Hugging the Hatfields

Congratulations—your company’s site is being redesigned! Condolences—the developers are too busy, skeptical, or isolated to work with you and the other content experts. The relationship between content teams and development teams is often rocky. The good news is that content strategy can simplify life for developers, too! Learning to speak their language can turn frustrating quagmires into success.

Transcript

1. 1 Hugging the Hatfields Building positive relationships with your CMS developers Jeff Eaton June 5th Confab 2013
2. i’m with lullabot. hi. i’m @eaton! 2 we do strategy, design, and development.
4. You can leave if… ‣ You’re already happy with how things work! ‣ You’re the “stakeholder” ‣ You’re the fancy-schmancy consultant ‣ You’re retiring in four months 4
5. Your Pain 5
6. 5 The new CMS is totally broken. I can’t get the developers to listen to me. I talked to the devs, and I hate them all. The new templates don’t fit our content! The new workflow has 98,292 steps.
7. An anonymous developer 6 “The content managers were cut out of the conversation because “designing tools” was a job for developers, but when they started giving feedback, it turned ugly. The fixes were complicated and expensive.
8. Coming to the History Channel this fall: Editors vs. Developers! Them’s fightin’ words 7
9. I translate. A lot. 8
10. Developer Pain 9
11. 9 Designers are crazy people. All the old content is in shambles! No one can explain what I’m building. What we build keeps getting rejected! They want me to duplicate the old CMS.
12. Everyone thinks they’re the outsider 10
13. Those silos are not full of happy animals. Welcome to the silo. 11 Polo! Marco!
14. 12 Healthy and cross-functional Unaware but willing to learn Content-savvy, but swamped Crappy and unconcerned
15. 12 Healthy and cross-functional Unaware but willing to learn Content-savvy, but swamped Crappy and unconcerned
16. 13 Empathy is your secret weapon!
17. That developer’s boss just told him that multi-language content revisions need to be “more intuitive” 14 Why devs hurt
18. 15 ‣ Acquiring knowledge is hard
19. 16 ‣ Acquiring knowledge is hard ‣ Priorities are elusive
20. 17 ‣ Acquiring knowledge is hard ‣ Priorities are elusive ‣ The data migration is hell
21. 18 ‣ Acquiring knowledge is hard ‣ Priorities are elusive ‣ The data migration is hell ‣ Scope always creeps
22. 19 ‣ Acquiring knowledge is hard ‣ Priorities are elusive ‣ The data migration is hell ‣ Scope always creeps ‣ Changing course is expensive
23. 20 They know failure is bad
24. Contrary to popular opinion, developers don’t turn into curmudgeons on purpose. 21 Ways they cope
25. ‣ Scope-hawks just say no 22
26. ‣ Scope-hawks just say no ‣ Goalies isolate the devs 23
27. ‣ Scope-hawks just say no ‣ Goalies isolate the devs ‣ Planners want to know it all 24
28. ‣ Scope-hawks just say no ‣ Goalies isolate the devs ‣ Planners want to know it all ‣ Hermits demand process 25
29. ‣ Scope-hawks just say no ‣ Goalies isolate the devs ‣ Planners want to know it all ‣ Hermits demand process ‣ Ostriches don’t want to hear 26
30. 27 Find an advocate and help them
31. Seriously, who wouldn’t fix a bug for this guy? Looking friendly 28
32. 29 ‣ Come bearing gifts
33. 30 ‣ Come bearing gifts ‣ Know your value and theirs
34. 31 ‣ Come bearing gifts ‣ Know your value and theirs ‣ Help them avoid future pain
35. 32 ‣ Come bearing gifts ‣ Know your value and theirs ‣ Help them avoid future pain ‣ Know what you need and why
36. 33 ‣ Come bearing gifts ‣ Know your value and theirs ‣ Help them avoid future pain ‣ Know what you need and why ‣ Collaborate to solve the how
37. 34 Scope is bad but failure is worse
38. Everyone loves presents. The gifts you can give 35
39. 36 ‣ Your inventories and audits
40. 37 ‣ Your inventories and audits ‣ Your connection with users
41. 38 ‣ Your inventories and audits ‣ Your connection with users ‣ Your organizational insights
42. 39 ‣ Your inventories and audits ‣ Your connection with users ‣ Your organizational insights ‣ Your knowledge of workflow
43. 40 ‣ Your inventories and audits ‣ Your connection with users ‣ Your organizational insights ‣ Your knowledge of workflow ‣ Your ability to predict change
44. 41 Content strategy saves them time
45. Yes! Developers want to help you! At least, the good ones. Why friends rock 42
46. 43 ‣ Suggestions for easy wins
47. 44 ‣ Suggestions for easy wins ‣ Warnings about pitfalls
48. 45 ‣ Suggestions for easy wins ‣ Warnings about pitfalls ‣ Sneak peeks at what’s coming
49. 46 ‣ Suggestions for easy wins ‣ Warnings about pitfalls ‣ Sneak peeks at what’s coming ‣ Faster, easier fixes
50. 47 ‣ Suggestions for easy wins ‣ Warnings about pitfalls ‣ Sneak peeks at what’s coming ‣ Faster, easier fixes ‣ Advocacy for your needs
51. 48 Good devs want you to be happy
52. Livin’ the dream, yo. A glorious future 49
53. 50 ‣ Partnership and collaboration
54. 51 ‣ Partnership and collaboration ‣ Visibility into what’s coming
55. 52 ‣ Partnership and collaboration ‣ Visibility into what’s coming ‣ Healthy compromises
56. 53 ‣ Partnership and collaboration ‣ Visibility into what’s coming ‣ Healthy compromises ‣ Mutual focus on shared goals
57. 54 Healthy doesn’t happen overnight
58. We can be two-ply, absorbent awesome. 55