15. You know you’re in trouble when:
There is not executive or upper-level management support for
governance
No one person is dedicated to being in charge
Politics take precedence over expertise
You have no documentation around governance
You have no training programs around governance
People are not held accountable for governance issues
15
17. A good governance plan:
Has executive buy-in and support
Identifies who is responsible for making decisions in various
scenarios
Has documentation and training based on expertise, not
guesswork
Minimizes politics
Makes governance a part of people’s annual review process
17
20. Content strategy takes the
guesswork out of execution so
creativity around content will
flourish.
20
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21. Workflow vs. Governance
Workflow
What processes, tools and
human resources are required
for content initiatives to
launch successfully and
maintain ongoing quality?
21
Governance
How are key decisions about
content and content strategy
made? How are changes
initiated and communicated?
23. Exercise:
1. Gather in groups of 2 or 3 people (or
don’t—we respect all introverts and styles)
2. Discuss or ponder two governance
problems that you may have under each
category of people, process and
tools/technology
23
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25. To-do list: Process
Map current workflow to understand weaknesses
Design workflow based on roles and responsibilities, not
people
Clarify roles and responsibilities, each and every time
Document workflow clearly
Choose technology that will support your process
25
26. Types of Content Teams
1. Siloed
2. Distributed
3. Centralized
4. Rogue
26
27. Types of Content Teams
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Type of content team Pros Cons
Siloed A lot of content gets created because there is no over-arching
process to go through
Departments do not communicate with each other
The audience is confused
The Departments are confused
Distributed Can be useful in situations where you don’t have enough
manpower on your central content team to keep all of your
content fresh
For multi-national organizations, can deal effectively with
language, culture, and other differences
Difficult to govern
Difficult to achieve consistency
Need careful, thorough training
Centralized Have complete control over content Not enough resources or staff
Massive backlogs of content
Confusion over priority
Lack of clarity about ownership
Lack of subject matter experts
Rogue Are extremely motivated to converse with their target audiences
Understand the value of web content
Unhampered by political concerns
Almost impossible to govern
No interest in adhering to workflow
No stake in overall quality or consistency
28. Siloed
Pros
• A lot of content gets created by different teams because there is no over-
arching process to go through
Cons
• Departments do not communicate with each other
• The audience is confused
• The departments are confused
• Executives have no idea what’s happening on the ground
28
29. Distributed
Pros
• Can be useful in situations where you don’t have enough manpower on your central
content team to keep all of your content fresh
• For multi-national organizations, can deal effectively with language, culture, and other
differences
Cons
• Difficult to govern
• Difficult to achieve consistency
• Need careful, thorough training
• Accountability?
29
30. Centralized
Pros
• Have complete control over content
• Not enough resources or staff
Cons
• Massive backlogs of content
• Confusion over priority
• Lack of clarity about ownership
• Lack of subject matter experts
30
31. Rogue
Pros
• Are extremely motivated to converse with their target audiences
• Understand the value of web content
• Unhampered by political concerns
Cons
• Almost impossible to govern
• No interest in adhering to workflow
• No stake in overall quality or consistency
31
33. Why workflow?
• Break down the content process into manageable tasks
• Identify each piece of content’s stage of development
• Identify each step for the content to receive approval
• Know who is responsible for each step and when
33
34. Why is workflow so hard?
• Information flow
• Misplaced talent
• Lack of guidance and clear models
• Lack of training
@ahavaL #confab17 34
37. Workflow Mapping: Phase I
Identify:
• Why create the content (the business objective)?
• Who is involved (the roles)?
• What each role does (the tasks)?
• When the tasks get done (the flow)?
• How you will assess (the result)?
@ahavaL #confab17 37
38. What are the steps?
How is content:
• Requested
• Sourced
• Created
• Reviewed
• Approved
• Published
• Analyzed
38
41. Questions to ask while mapping
1. Who currently inhabits the above roles?
2. What is the current process in place for that role?
3. What happens when that person is unavailable?
4. Who gets to make decisions about change in process?
5. How does information flow from one role to the next?
6. How does information get shared? (Files, shared drives,
project management software)
@ahavaL #confab17 41
42. @ahavaL #confab17 42
Roles Definitions
Requesters Creates Assignments
Providers Sources Content
Creators Writing & Sourcing
Reviewers Editors
Approvers Final Approval
Publishers Prepare content for distribution
Distributors Distribute content
Analysts Analyze content performance and
behavior
43. Roles: Phase II
1. Understand current workflow
2. Write up or use current job descriptions
3. Rearrange workflow to be appropriate for the end content
product
4. Rewrite job descriptions
5. Examine who is in those roles
@ahavaL #confab17 43
44. @ahavaL #confab17 44
Roles Tasks Who?
