Model Thinking
Whether you’re an executive who wants a content management system that enables business growth or a content professional looking to improve your content strategy and content modeling skills and grow your career, Model Thinking will help you learn, connect some dots, think differently, and get actionable tips.
A quick “top of mind” issue
Issue 8 Top of mind Things that are bouncing around in my head as I synthesize a range of ideas I’m dispensing with most of my regular sections in this issue of Model Thinking, in favor of a quick update on my first two weeks after my big announcement. I’ll get more substance in my next issue! Truth is, I’ve been on the road much of the last two weeks. I made a 17-hour drive to be part of the funeral of an uncle, taking a couple days and nights for sightseeing on the trip back. It was a...
Big news! Plus, is governance a scary word?
Issue 7 Structure Quick thoughts about how content lives in systems Note: A couple of months ago, Deane Barker shared some principles of content management, and I can’t get it out of my head. Beginning with the last issue (Issue 6), I am sharing pieces of what Barker wrote along with a few thoughts of my own. Content almost always exists in relation to other content Very rarely does a content object exist in isolation. It’s almost always part of an aggregation of other content, and its...
The cost and reality of change; and content or data?
Issue 6 A couple of months ago, Deane Barker shared some principles of content management, and I can’t get it out of my head. Beginning with this issue, I’m going to share pieces of what Barker wrote along with a few thoughts of my own. Structure Quick thoughts about how content lives in systems Content models are foundational We build the rest of our content process on top of our content models. Mistakes here can reverberate throughout the life of your content. Changing a model after it’s...
Stop saying please
Issue 5 Structure Quick thoughts about how content lives in systems I’m quick to admit that I can be a purist at times, especially when it comes to designing systems that handle content at scale. However, I’m on a years-long quest to be more pragmatic, and several years ago, I had a realization about content during a migration. But first, some context. Blobs v. chunks Those who work as content strategists or as content architects sometimes talk about blobs versus chunks (props to Karen...
The fidelities of content models, and farewell to STC
Issue 4 Structure Quick thoughts about how content lives in systems In the user experience (UX) world, designers work in different fidelities. Often, it’s helpful to start really low fidelity with designs made on whiteboard sketches or simple grayscale shapes called wireframes. This helps to focus feedback on big-picture concepts behind the designs and avoids bogging down details like which shade of blue should be used. Then, at other times UX designers may use higher-fidelity mockups that...
The biggest mistake I see teams make in CMS implementations
Issue 3 Structure Quick thoughts about how content lives in systems Content models are the fundamental building blocks in a content management system (CMS). The biggest mistake that I see teams make with setting up content models is to conflate the content itself and how the content is presented. For example, many teams may build a content model for a three-column layout and another for a two-column layout. Team members—or systems—won’t easily know anything about the content in that model. It...
The granularity balance, pocket approvals, and specialist v. generalist
Issue 2 Structure Quick thoughts about how content lives in systems It can be challenging to find the right granularity for the structure of your content. Getting the granularity right in your content structure is a balancing act.(Created with DALL-E) If you’re working in a content management system (CMS), this is defined in content types and fields within content types. For one implementation, something might be a content type and for another implementation, it might be a field. There’s no...
Naming is hard, plus venting or solutions?
An introductory word Wow! Thank you to everyone who signed up for Model Thinking after my launch announcement earlier in the week, even before there was an issue to read. Special thanks to Matt, John, Lauren, Madison, and Marianne for the feedback on pre-release versions. Your input was very helpful. Now ... here we go! Issue 1 Structure Quick thoughts about how content lives in systems I’m from a writing background, but even I struggle with naming things, from my offspring to this...
It’s launch week!
Issue 0 Well, the time has come. I’m launching Model Thinking this week, and I want to set some expectations. It's simple, really. Expect things to change. I could keep tweaking things behind the scenes, trying to get my newsletter perfect, but alas, I’ve got some good stuff to share and I want to start sharing it now! (Also, as a writer-type, there’s a continual struggle toward perfectionism and I need to work on shipping-and-learning.) Even as launch week is here, I’m still unsure of the...
Whether you’re an executive who wants a content management system that enables business growth or a content professional looking to improve your content strategy and content modeling skills and grow your career, Model Thinking will help you learn, connect some dots, think differently, and get actionable tips.