There was a time when planning and managing enterprise content was "just" complicated. We had a lot of content, and it had to be structured, stored, and governed.
And then, things got chaotic. Content became available through social media and mobile apps. Everything turned versatile. We were not the sole producers of technical content: users, experts, anybody could publish articles or videos. And, we soon faced an unpredictable tidal wave of content.
If we want to surf that wave, we must rethink content strategy. We now need to think of content as a complex system, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. At IBM, we have tested a new approach to content strategy, based on the principles of agile and design thinking.
In this presentation, you will learn:
- How to govern the content creation process across silos and leverage existing resources.
- How to audit versatile content and detect opportunities quickly.
- How to plan for the long term and maintain focus in an uncertain business context.
Views are my own.
3. It feels like
the tiniest
disruption
could make
everything go
out of
control.
Video:
https://vine.c
o/v/eBgZLHw
1edT by
ExploreTheO
cean on Vine
4. You can’t stop the waves,
but you can learn to surf.
Jon Kabat Zinn
Hokusai, The Great Wave of
Kanagawa:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gr
eat_Wave_off_Kanagawa CC BY
5. We must learn to surf, because content is an essential enterprise
business asset.
Influence on purchase decision: Based on survey of IBM clients and
prospective clients (n=196) as of October 2014
Support call resolution: Support statistics for IBM Operational Decision
Manager, Q1 2015
Wave:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ocean_surf#/media/File:
Boelge_stor.jpg CC BY Malene Thyssen,
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene
89%Influence on
purchase decision
Support call resolution
87%
6. Content maturity model
Reactive
Tactical
Integrated
Managed
Strategic
A content maturity model tells you where you stand.
Intentional Design’s content maturity model: http://intentionaldesign.ca/2011/11/14/time-for-a-
maturity-model-for-content-strategy/content-strategy-maturity-model/
Reactive: https://pixabay.com/en/surf-child-beach-sol-mar-water-1138211/ CCO Public Domain
Tactical: http://i.vimeocdn.com/video/95411833_1280x720.jpg Frog 974 @CC · Surf at Saint Leu
Integrated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Teahupoo1.jpg The Last Minute – Flickr CC BY 2.0
Managed: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:A_surfer_at_the_wave.jpg by Brocken Inaglory
CC BY
Strategic: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jeff_Rowley_1_Photo_by_Minnie_Vuong_-
_Flickr_-_Jeff_Rowley_Big_Wave_Surfer.jpg by Jeff Rowley CC BY 2.0 Jeff Rowley CC BY 2.0
7. Design Thinking + Agile
Empathy
Prototyping
Collaboration
Creativity
Individuals and interactions
Working product
Customer collaboration
Responding to change
over processes and tools
over comprehensive doc
over contract negociation
over following a plan
Design thinking and agile are approaches that enable fast innovation in a complex business
environment.
8. Let’s practice When faced with complexity, let go of your beliefs and assumptions.
Wave: http://oceanenergy.wikidot.com/wavepower Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
License author unknown
9. Surf the content chaos
Keep experimenting
Foster interactions
Focus on user impact
To govern content creation across silos, foster interactions, and let go of managing content
creation from the top.
To detect opportunities for reuse and improvement of versatile content, keep experimenting, and
let go of monolithic models and infrastructures.
To plan your content in an uncertain business context, focus on user impact, and let go of
making long-term plans.
Surfboards: https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2013/07/13/10/47/surfboard-
157778_960_720.png CC0 Public Domain Background removed
Wave: https://openclipart.org/detail/8334/swirl by ryanlerch Creative Commons licence
Butterfly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_morpho_butterfly.jpg by Gregory Phillips Creative
Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
10. Groups made up of people who think in different ways can trump groups of people who are very
bright but alike.
Content professionals often hear that we must « smash the silos ».
Surfboards:
https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A1boa_de_surf#/media/File:The_Surfboards_%2884229148
14%29.jpg by Alex Proimos CC BY 2.0
Foster interactions
11. Marketing
People People People
People
Step Step Step
Content
Development
People People People
People
Step Step Step
Content
Support
People People People
People
Step Step Step
Content
Content silos
Silos: each department, its people, technology, and processes, is organized around the delivery
of the department’s content.
12. Content
Marketing
People People People
People
Step Step Step
Product
Content
People People People
People
Step Step Step
Support
Content
People People People
People
Step Step Step
Content
Content Coordinator
The solution?
Do we need one content coordinator at the top, with a single process?
13. Marketing
People People People
People
Step Step Step
Development
People People People
People
Step Step Step
Support
People People People
People
Step Step Step
Content Content Content
Content
Content
The reality is more complex
Hidden interactions and feedback loops are at play between silos.
Let go of trying to coordinate from the top.
15. Keep experimentingLet go of looking for one model or infrastructure that will rule them all.
Wave: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/70QCZPnsL6Y/maxresdefault.jpg by Balderdact CC
18. Focus on user impact Let go of setting long-term plans.
Butterfly:
https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2015/07/17/06/
16/collage-848541_960_720.jpg CC0 Public Domain
20. Surf the content chaos
Keep experimenting
Foster interactions
Focus on user impact
Foster interactions, and you will reuse
content resources.
