail
as needed.

83. Start with
common
scenarios.
Define
alternativeor
uncommon
processesonly
as needed.

84. What do we hear
from clients?
“We don’t really follow any
organized process.”
(But they actually do!)
“Our team needs autonomy,
so they don’t want process.”

85. 1 question in
1 minute

86. What processes
and variations
are important
throughoutthe
content
lifecycle?

87. Content Information
Systems and Workflow

88. Basically, they’re technologies that
support people in getting work done.
InformationSystems
~ Wikipedia

89. Some examplesofcontent
informationsystems:
• Content management systems
• Data asset management systems
• Email
• MS Word
• Dropbox

90. Howdo youknow which are the right
systems to use?
It depends!
On:
• Business and content goals
• Budget and resources
• Management and working style
• Use cases

91. Lookfor
opportunities to
consolidateand
integrate.

92. A workflowis how the workmoves
within and between information
systems.
This includes both human/technology
interactions and automated processes.
Eg: CMS authoring workflow

93. t4
Simple CMS workflow

94. Start high-level.
Provide more detail
as needed.
Start with common
scenarios.
Define variationsas
needed.

95. What do we hear
from clients?
“Email is our primary
communication tool.”
“Our systems don’t speak to
each other.”
“Our CMS is designed for
developers, not authors.”

96. 1 questionin
1 minute

97. What content problems
does your business have
that informationsystems
and workflowcould help
with?

98. Learning Exercise

99. Pick up a handout package.
Choose one ofthe five
worksheetsto complete.

100. Questions?
Short stories?

101. Managing Change4

102. Commonchallenges
• Lack of resources
• Lack of cooperation or collaboration
• Lack of clear leadership and support
• Inability to set priorities
• Difficulty hiring skilled employees
• Lack of organizational maturity

103. Adoption curve

104. Lewin’s change model

105. Find an
internal
champion

106. What they’ll
do:
Get budget,
break down
silos, support
progress.

107. Start small.

108. Pilot projects and
bite-sized chunks.

109. Small wins.
Big voice.

110. Know your budget and resources.
Grow your budget and resources.

111. Give
incentives
and
rewards.
Give incentives for changing
old behaviors and rewards
for adopting new behaviors.

112. 1. Practice content strategy
2. Demonstrate positive results
3. Provide tools and resources
4. Become expert content advisors
5. Advocate and educate
No controlor authority?
Influence like crazy!

113. True story…

114. What do we hear
from clients?
People don’t want to give up
control
It’s hard to make time for
change
We’ve tried before, but we slip
back to our old ways

115. 3 questions in
3 minutes

116. Who will be
your content
champion?

117. What
budget and
resources
do you
have to
workwith?

118. Howcan
you get
people
excited?

119. Getting it done5

120. Create a
roadmap.

121. Q1Q1Q1Q1 Q2Q2Q2Q2 Q3Q3Q3Q3 Q4Q4Q4Q4
DefineDefineDefineDefine &&&&
ttttestestestest----drive:drive:drive:drive:
New
processes &
roles
CMS workflow
Success
metrics &
toolkit
Expand &
refine
Goal:Goal:Goal:Goal:
Select teams
& pilot
projects
Start
authoring in
CMS
Start
measuring
Roll out
throughout
organization
Educate & advocate
True story…

122. Individual exercise.
Create a roadmap for yourself.
Refer to the Content Roadmap handout.

123. Questions?
Short stories?

124. Wrap Up

125. Things to do next week
1. Review these slides and your notes.
2. Identify one small step forward.
3. Take action!
4. Join our mailing list:
www.ContentStrategyInc.com
5. OR email me:
Melissa@contentstrategyinc.com

126. Books about processes
Other resources
www.contentstrategyinc.com/content-governance

127. Thanks! Stay in touch.
@MelissaBreker
@Kathy_CS_Inc
ContentStrategyInc.com

128. Let’s hear from you.
Final thoughts?
Questions?