Requesters Requests content
Providers Sources Content—could be multiple
subject matter experts
Creators Writing & Sourcing
Video editing (if necessary)
Photographic editing (if necessary)
Reviewers Edits
Legally approves
Approves for messaging and branding
Approvers Final copy editing
Publishers Prepare content for distribution
Distributors Distributes through different digital
channels
Analysts Analyzes the content over time to see if
it is performing well
46. FOCUS ON THE ROLES.
NOT THE PEOPLE.
NOT THE TALENT.
46
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47. Put the Right People in the Right Roles
• Evaluate talent fairly
• Structure for experience and personality (where possible)
• Don’t be afraid to experiment
@ahavaL #confab17 47
48. May Need…
• More guidance
• More training
• Different job
• More documentation
• Rewards
@ahavaL #confab17 48
55. Examples: Define roles and responsibilities
• Project Manager: What is your job? Explain it to the content people.
• Content Strategist: EXACTLY what are you in charge of doing?
• Writers/Content Creators: Who is responsible for each of the steps?
• Technical Leads: Do they call the shots? Are they involved in major
decision making for content as well as tech?
• Developers: When do they come into the process?
• Editors: When do they come into the process?
• CMS Authors: Who goes through the copy with them to ensure it gets
published properly? Do they own templates?
• Quality Assurance: Who performs and to whom do they give that
information?
@ahavaL #confab17 55
56. Who is a part of each process?
• Project managers
• Content strategists
• Writers
• Graphic designers
• Subject-matter experts
• Marketing managers
• Business owners
• Reviewers (legal, HR, department heads, etc.)
• Developers
56
65. @ahavaL #confab17 65
Writer
Email web producer
(builds it and puts in alt
tags)
Writer
(looks at it in staging for QA)
Publisher
Writer/Project Manager
Program Director and Interviewees
(for comments)
Project Manager
(collates comments)
Publisher
Extensive changes
Go back?
Non-extensive
changes
Push to go live
Announce to
reviewing staff
Chooses
photos
78. Agile in a nutshell
1. Method of project management born from software
development
2. Characterized by the division of tasks into short phases of
work
3. Requires frequent reassessment and adaption of plans
4. Uses scrum methodology
78
79. The Scrum Framework in 30 Seconds
1. A product owner creates a prioritized wish list called a product backlog.
2. During sprint planning, the team pulls a small chunk from the top of that wish list, a sprint
backlog, and decides how to implement those pieces.
3. The team has a certain amount of time — a sprint (usually two to four weeks) — to
complete its work, but it meets each day to assess its progress (daily Scrum).
4. Along the way, the ScrumMaster keeps the team focused on its goal.
5. At the end of the sprint, the work should be potentially shippable: ready to hand to a
customer, put on a store shelf, or show to a stakeholder.
6. The sprint ends with a sprint review and retrospective.
7. As the next sprint begins, the team chooses another chunk of the product backlog and
begins working again.
79Source: https://www.scrumalliance.org/why-scrum
83. Agile helps get content
embedded in the process.
-Andrew Bredenkamp
83
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84. Agile Content Production
Helps teams focus on:
• Meeting user needs
• Prioritizing delivery
• Collaboration
• Aligning day-to-day content production and the content
strategy that drives it
84Source: https://gathercontent.com/blog/adopting-agile-approach-content
98. Where can we automate this?
• Understand what your CMS can do
• Create authoring tools that provide guidance
• Create content models that only allow certain inputs
• Show the ROI on tagging and proper authoring
• Select tech tools to evaluate that might help you
• Use technology to remind you to archive
98
101. Exercise:
Make a list of your top 5 priorities for the next 12
months. Put them into an Agile process:
1. List the priorities
2. Pick the top 3
3. List the people you need in the room to complete
them
4. Plan 2 sets of 2 week sprints with tools you
currently have
5. Make a wish list of tools you think might help you 10
1
111. Business Rules
11
1
What happens when: Decision
A source component is changed by someone other than
the owner?
The changed component becomes a derivative.
A source component that has been identically reused
changes?
Authors who reused the component are notified of the
change to determine if they want to make change to
their usage of the component.
If they choose not to use the changed component their
version of the component becomes a derivative.
New content is created? It is not part of the source until approved.