Keep experimenting, and you will improve
your content incrementally.
Focus on user impact, and you will make
better, faster decisions about content.
Surfboards:
https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/201
3/07/13/10/47/surfboard-
157778_960_720.png
Wave:
https://openclipart.org/detail/8334/swirl
Butterfly:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_morph
o_butterfly.jpg
21. Find the sweet spot
Control
Best
Practices
Complexity
Chaos
Close to
certainty
Far from
certainty
Far from
agreement
Close to
agreement
Letting go is not about giving up on our best practices, it
is about moving beyond content management mastery
to surf at the edge of chaos.
Surf:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/20
10_mavericks_competition.jpg by Shalom Jacobovitz -
SJ1_8558 CC BY-SA 2.0
Complexity domains diagram by Ralph Stacey
22. You are not a drop in the ocean,
you are the entire ocean in a drop.
Rumi
The hologram: you not outside of the system. You are the
system. Reach out. Experiment through concurrent
actions. Keep your focus.
Let go, and reach the sweet spot.
Drop:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Wat
er_drop_impact_on_a_water-surface.jpg by Davide
Restivo Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
Generic license.
23. Ann Rockley: Managing Enterprise Content. A Unified Content Strategy.
Jurgen Appelo: How To Change the World
Lisa Welchman: Managing Chaos. Digital Governance by Design
Rahel Anne Baillie and Noz Urbina: Content Strategy. Connecting the dots between business,
brand, and benefits
Peter M. Senge: The Fifth Discipline. The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
Peter Morville: Intertwingled
References
Notas del editor
SURFING THE CONTENT CHAOS
How can enterprise content strategists surf the wave of digital change? This is a story of letting go when dealing with complexity.
THE WAVE OF DIGITAL CHANGE
We’re facing a huge wave of change, in terms of volume, veracity, variety, and velocity of content.
FEAR OF WIPEOUT
It feels like the tiniest disruption could make everything go out of control.
CAN WE STOP THE WAVE?
We can’t stop this wave of change, and as content strategists we must learn to surf it.
WE MUST LEARN TO SURF
We must learn to surf, because content is an essential enterprise business asset.
THE THEORY: CONTENT MATURITY MODEL
A content maturity model tells you where you stand.
Intentional Design’s content maturity model: http://intentionaldesign.ca/2011/11/14/time-for-a-maturity-model-for-content-strategy/content-strategy-maturity-model/
THE PRACTICE: DESIGN THINKING AND AGILE
Design thinking are approaches that enable fast innovation in a complex business environment.
LET GO
When faced with complexity, let go of your beliefs and assumptions.
LESSONS LEARNED WHILE SURFING THE CONTENT CHAOS
To govern content creation across silos, foster interactions, and let go of managing content creation from the top.
To detect opportunities for reuse and improvement of versatile content, keep experimenting, and let go of monolithic models and infrastructures.
To plan your content in an uncertain business context, focus on user impact, and let go of making long-term plans.
FOSTER INTERACTIONS
Groups made up of people who think in different ways can trump groups of people who are very bright but alike.
Content professionals often hear that we must « smash the silos ».
CONTENT SILOS
Each department, its people, technology, and processes, is organized around the delivery of the department’s content.
THE SOLUTION TO SILOS?
Do we need one content coordinator at the top, with a single process?
THE REALITY IS MORE COMPLEX
Hidden interactions and feedback loops are at play between silos.
Let go of trying to coordinate from the top.
BRING STAKEHOLDERS TOGETHER
Things will start happening, and you will better leverage existing resources.
KEEP EXPERIMENTING
Let go of looking for one model or infrastructure that will rule them all.
MAP PAIN POINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Map opportunities for improvement with the knowledge you have, even if it’s incomplete. Leverage collective knowledge.
SELECT BITESIZE PROJECTS
Create agile projects for bitesize improvement chunks, and you will incrementally improve the end-to-end content experience.
FOCUS ON USER IMPACT
Let go of setting long-term plans.
MAP CONTENT MISSIONS
Define a content strategy that sets values and missions for your content, and make it possible for anybody in the organization to make decisions about content that will be in line with the strategy.
SURF THE CONTENT CHAOS: WHAT YOU WILL GAIN
Foster interactions, and you will reuse content resources.
Keep experimenting, and you will improve your content incrementally.
Focus on user impact, and you will make better, faster decisions about content.
FIND THE SWEET SPOT
Letting go is not about giving up on our best practices, it is about moving beyond content management mastery to surf at the edge of chaos.
THE HOLOGRAM
You not outside of the system. You are the system. Reach out. Experiment through concurrent actions. Keep your focus.
REFERENCES
Ann Rockley: Managing Enterprise Content. A Unified Content Strategy.
Jurgen Appelo: How To Change the World
Dennis Meadows and Linda Booth Sweeney: The Systems Thinking Playbook
Rahel Anne Baillie and Noz Urbina: Content Strategy. Connecting the dots between business, brand, and benefits
Peter M. Senge: The Fifth Discipline. The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
Peter Morville: Intertwingled