Authors can resume unapproved content which is in
progress, but their information product cannot be
published until all components are approved.
From: Managing Enterprise Content, Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper,
pg. 242
112. Business Rules
• Govern your reuse
• Implemented in your CMS
• Controlled by CMS or by staff (manually)
• Develop the business rules before they are implemented
• Once you know what they are you can implement them
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118. Taxonomies
• Identifies content
• Defines metadata
• Manages the relationships between those pieces of content
and metadata
• Manages the organization of information so that people can
find the information they need
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128. Get your lawyers or compliance
involved from the beginning
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129. Archiving Standards
• Use your CMS
• Use your content models
• Have people be in charge quarterly
• Create digital handshakes and handoffs
• Create ifthen scenarios: If this happens…that happens
12
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131. Reporting
• Non compliant pages
• Spelling errors
• Dead links
• References to out of date info
• Improper keywords
• Bad metadata
131@ahavaL #confab17
133. LINKS add depth to your site. Here’s how to use them:
Use action words
Match links to the page title (H1 tag) as much as possible
Link 3-7 words only
Label links if they don’t jump to a web page (example: [PDF])
Ensure active and visited links use consistent colors (i.e., blue and purple,
respectively)
NEVER: use “click here”, put links in places where you’ll lose the reader in the
conversation, or make headlines links
@ahavaL #confab17 133
138. This is where it’s important to get all
the people in the same room and talk
through the back and front end of SEO.
It’s a partnership between tech,
marketing and content.
138
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139. Exercise:
1. Make a list of the top 5 tools you currently
have (or the ones you wished you had)
2. Write down 3 improvements you could
make in the next month
3. Don’t forget to think about who you need
to include in those conversations
139
142. To-do list
People
Gain executive buy-in by emphasizing business goals
Create multidisciplinary governance bodies
Assign decision makers
Train people how to use governance documentation and who to contact
when there are questions
Make governance a part of people’s annual review process
Measure how you are doing; not just in reporting metrics but in
organizational commitment
14
2
155. Why multidisciplinary teams?
• Adapt to changing technologies
• Break down silos
• Better ideas
• Look at things from different perspectives
• See problems and solutions in a variety of ways
• Have different kinds of political connections
@ahavaL #confab17 155
156. Who to look for?
• Executive sponsor
• Product management
• Business intelligence
• Creative/editorial
• Information technology
• UI/UX
• Legal
• Training
15
6
• Marketing
• Taxonomy manager
• Content creators/editors
• Content managers
• Regional representatives
• Search specialists
• Business line owners
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157. Option #1: Create two teams
1. Strategic authority: bird’s-eye-view decisions like site
objectives, resources and budgeting, audience definition and
annual planning.
2. Implementation authority: decisions related to day-to-day
operations (requests for the home page, new content,
content maintenance, editorial oversight.
15
7
158. Option #2: Create three teams
1. Steering Committees: they make business decisions about
priorities and allocation of resources (they get the final say
when politics or conflicts amongst different groups arises)
2. Work teams and working groups: Day-to-day implementation
authority; report to the steering committee on a regular basis
3. Task forces: Groups that focus a unique project for a limited
duration
15
8
161. Somebody has to be the final
say on each and every content
project.
16
1
162. Train people how to use
governance documentation and
who to contact when there are
questions
16
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163. Training
1. Model good governance (show people what it really means;
either with mistakes or best practices examples)
2. Invite to training meetings (serve food)
3. Send our reminder emails
16
3
165. 2. Invite to training meetings
• Writing workshops
• CMS workshops
• Updates to governance standards
• Archiving schedules
SHOW THEM WHY THEY CARE
@ahavaL #confab17 165
166. 3. Send out reminder emails
@ahavaL #confab17 166
171. Measure how you are doing;
not just in reporting metrics but
in organizational commitment
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172. Measurement
1. Look at reviews
2. Create personal case studies
3. Use software to show decreases in mistakes
4. Track workflow to find ways you’ve shortened time to
publication
5. Show how often tools are being updated or used
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2
174. In reality, these activities are
part of a continuous life cycle
that repeats and repeats and
repeats.
17
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175. Remember!!!!
• The law of tiny changes
• If you can affect 10% of change in behavior in a year, you’re
doing great!
@ahavaL #confab17 175
176. Content guides the interactions between
customer and vendor. And it’s [our] job to
orchestrate these content assets—these
touchpoints across the entire customer life
cycle—to deliver a winning, high-growth
customer experience.
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